? about fairy wrasses and stocking

[billyzbear]

Do female fairy wrasses ever change to male? Do male fairy wrasses loose thier color if there are no females like them?
I have a 150g tank. 6x2x20"
desjardini tang
pair of bimac anthias
pair of Ocellaris Clownfish
pair of mandarin gobies
algae blenny
tailspot blenny
midas blenny
royal gramma
male mccosters flasher wrasse
female flame wrasse
I'm planning to add another female flame wrasse and hoping one of them will turn male. I've been thinking of adding a male exquisite and a female if I can find one but if I can't will the male loose his color? I've also been thinking of adding a male lineatus but worry if it will loose it's color and I'm not sure if my male bimac anthias will like him being in the tank. The male bimac is somewhat aggressive, sometimes he chases the smaller fish. I haven't seen any marks from biteing.
info/suggestions?

 

[Monkeyfish]

Females do sometimes change to males (some species more than others). I think the chance of this happening increases if you have a group of females.

Some male wrasses will lose some of their color if no females are around.

 

[cmaxwell39]

There is a good chance the male exquisite will lose his color without a female present (althogh if you keep a number of male fairy wrasse with him he may hold his color due to the competition for dominance from the other males).

The Lineatus will not lose color without a female, or at least not as much as some others.

Generally speaking, the green and blue based fairy wrasses will lose the vibrant coloration of the males with no females present, while the red and yellow based ones will not as quickly.

As far as getting another female flame and having one turn male, yes that would work. The only danger here is that both females start changing to male at the same time and you end up with two males, one of which would probably not survive. Try to get a female that is a different size than the one you currently have to try and help with this.

Good luck. I have the same size tank and have a pair of exquisites, a male rhomoboid (had a pair, the female took a ride down the overflow to the basement sump and got caught in a filter sock), a female turning male labouti(bought as a pair, the male did not make it), and a male lineatus. I love fairy wrasses and think they will make great additions to your tank.

 

[billyzbear]

It seems to me that my male bimac anthias wants to play the role of dominate male. Do you think it would be a problem trying to add a male lineatus? Most of the time the bimac is fine but when there is food in the water is when he shows off. He is always hungery.

 

[reefjunkie42]

the thing with anthias and wrasses in the same tank is they feed from the same part of the water column. so it can potetially see other wrasses as threats to food supply. as far as dominance goes in hierarchiey they are in different classes. where the issues will arise are with feeding perceptions IMO.

 

[nonimmigrant]

IME the Lineatus will not pay much attention to your Bimac other than to flash him off if he's being overly aggressive. I see the same with my male Lineatus and three male Bartletts...

 

[billyzbear]

I'm not worried about the wrasse picking a fight. Is your lineatus bigger than the anthias? Is he an aggressive eater? Is he keeping his color or do you have a female?