Need to color up my Steveni Taiwan Reef

[NJGourami]

I bought two Steveni Taiwan Reef cichlids at about 1.5" full of color. They had blue heads with yellow and red in their bodies they were incredible. Now they have lost almost all their color except for a slight bluish hue to their heads. they are now about 2.5". I am feeding them NLS.

What can I do to get them to color up?

Stats
75 gallon african cichlid tank
lots of inhabitants
Filtration 2 xp2's, 1 aquaclear 300, 1 penguin 350b, two 350 gph penguin powerheads
Nitrite = 0
PH = 8.2
Ammonia = 0
Nitrate = 15ppm

 

[maxwell1295]

Wait...

If they had that much color at 1.5", then your fish were most likely hormoned. The color lasts just long enough for you to see the fish and want to buy it.....then it fades away. It'll eventually come back, but it takes some time (and growth) to get them to color up again. Don't expect to see much at 2.5". Here is a recent pic of my male. He's about 5" in length...

 

[NJGourami]

so they will color up eventually right? they aren't permenently ruined are they?

 

[maxwell1295]

Nope, the hormones temporarily show the fish's potential......what it could possibly look like. Sometimes they hormone the females enough that they are colored up like a mature male. In those cases, the fish would never regain the hormoned coloring. Hormones are just a way to make the fish look good enough to sell. Peacocks and Haps take a long time to reach their full coloration. Most don't look like much until they are around 3". Nobody would pay much for a bland looking fish.