# Female Mel Auratus



## alvie (Jan 25, 2011)

I have two 2 inches long female Mel Auratus which I've been keeping them in my 40g community tank (I guess I shouldn't be doing that huh?!) for over a month now. For some reasons, the body color of one Mel turned from bright yellow to dark dull grey, but it still looks healthy though - it swim, eat and interact like normal. Can someone tell me why she has changed her body color please? Thanks lot!


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## MDR (Feb 20, 2012)

The reason "she" changed colour is that the fish is most likely a "he" and is now close to breeding age. You can expect one of two things.

Outcome one:
The male will spawn with a female and you will have a number of young auratus swimming about.

Outcome two: The male will kill everything.

I had auratus before and I experienced outcome two, his mates, babies and tankmates were all systematically hunted down and shredded within three days.
They are quite aggressive and territorial fishes.

Best of luck!


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