# Female Salvini



## EliRN3 (Oct 1, 2012)

This post is more of a request, but I would like to compare my rather drab female Salvini to others. She has great blue spangling and colored up once with her male Salvini tank mate, but continues to be rather dark.

Any recommendations from others? I have heard that feeding shrimp will bring out the yellows.

All the best


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## CMN (Mar 24, 2011)

Here's what mine looked like. Not sure how she compares to yours.










For feeding I did a variety as this was a CA/SA community tank - pellets, spirulina flake and I did feed market shrimp as I had a spiny eel in this tank.


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## Koteckn (May 16, 2012)

Ill have to get you a picture of mine now that it's about 4-4.5". She stayed rather drab, basically like your's for at least 4-6 months for me. Once she reached the 4" mark is when she began to bloom.

Also, be careful in dealing with your tank parameters etc. They tend to be 'more' prone to sickness the younger they are. Weekly water changes and a healthy diet will combat this however.

Ill try to get a picture when I get home from work.

- H


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## EliRN3 (Oct 1, 2012)

Thanks. My female salvini is dark, but has beautiful blue spangling. Here are some pictures of her:

hiding in her pot-









sneaking around front-









no flash-









with flash-









Does anyone else's female salvini look like mine? As I mentioned, she did color up real yellow with a red belly when I initially added a male. They had one spawn, but it didn't fertilize.

All the best
Eli


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## EliRN3 (Oct 1, 2012)

And I neglected to mention that she is big (5+inches) and over 3 years old.

Eli


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

Your "female" looks pretty male-ish to me. Can you get any better pics with the tank lights on and no flash?

EDIT: Nevermind.. Just saw you had said she was paired up with a male. She does have quite a lot of blue spangles for a female.. They can however vary quite a bit as far as coloring goes though.


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## EliRN3 (Oct 1, 2012)

She has spawned twice before. Once when she didn't have a tank mate. lol, she aerated them and it was quite funny to observe because I had taped a picture of a male to color her up.  The second time was when I first introduced the male.

The male tank mate is yellow and looks like a standard salvini. lol, she just doesn't have much yellow in her and is very skittish. I think it's just her personality.

All the best
Eli


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## Koteckn (May 16, 2012)

Your Sal is very drab and, like mentioned above, does have a ton of blue associated with it... I'm wondering if it's possible that it isn't a pure Sal and actually a hybrid because if it is a female, It should be more colorful in most cases. Males tend to be the ugly fish in this case. Here's a quick video of my Sal to show how much color mine's showing at about 4-4.5". I hope someone can chime in dealing with the purity of both yours and mine in this case. Maybe they're both pure with a different collection point... I'm lost here in this case.






- H


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## CMN (Mar 24, 2011)

Agreed with Koteckn. When I had a male he was dark and drab in coloration which was part of the reason why I got rid of him (other reason why is because he couldn't play nice in a community setup). But he looked a lot like your female.


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## EliRN3 (Oct 1, 2012)

Curious. I wonder if she is a hybrid. I got her at less than an inch and she had some yellow, but all the juvenile salvini in her tank were close in color. I have always assumed that she was just very shy and skittish, thus the drab color from stress.

Is there a salvini expert who can advise?


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## bwestgsx06 (Sep 21, 2011)

Koteckn said:


> Your Sal is very drab and, like mentioned above, does have a ton of blue associated with it... I'm wondering if it's possible that it isn't a pure Sal and actually a hybrid because if it is a female, It should be more colorful in most cases. Males tend to be the ugly fish in this case. Here's a quick video of my Sal to show how much color mine's showing at about 4-4.5". I hope someone can chime in dealing with the purity of both yours and mine in this case. Maybe they're both pure with a different collection point... I'm lost here in this case.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Why was she swimming like that? Strong current? Seemed like a little bit of gill flaring going on as well...

To the OP, mine is colored up pretty good right now but she has a male with her in my 125... I really like when females have a ton of the black on the dorsal fin


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## CrypticLifeStyle (Dec 14, 2009)

That is a big rock in that tank lol


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## Koteckn (May 16, 2012)

Haha, ya I use some pretty large rocks... the one you were probably referring to is about 50+ lbs.

As for the current in my tank, I'm turning about 700gph from my sump to spray bar and also use 2 wavemakers rated at 425gph.

Further more, she tries to be tank boss from time to time by gill flaring etc like you've said. Once my large Severum or Dempsey gets upset, she backs right down. I believe she acts this way because I have a juvenile Firemouth in the tank as well, probably about 3", which also had a lateral stripe. I'm guessing this is why she swims, flares and acts like that.

- H


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## Koteckn (May 16, 2012)

update: the Sal from that video and JD have began lip locking finally after about 5 months with each other. I honestly thought this would happen much sooner.

My friend is setting up his 125 SA/CA tank in the next week or so, meaning the Sal will have a larger home to grow-out in (good call bwestgsx06). My fish keep growing and my stock list keeps declining, the only thing that stinks with not having a 300gal and keeping SA/CAs.

- H


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## EliRN3 (Oct 1, 2012)

Here are some better pictures of my Sals:

female:



















Here is one of her smaller male tank mate, I love his color:










Do any salvini experts think she's a hybrid?


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## EliRN3 (Oct 1, 2012)

or is she just a drab female? If so, can I do anything else to color her up?

Eli


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Your larger female is a hybrid, with at least part salvini in it. The blue facial spotting simply doesn't occur on any salvini that I've seen or found in photos. Look at Google images, you will see very quickly that males can have more blue lines under the eye, but not those fine spots. The body shape also seemed "off" from the beginning, but I've held back waiting for a better picture.

The second fish actually does look like a normal female salvini. Note the dark spot in the dorsal, males will not have that. Likely that is also why the eggs didn't hatch, it is not uncommon for two females to act like a pair if no males are present.

Now you will probably ask what the salvini was crossed with. I don't know, and while there may be several guesses to follow, you will never be certain. It is an unusually colored fish, salvini hybrids are not too common from what I've seen. Enjoy her for the beautiful spangling she possesses.


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## EliRN3 (Oct 1, 2012)

Thanks for the comment Mr. Chromedome. I did a quick image search and found a range of coloration.
Ie.

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/cichlid_of_month/Cichlasoma_salvini.html
This fish is drab

However, the second fish photo I posted only appears to have the blotch marking of a female. The image is poor quality and is more of an edging to the dorsal fin. I am familiar with the sexing by this mark and the eggs were not fertilized because I inserted a divider before they were laid. She seems intent to breed and has done so by herself when I first had her.

I will try and get a better image of him to confirm.

I am not overly concerned with the purity of her genetics, but was hoping to "yellow" her up. She's very attractive and I'll have to settle for one yellow cichlid.


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