Male Salvini - How long to color up?

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ilovecacichlids;5013377; said:
but also remember the females will have more color then the males
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Exactly. I bought a salvini a few years ago and didn't realize this. The fish turned out to be a male and reached about seven inches, but was never all that colorful. Maybe with a female he would have shown more, but if I ever get a salvini again, I'll make sure to get a female.
 
Did you male sal look like the one in the picture? He still is that dark and is the king of the tank right now. Eating just fine, poops normal, etc.

Not sure why he is still so dark.
 
I have two sals that are dull as well. Only instead of being black they are very pale, almost silver all over. There is no yellow at all. One is about 4" the other 3". I think they are both male. I am hoping they color up soon, as right now they are very drab.
 
At first I didn't notice your black sand but now I'm almost sure that's the reason he's so dull.

I've seen several species of brilliantly colored cichlids become almost brown/black on dark substrate. While it's true that dark sand brings out the color of some fish really well, it can also work the other way.

Here you can see what I'm talking about:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2918257&postcount=7

I've read many threads like that on this website, with certain fish losing their color over black substrate.
 
Yeah it seems to make the saum's colors really pop, but he's staying this color.

Might trade him in maybe for another Nic as they don't seem to be dulled out because of it either.
 
Males just aren't as colorful as females. It didn't matter which tank I had mine in and what the gravel was like or whether he was the dominant fish. You're best bet might be to get a female and see if her presence brings out his colors, but you'd probably have to keep them alone as I understand Salvini pairs can be hard on tank mates.
 
Yeah I wouldn't want to put a female Sal in my tank, it would be WW3 in there and that's something I really don't want to deal with.
 
Gorgeous fish. Even when stressed. I love Sal's.
 
Well, I have a spare 40g breeder and some tan sand I could setup for him, maybe find him a nice little female and see if I can't get any fries with that ^^
 
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