Colour of Convict

I received a female convict yesterday.
When I collected her, here colour was quite dark, almost grey.
I see that today she seems to be a bit lighter.
Is this a sign that she is stressed or that she is 'happy'?
TIA

 

I believe she was flaring her colours when she was still with me, in the hope of attracting a mate, and thus the very territorial behaviour which got her into trouble in the first place.

Quite possibly the need to breed has now subsided somewhat, with the chance in environment and such.

In the two or so years that I've had her, the colour flares come and go, I'm guessing together with the breeding cycle.


What sort of substrate are you using?

Bear in mind that these fish love to "build", and thus sand isn't always the greatest option as they can't move it around easily, or with great effect. Gravel they can pick up with their mouth, and move elsewhere to shape a hollow or cave with is much more effective.

You could also try putting a terra-cotta pot in the tank for shelter.

 

Thanks for the help Shaun.
At the moment she is in a bare-bottomed quarantine tank.
I put a pot in the tank just before I put her in there. She seems to like the pot as that's where she is always hanging around.

 

As far as I know a convict female is a nice dark colour and when it is breeding time she gets a orangiepink colour on her belly. So as for the colour that she is now tells me she is a bit stressed out in the new tank probebly because it is all new to her and she has to explore it first so in a day or 2 she should be back to normal colour.
Hope this helps