Coley -
It is not all that surprising to see the char fading that quickly. At least that is the case here in Puget Sound region of Washington. Post spawn dominate males here lose that bight spawning color within days of completion of spawning.

Ran into a batch of post fish the other day that were only a couple weeks from spawning the majority to the males had less "color" than the one in your picture.

BTW -
I would guess that the "clown" char pictured is an artic char from one of the Artic rivers (such as the Tree).

Tight lines
Curt