RED - Does it attract?

[MaxM]

Does Red Attract?

I have a tank that includes three Red Swordtails. My largest is a female that I estimate at 3" long. Raised with them is a female Silver Angelfish.  I have other fish as well, but details are not needed for this question.

Every once in a while that angelfish will chase the Swordtails away, She will especially go after my largest one. I just assumed it was due to the cichlid nature of the angelfish. 

However, recently I bought a female Blue Gourami. Most of the time the Gourami and my large female Swordtail get along quite well . In fact, sometime they stick around each other and even swim together as if they were a pair of shoaling fish. However, at other times the gourami chases after her all over the tank. 

I have a number of other fish in the tank (Danios, Corydoras, small Red Wag Platies, and a Pleco). However, it is only the Red Swordtails that get chased and specifically the large female one.

So, I ask again... Does Red attract?

[Daniel]

Although the manufacturers of fishing lures market red as attractive, red light because of its longer wave length attenuates rapidly as the depth of the water increases.

It is not clear what kind of color vision fish actually have, but goldfish have been found to have four kinds of cones: red, green, blue and ultraviolet for detecting those color of light. I know honey bees perceive red as black.

 

[gardenman]

I have a laser pointer that I play with my cats with and if I shine it at the fish tanks the fish attack the red dot, so I think they're attracted to red. (You can try the same thing yourself, just try to avoid shining the laser pointer in the fish's eyes. You don't want to damage their eyes.)

[starsman20]

24 minutes ago, gardenman said:

I have a laser pointer that I play with my cats with and if I shine it at the fish tanks the fish attack the red dot, so I think they're attracted to red. (You can try the same thing yourself, just try to avoid shining the laser pointer in the fish's eyes. You don't want to damage their eyes.)

I do this on a regular basis with my neon tetras. They will chase the laser as a school.  It is really interesting behavior.

[gardenman]

Yeah, big fish, small fish, they all chase the dot. Kind of makes you wonder why no one makes a fishing lure with a laser on it.