Blackspotted Leopard wrasse M. meleagris changing to male!

[BeanMachine]

I've had my Blackspotted Leopard wrasse (M. meleagris) for about 8 months now, prior to that a friend had it for about a year or so.

I changed tanks about 3 weeks ago and had the opportunity to remove a really aggressive anthias which I did.

Right about since that time, the Leopard has started to change colors to male! Woohoo! I've never seen this in person, only read about it on the internet or in books so its exciting to see something like this first hand!

I've also got a female Potters Leopard.... have had that one about 6 months. No change on that and unsure if that is why this one changed.

Here are some before and after pics, not the greatest but you can see the difference I think.

Post your experiences as well!

 

[Hookup]

now that is cool.

 

[snorvich]

Yes, it is cool. If I were to speculate, it would be because of removal of the aggressor.

 

[BeanMachine]

Does anyone know how long it takes the wrasse to change completely? Months? A year?

 

[snorvich]

Does anyone know how long it takes the wrasse to change completely? Months? A year?

Weeks not months. What is your feeding regime?

 

[BeanMachine]

Weeks not months. What is your feeding regime?

Sometimes I'll take a later lunch and go home about 1pm when the lights come on. When I do I'll feed either flakes or mysis.

When I get home at 5 or so, I'll feed 1 cube of hikari mysis. Once they eat that I'll do a healthy pinch of flakes (either formula 2- most of the time, or formula 1), or NLS Thera 1mm pellets.

About 2 or so hours later, maybe around 8. I'll feed some more flakes or pellets, whichever I didn't earlier.

From time to time, maybe once or twice a week I'll feed a cube of cyclops sp....

On the weekends I will feed a bit more cause I'm bored and its the weekend so we all have fun!

This guy eats everything. My potters will only eat pellets, mysis, and cyclops.

OH, I've got 12 fish. Purple Tang, Foxface, Melanurus wrasse, the two leopard wrasses, yellow canary wrasse, blue streak cleaner wrasse, royal gramma, banded pipefish, two clowns, and a small white watchman goby.

 

[BeanMachine]

Here is the M meleagris Female over a year ago.

Here is a current pick of my SheMale... taken yesterday.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Does anyone know how long it takes the wrasse to change completely? Months? A year?

I agree with snor... the changeover is very quick IME. Take pix every other day!

How many meleagris do you have in that aquarium right now?

 

[BlueFyre]

How neat! Be sure to post lots of pictures.

 

[BeanMachine]

I agree with snor... the changeover is very quick IME. Take pix every other day!

How many meleagris do you have in that aquarium right now?

Just one, although i was thinking o trying two more but haven't decided on that yet. I have a potters wrasse also. I'll do my best to get pics but my friend did say he'd come over again maybe next weekend to snap some more of him. If not I'll just have to use the cell phone.

How neat! Be sure to post lots of pictures.

Will do. Might be camera phone but I'll post progress shots for sure.

 

[loki32687]

Wow, that's really cool. I'll be checking in for progress pictures. Definitely on my list of wants for a fish. Hopefully, I'll get to see it happen in person.

 

[iamwrasseman]

it does happen very fast IMO . sometimes you look in your tank and wonder where the heck that fish came from .
i have had the pleasure of witnessing this a half dozen times and its soooooooo cool to see .as the others have stated take a few pictures and post them for us . i was never that smart to capture it on film ,well i mean with my digital camera .
have fun with it !

 

[Ralph ATL]

That is awesome! Great pics!! Hopefully mine will be doing the same soon!

 

[BeanMachine]

It is still making the change some months later. I swear its not done yet. I will try to get more pics. Its developed blues greens and pinks... but the spots are still visible underneath. I don't really have pics... He is too dang fast and is wary of the phone following him. I'll get a buddy to come over. I don't have any camera skills at all.

 

[BeanMachine]

I never updated this thread. Here is a pic from December 2011. He/she was displaying to a new fish I added. It was epic! I've never seen them stand up like this, it was hovering not moving for several seconds. Not the best pic but here you go.

Its almost been 9 months since the initial face change and I see more spots come through here and there, and some of the old pattern is still there but fading.

 

[BeanMachine]

I borrowed this photo, shows a terminal phase male that I hope mine will look like one day.

 

[BeanMachine]

So its now July 13, 2012... well over a year since the change began. He almost looks like the above, almost completely spotted. The black with yellow dot behind the gills is huge and pronounced now. He has definitely grown but not significantly. I would guesstimate he is 3.5".

I have a buddy coming over on Monday so I should be able to get updated pics with a nice camera and camera man.

 

[OrionN]

I got two Meleagris. One for about 2.5 years. I got her since she was just over 1 inch long in Houston. She grew to about 2.5 inches over the year in a 100 g cube tank (30X30X30) and is doing very well. Yesterday at GCReef here in Corpus Christi, I saw a very healthy Meleagris female and I got her also. This one is just uner 3 inches. The larger/newer female is lighter in color and also a little more orange around the fins. Maybe she have not fully addapted to my tank yet. Anyway, I also placed her in the same tank. Both seem to do very well today and seem to get along well. I hope that one will turn to a male soon. There are only three other fish in the tank. A Powder Blue tang and a A. percula Onyx pair that is spawn every 10 days or so. The tank have plenty of mysis and pods. I do feed flakes food twice a day and about every 3rd or so days I feed frozen Mysis inspead of PM flakes. Nori clip for the tang everyday also.

I hope I will be able to catch the fish changing on camera. It would be neat.

 

[nav jam]

Thats fantastic. I purchased two females 4 months ago with the hope that one would change. The slightly larger of the two had started to change two weeks ago.

The pattern on the face first started and is now looking alot more greener although still having black spots. My biggest regret is not having a decent camera to document the change on a daily basis.

 

[OrionN]

I am at work and usually get home past 6 PM. At about 6 PM my wrasses disappeared for the night in the sand. Most likely I can document weekly rather than daily. I would be nice to have them change in my tank.