Salvini Issue

[foley69]

i have noticed that my salvini isnt the bright yellow it is meant to be i know my tank is fine though because my jd convict shark and all my other cichlids are fine im just concerned about why my salvini isnt full colour he is acting fine and eating normal seems fine can anybody help me out ???

this is the little fella he is about 2.5"

 

[Davo86]

how long have you had it?
not too sure about Salvinis (never seen one around my way) but that may just be the juvenile colours, I know with some species the intense colours usually occur when the fish matures at about 4inches

 

[foley69]

i have had him about 3 week and i was thinking it may be the juvinile colours but i wasnt sure

 

[shroob]

I remember reading somewhere a while ago (might have been cichlid-forum) that the blue colouration of salvini used to be more common than it is now, and had a stunning picture of a large adult male with intense blue colouration. In my opinion looked alot better than a 'regular' salvini.

Could also be juvi colours as suggested, but from what I can remember all salvini's I've seen had the 'classic' yellow colouration, and I've seen some pretty young sals (1" or less). I wouldn't be too worried, I wouldn't say theres anything wrong with him (can't make out a black blotch near the dorsal fin).

Some salvini's with no yellow.

A stunning 9-10" male (taken from MFK)

 

[foley69]

thanks shroob just needed some peace of mind he may still just be in his juvi colours but i like the look of the pics u posted he is still only around 2.5" at the most ...any idea of how big these grow too as iv heard they get 15cm and some places they grow 22cm ?

 

[juanveldez]

my first question would be how big is the JD and how long has be been in there

 

[shroob]

Male sals can reach 8-9" but is usually less (6" or there around), though in some rare occasions can be more.

I also think what Juan is hinting at could also be possible for the colouration of the sal (stressed by JD I think is what the point is).

 

[juanveldez]

could be any of the other cichlid tankmates that are doing the bullying. but it is a very real chance that it is happening.

 

[foley69]

the JD is roughly 3" and the sal is 2.5" he chases him once in a while but everything seems to be fine aggression wise

 

[juanveldez]

well then I would say that the JD established its self as king of the tank and the sal is just taking on a sub dominate pose as to avoid aggression.

 

[foley69]

good just wanted to clear the air and make sure nothing was wrong and it seems the JD is the QUEEN as she seems to have the brightest colours

 

[juanveldez]

could also just be the color gravel chosen, by the looks of your tank in the pics that I have seen light color gravel will often times wash out color as well. though it could still just be a domninance issue too.