# taiwan reef won't color up?



## roke28 (Oct 26, 2008)

Hello, I have a taiwan reef that just won't color up. His about 4 inches when I got him he was fully colored. Since then His just kinda flushed out. His tanks mates are 1 dragonblood, 4 yellow labs, 1 otter point jake. The Otter point is 4 inches and looks awesome. The dragon blood is fully grown with all his color too. There is some aggression but nothing out of the usual. I feed him twice a day NLS. 
I'm also wondering if you can recommened some good live food that I can try. Thanks


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## roke28 (Oct 26, 2008)

No pros on tonight :fish:


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

a) are you sure that the fish was not artificially hormoned at first, and might actually be female?

b) if the fish is at the bottom of the pecking order, the fish may not color up much. Just because the other males color up, does not mean he would also.

c) food is not really that much of a factor. There is no magic food to make a male color up.


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## roke28 (Oct 26, 2008)

He was never hormoned got him from a reputable breeder. Just because his number 3 in the tank he should still have some color. I'de think so anyways. I just added 1 OB and 1 Lwanda to the tank which are smaller then him. Do you think that might help his confidence? Thanks for the help


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## roke28 (Oct 26, 2008)

:zz:


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Hey, we are all at the ACA. :thumb:

Quite common in an all-male tank to have fish that won't color up because of other tank mates. Try removing the jake (even if you do it temporarily) and see what happens.

I agree with noki.


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## roke28 (Oct 26, 2008)

thanks for the help


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## des (Mar 30, 2011)

> Just because his number 3 in the tank he should still have some color.


Let #1 and #2 have a short holiday in the Q-tank to give #3 some time to colour back up. You could risk #1 and #2 losing some colour though.


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## Chunkanese (Feb 4, 2011)

In my old 90 set up with large aggressive mbuna and peacocks my juvi taiwan reef wouldnt colour up. I removed most of the aggressive fish and he went to full colour within maybe 3-5 days. Try taking some out even if temporary.


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## nlui220 (Feb 2, 2010)

I'm experiencing the same thing with my 4" Taiwan Reef & Protomelas Virgatus. I removed a Protomelas Steveni Imperial Gome a couple days ago and now the two guys are slowly putting on more color around the cheeks/body. In my case, I knew the culprit was the Imperial Gome.

Watch them carefully and try to pinpoint who's dominating them him. I'd look at the Dragon's blood and Otter Point. BTW, how large is your tank? A 6' footprint would give them more space to run & hide.


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## roke28 (Oct 26, 2008)

I think I pin pointed it to the jacob as the aggressor. I just recently added a smaller OB and Lwanda and it seems like his getting alittle more color. I'll try removing the jacob and see if that will help tho. Thanks for all the help guys :thumb:


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