Female has had stripes for a few days

[jadaBlu]

I bought my first female she is still pretty small. She has 2 red stripes on either side of of her gills which I assume are the stress stripes people refer to. I made changes to see if they would help. I recently had moved a tank that she had visual sight of with a male in closer. She didn't seem bothered by it innitially. I checked the water and the ammonia had spiked. I had recently introduced a new sponge filter with BB since the tank was only set up for 3 days and she is so small I believe it was the filter that caused it. Her filter is turned off for now in case that was the issue (too much movement?) I was going hook it back up now that the other filter has arrived and run 3 tanks (lower air flow). I am going to buy a 20 gallon shortly. I changed the water, I blocked the view of the male (they still seemed to be looking for each other though after I blocked it) She's eating and active. She does flare if I come close to the tank. How concerned should I be about the stripes?

[crystalicethorn]

It could be just a pattern. I have 5 and 2 of them have always had stripes. When my 2 striped females are stressed, they just lose their colors for a while and then they return when they are calm. If she is eating and swimming well, you shouldn't be to worried.
If you had a picture, it would be easier to tell :)

And even though I`m no expert, I hope you found my opinion useful

[JBonez423]

Originally Posted by crystalicethorn

It could be just a pattern. I have 5 and 2 of them have always had stripes. When my 2 striped females are stressed, they just lose their colors for a while and then they return when they are calm. If she is eating and swimming well, you shouldn't be to worried.
If you had a picture, it would be easier to tell :)

And even though I`m no expert, I hope you found my opinion useful

I agree, especially if she's still very young. One of my young fish still has his stripes, even though he doesn't seem stressed or upset at all. I think the stripes are just there all the time, and when the fish is stressed it loses color, which is why they show up. If she's had them for awhile, it could be she just hasn't colored up yet.

[jadaBlu]

I have considered it could be color pattern the stripes are red and there's two on each side. She isn't pale at all. What interesting about her is that when she flares her colors can get brighter (and when she see the male the can get brighter). Is that typical for females? I will try to post a picture later.

[OrangeAugust]

Originally Posted by jadaBlu

I have considered it could be color pattern the stripes are red and there's two on each side.

My newest female has the same thing- she's red and there are two red stripes behind her gills on each side. It's just her coloring. I think my purple one had the same thing.

[Jexx]

Stress stripes are when the female turns a beige/brown/tan/white color and they get horizontal stripes of black along their body. These red stripes behind her gills could either be her coloring or ammonia burns. You said the ammonia had spiked around the time she developed them.