man you see smaller and smaller faders coming out of thailand all the time... The fish is salable at a younger age and that means more money for the breeder. Trouble is that the easiest way to get this is by giving them hormone, fish faded with growth hormone speed up the process and fade quicker... this is also why you see tiny tiger oscars and red devils already red at 1 inch... it is possible to breed for fading at a younger and younger age, problem is this is analogous to breeding for a boy to grow a beard at a younger and younger age, you start messing with what is essentially the process of sexual maturity in the animal, and it results in all kinds of problems.
In order to do it without hormones seems like it would take longer than it has... Ergo I find all the 1 and 2 inch full faders coming out of thailand suspect. You're better off IMO waiting.
Of course there are natural ways to make a fader fade. All you must do is make it the dominant- it must be the only fading fish in the tank and be the largest fish of the group of its peers. Trouble then is that they fade to "king" status immediatley, and are thus very difficult to socialize later on.
Red devils can fade at 2 inches in this scenario so one could assume it may be possible for rt to do so, however having texas genes in there means dominance can be expressed by the black color phase as well, so it is best to have a larger amount of fader in there, of course the more fade you have the less chance you have pearl.
This is one of my rts that faded at about 2 inches, of course she had mostly fader gene - ergo not total pearl coverage.
All and all though sir, you asked a very complicated question with many facets. I would reccomend doing some research on natural fade cichlids, as fading is a very complex topic with them- it is similar to puberty but is also a measure of social status, with many variations ingraned in the fish's psyche. (For instance black spots - which are the result of a lost battle, fish gain and loose black spots as a measure of social standing). You must understand these things before you can make a rt fade quicker than it is now.
