Fish Changed Color

[brendac]

Last night before we went to bed I turned off the aquarium light and went on to bed. My son got home from work at 4:00am and turned on the livingroom light and was very suprised to see that my Raccoon and Yellow Tang were lossing their color... So he went over fast and turned on the aquarium light in about 10 minutes their color came back and all is fine now. What in the world made this happen?? Could they need that light on at night, or whats going on??

 

[mrdc]

This is normal. The colors tend to fade at night on some fish. My yellow watchman and hippo look white when I look at them with a flashlight. Also when the lights first come on, their colors aren't as vibrant until they have been on for about 10 minutes.

 

[mcsd22]

My fish also look different after lights out but thats normal. By no means should you have your day time lights on at night. You probably should have a timer that way the fish have a natural day, I would not turn on your tank lights after dark.

 

[ophiura]

Agreed, the fish have "pajama coloration." It is stressful and a bad idea to suddenly turn on the lights randomly. I also agree that using a timer is a good plan, and even a room where some natural light slowly starts to increase the lighting before full lights go on.
It would be real shocking to be sound asleep in your bed and have someone throw on the lights unexpectedly, and it is true for fish as well.
Some people with independant lights can turn on different bulbs separately to mimic the "dawn" and "dusk" periods which are fascinating and critical periods for life on the reef. Fish DO need consistent periods of darkness.