My pair laid eggs Tuesday and everything was fine, I did a 50% water change yesterday and still fine. When I woke up this morning they were on the bottom and didn't move to protect the eggs like they always do and their eyes aren't orange they are gray. This is a very sudden change and has me worried. I moved them back to the big tank and they went from almost black in color to their calm color of being striped. Any ideas what would cause this? They are swimming but haven't eat yet but they're picky eaters at the best of times. The water is good, no ammonia and is at 70 degrees, the same as always.

Water stats..PH is 7.6 normal for here
nitrite is below .25
nitrate is below 5.0
ammonia is 1.0.....odd after doing a water change yesterday but not dangerously high.

Could something in the tank have upset them? Sometimes my green Sevs will turn very dark in color. If the water quality is good, then it is probably mood changes, probably due to sexual behavior I would of thought. Apart from that, I'm not really much help

I'm used to them changing color, they do that often and usually very fast, it's their eyes that have me worried. I've never seen them be anything but bright orange.

Thanks for answering so quick and thank you very much for fixing the site so I don't have to log on with each message, you da man Boss !

Sinstinna wrote:


a big +1 here on that one.


i dont know the first thing about sev's. but i am glad i dont have to log in again for each reply lol

OFL wrote:


They were in the breeding tank, I put them in there when their bellies turn orange and stay that way. They usually lay within a day or two. They've laid 5 times with about 3 weeks in between each one. Could that be the trouble? Maybe I'll just leave them in the big tank for a while and let them rest. They won't lay in there, too many others that would eat the eggs. Can stopping them from breeding when they want to be harmful?

I would guess that the ammonia and nitrite present might be the problem

Whats all this about log in in for each message? Am i missing something

when the site changed a lot of us were having to sign in each time, I get mine in email and there were a lot of them but it's all good
I have them in the big tank now, they've been there 12 hours and still no change in the eye color, the water there was tested and it great. I'll give them time, maybe they've just been breeding too often and they're tired.

I still think that ammonia and nitrite present wasnt good. You should look into that

I did another water change on the tank, cleaned the filter sock and the gravel. I added just a little Melifix since the eggs are beginning to hatch. Temp is at 78-80. They're wiggling well so hopefully they'll be fine, thanks for your help Del
Mom and Dad's eyes are beginning to turn orange again. I found it odd that there was nothing online about it. What would I do without you guys?

nice to know the eyes is getting to normal. there are times lighting
affects the color of the eyes....to much light, like my tank that is
expose to sunlight, the eyes turn black but when i put it back to the
other tank, it becomes orange again

this happened overnight, when I turned their lights on they were like that, they're still not back to normal but are eating well so I am guessing they're ok.