[Ichthus]

I've asked this question a few times, but have yet to receive a satisfactory answer

I have seen some Picasso's with amazing colors, but some have very light colors. Why? Is its s-e-x, size, stress, diet, lighting in the tank, specimen, or other?

My Picasso has good colors when I first turn on the lights of the tank, but then its color fades (see pic below). He is about 1.5-2.0" and eats very well.

Here is a link to some Picasso's with amazing colors. I want mine to look like these!

YouTube - Picasso Triggers #2.MPG

[RyanG]

Usually diet and lighting...better diet, better colors.

[Ichthus]

*********eL BUMPO

[AaronAcker]

I had my Picasso for 5 years. GREAT FISH, mine would play fetch using a pingpong ball.... Anyways, I'd first check the water parameters, as is always a good starting point. Than I'd look at how well you're providing a varied diet. One thing I noticed w/ my Picasso when it got up to 1' or so, is that the fish excreted a lot. Meaning my filtration had to deal w/ a large bio load spike on a regular base. Look into improving your biological side of the filtration, and dont skimp on the mechanical side of the filtration. You'll see what I mean when they get large Great fish, and I'm sure yours will get some great color yours is really young... Mind started getting great dark color in his bands and the strong blue across the eyes at about 3-4".

One problem w/ the fish trade is that "Picasso Triggers" aren't always the Picasso you think. There are quite a few trigger fish that are labeled by pet stores as Picassos, such as the Rhinecanthus aculeatus / Huma Huma which is the most commonly sought after Picasso, I've even seen Sufflamen bursa sold as a picasso but in fact, Rhinechanthus rectangulus (rectangle trigger) is the true Picasso.

Mine was the aculeatus, and was very beautiful.

[Tangs Rule]

A lot of times it depends on time in captivity, which also means diet. In the wild, these fish have a completely different diet than in captivity. Usually, their coloration is much more vibrant when they are first caught.

[Marine1]

I agree diet is everything. Do you feed it different meaty foods? I have a clown trigger and feed it all kinds of different things. Everything from freeze dried jumbo krill to frozen meaty foods like marine cuisine. The lighting on your tank has no affect on the fishes coloring. It could also be water parameters/temp/salinity. Sometimes after a water change my clown turns a bit lighter in color, but then goes back to normal after a while.

Be sure to mix up their diet with protein enriched foods.