# Confirming Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan" Taiwan Reef



## fishing12 (Dec 15, 2012)

Wanted to confirm this fishes identity before adding him to my male Hap/peacock tank. Dont want hybrids. I had posted this fish here about three months ago and it has changed a lot. Nice blue coming in and looking good. Back then nobody could tell for sure. Any thoughts now, best pictures I could get. Thanks!


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## kendallikeeper (Jan 28, 2013)

looks pretty good to me, from what i know the blaze on the forehead should be white than yellow. what color is yours?


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## fishing12 (Dec 15, 2012)

kendallikeeper said:


> looks pretty good to me, from what i know the blaze on the forehead should be white than yellow. what color is yours?


So far so good, he has a White blaze. I got him at a place that has sold hybrids and when I initially posted his pictures it was too young to determine if he was a hybrid. Thanks!


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

kendallikeeper said:


> looks pretty good to me, from what i know the blaze on the forehead should be white than yellow. what color is yours?


I know mine as it has grown has turned more yellow than white. Used to be bright white but now turning yellow to match the yellow on his sides.


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## fishing12 (Dec 15, 2012)

13razorbackfan said:


> kendallikeeper said:
> 
> 
> > looks pretty good to me, from what i know the blaze on the forehead should be white than yellow. what color is yours?
> ...


This guys has yellow sides starting to show, they used to be like a drab greyish color. How old and how large is your Taiwan? The one in the picture is a bout 3.5"


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

fishing12 said:


> 13razorbackfan said:
> 
> 
> > kendallikeeper said:
> ...


He is about a year old and about 5 to 5.5". He still doesn't have any red on him but that should come in soon. I have a 5.5" super red empress just now starting to show some blue on his head and orange on his heads. I have had them(empress') start coloring as small as 3" and some take longer before they start showing.


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## fishing12 (Dec 15, 2012)

Guess it all has to do with the usual stuff like pecking order etc. I would like him to get as much color as he can but I know some of my fish will and some wont show full potential, I just dont want to have a hybrid in the tank. Some hybrids are really nice like your Sulphur head that you posted a picture of a couple of months ago, just beautiful but for now I want to keep the tank as straight up as I can.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

fishing12 said:


> Guess it all has to do with the usual stuff like pecking order etc. I would like him to get as much color as he can but I know some of my fish will and some wont show full potential, I just dont want to have a hybrid in the tank. Some hybrids are really nice like your Sulphur head that you posted a picture of a couple of months ago, just beautiful but for now I want to keep the tank as straight up as I can.


I hear ya. I have a hybrid juvenile that I got from a friend. He is not sure what the two fish are that spawned because the female peacocks all look the same and he wasn't sure which male spawned with the female. I think it was his fryeri. I told him to give me the largest of the fry already showing some color and that is what he did. He brought me that one and two others. The largest one is growing incredibly fast and the colors on him at 3" are unbelievable. He is also very aggressive. He is clearly a very dominant fish. I don't mind keeping hybrid males because I don't breed any more and my friend allows his other fish to eat the ones he doesn't keep so he is all good there. I will try to post a pic of it later.


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## fishing12 (Dec 15, 2012)

Yeah please do I would like to see it, interesting combo if it is the Fryeri and a Peacock. I hate sounding like a fish snob because I'm not but for some reason I havent figured out yet I'm not looking to keep mixes as nice as some of them are. Maybe one day I'll change my mind and start an all Male Hybrid tank LOL! Wont be hard to do just a trip to a couple of the LFS and i'll be plenty stocked.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

fishing12 said:


> Yeah please do I would like to see it, interesting combo if it is the Fryeri and a Peacock. I hate sounding like a fish snob because I'm not but for some reason I havent figured out yet I'm not looking to keep mixes as nice as some of them are. Maybe one day I'll change my mind and start an all Male Hybrid tank LOL! Wont be hard to do just a trip to a couple of the LFS and i'll be plenty stocked.


Here are some I took a week or two ago when he first started coloring. He has colored more since then but I can't get him to sit still tonight. I think he will be fully colored in 2 months or so.


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## fishing12 (Dec 15, 2012)

13razorbackfan said:


> fishing12 said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah please do I would like to see it, interesting combo if it is the Fryeri and a Peacock. I hate sounding like a fish snob because I'm not but for some reason I havent figured out yet I'm not looking to keep mixes as nice as some of them are. Maybe one day I'll change my mind and start an all Male Hybrid tank LOL! Wont be hard to do just a trip to a couple of the LFS and i'll be plenty stocked.
> ...


That is exactly what you would expect a male Fryeri/Peacock to look like. Peacock shape with Fryeri coloration,Cool! Thanks for posting it.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Yeah...probably be mostly blue with orange and yellow on the fins. I can tell he is going to be very aggressive. Hybrids are very unpredictable.


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## fishing12 (Dec 15, 2012)

I just watched your video of you tank, nice fish in there. The Taiwan looks pretty nice, decent size.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

fishing12 said:


> I just watched your video of you tank, nice fish in there. The Taiwan looks pretty nice, decent size.


I have changed a lot around in that tank since I shot the video. I sold a bunch of the colored ones and added some more juveniles. I enjoy watching them mature and color. I then sell the larger colored fish which helps me buy all the goodies I need and want. I still have the Taiwan in that video and he has colored more yellow since but still not in full coloration. I am hoping the red on the anal fin comes in soon.


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## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

The OPs fish looks very close to one I was lucky enough to get from my LFS about a month ago, then it was mostly silver and just barely red tinges on the anal fin. A month later, he is holding his own in my mess of a mixed Mbuna/Hap?Peacock tank which is being transformed from mixed Mbuna/male Haps to an all male Haps/Peacocks this weekend  More about that later, but here's a pic of my guy which i had no clue was a Steveni when I purchased it I just figured he looked promising.


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