Do fish see color?

Inga

I am curious as to whether or not fish see in color? I mean, obviously none of us knows for sure but what do you think? Do your fish seem attracted to color or only by movement, finage etc...

I am most curious as I have been thinking about maybe getting a male Betta once my male Guppies are gone. All my guppies are getting old (they have such a short life expectancy) and I am down to only 3 of them. I do however have 2 black skirt tetra in there. I was hoping that a Betta would get along with them. Then I would add one Betta and a couple Corie's to this tank. What are your thoughts? I was just thinking that if the Betta sees boring black and silver fish that he won't have any aggression issues. Maybe I was just hoping for that reaction. ha ha

Olympia

Betta see colour, don't know about other fish.
Betta are very prone to attacking any colourful fish, like male guppies.
Your tetra should be fine, though. :)

Romad

Hmmm... I would think it's the other way around. It might be that those betta fins are too tempting for some black skirts. I could be wrong tho.

Are they nippy? I know I could never have a betta in with my serpae tetras.

Jayy

I've read on a facts calendar, that tropical fish do see in color.

thekoimaiden

Fish do see in color. I'll post more when I get my ichthyology textbook in a while. In the meantime, this is a good article by a fly fisherman about fish and color sight: Fish Eyesight: Does Color Matter? | MidCurrent

Oh ya. With two black skirt tetra, I would hold off on the betta until those kicked the bucket, too. I'm a person who doesn't really like to keep betta with anything but a few substrate fish or alone.

Geomancer

Black Skirt Tetra are fin nippers, so not a good choice with a Betta.

The temperament of a Betta depends on the fish, some can do well with others ... and some will not tolerate anyone else, even substrate fish. They can even go after shrimp and snails.

And yes, I agree that fish can see color. Some species will attack others of the same color ... but leave ones alone that are a different color (within the same species).

Olympia

Colour is also how bright fish like killifish find each other in their murky home waters.
Male fish brighten when they are in breeding mode.
:D
Is skirt tetra the same as black widow tetra? I know black widows are a no go for sure.

Inga

That is interesting, I never for even a second thought the Tetra would nip the fins of the Betta. The two I have were dumped on my by my nephew when his mother made him get rid of his tank. They are at least 3 years old. I have never once noticed them doing any fin nipping of each other or of the Guppies. The Guppies are forever chasing each other around and their tails are showing their age with a few small tears here and there. The Tetra are sort of solitary from what I have witnessed. There are two of them but they just swim around doing their own things.

I just can't help bu think of what I am going to put in the tank next. Especially as the Guppies are dropping one at a time and they are all pretty old. I am not certain of the life expectancy of the Black Skirt tetra as I didn't pick them, I just had to take them from their nasty dirty tank before my sister flushed them. They look livelier now in my clean well planted tank then they did in their brown water with minimal filtration and no heater. That said, I suspect the lack of care they received will take it's toll on them over all. Anyone know for sure what the normal life expectancy of a Black Skirt Tetra is?

I also just read they should be kept in groups of or more. :( I feel bad that these poor things have had a crappy life. Obviously my sister didn't research before getting fish for her son either. Oddly enough, these two just don't seem social, like other social types of fish that I do have. They just seem to co-exist in the same tank but not care about each other one way or another.

Olympia

I'd consider upping the group. Tetra are pretty long lived in general, bad care may have reduced that for these guys.
Maybe yours are two males that ignore each other since there's no ladies around? :p

Inga

That is very possible. I saw them on occssion in my nephews tank. I would sometimes clean it when I went over there but wasn't there enough, to be considered good maintanance. I still figured it was better then never cleaning it. It would likely never have been cleaned if it were not for me nagging my sister. I am sure that is what finally made her get rid of the tank. She wants pets but doesn't want to put anything into them. I have always been the one to do the care. I even go to trim her dogs nails or they wouldn't get cut. I have taken her to the vet as well.

I wish I knew how long these guys were going to last. If I knew they were good for another year or so, I might think about adding more of those and something else to make them happy. That said, I don't wish to plan the tank around them as they are not a favorite fish. If they are not going to last long, I don't want to be stuck with a whole bunch of fish I wasn't excited about in the first place, if that makes sense?

The poor things have gone from very dirty tank to one that is over cleaned because of a clean freak owner. ha ha I have also tossed around the idea of getting rid of this tank when the inhabitants are gone.