Oliver from Aqoutix some time ago gave me 4 individuals that were indeed true.
Pics above, look to me as there's been a colony of perlmut and P.liv living together in a breeders tank, and possibly hybridised or cross multiple species milt over eggs at fertilisation time.
P.liv have the slang name of the Malawi shell dweller,, they do not need or havnt adapted to using empty shells in the reproduction process,,, but given a tank with correct size shells, and giving that the males are ridiculously agressively harsh on its own kind,, the small size females in comparison to the male, will take common refuge in the shell, and like most malawis, they'll look for a sheltered area to spit fry also, so the shell becomes a shelter for the fry.
I think there are instances naturally in wild where a shells happened to be correct size and happens occasionally. (Adaptation at play ?)
I bred hundreds of these, managed to sell 20, certainly were hard to sell at that time, unfortunately my last male and female the other day, the female died, as the male killed off their last chance for existence in my system.
These fish are best kept with another species of fish that can't hybridise, I kept mine with flamebacks,,,,, It helps the P.liv to unite together as a colony in the form of competition against the flame backs.
This technique is called dithering.
Edited by Buccal, 24 October 2016 - 07:01 AM.