why is my blood parrot turning white!

Question
My blood parrot is turning white underneath! It's kind of light. I have a 55 gallon tank with 6 ciclids. Most of them are my blood parrots size. I do have 1 that's 2 inches and 1 that's a little bit more than half a foot. My blood parrot is circling with my fire mouth chiclid. My blood parrot is only turning  white underneath. Why is this happening?

Answer
Hi Joyce,
 Assuming that the fish is healthy and the white is not the result of physical damage, the color change could be perfectly normal for a blood parrot.  Blood parrot cichlids are manmade hybrids.  One of the parent species is a fish called a red devil and these fish naturally change colors as they mature.  They often start out as "tan" when small, then go orange (like a blood parrot) but then might loose some of that color, often in patches.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>