Coloration

[ataller]

Does the presence of females solely guide the coloration of terminal male fairy wrasses?

There is a lineatus that has been at my LFS for months because he is a bit drab looking. If I were to take him home and give him a good diet could he color up? Or would I need to add females? Or would he just stay his drab coloration because he has already transitioned to male?

Adam

 

[rssjsb]

Well it sounds like he's not a terminal male. For some fish (e.g., parrotfish), a subdominant male will never turn into a terminal male in a group. In harems, when the dominant male dies, one of the females becomes the brightly colored terminal male. Never a subdominant male.

I don't know if that applies to fairy wrasses, but I also wouldn't assume necessarily that a submale would turn terminal even with females. And the fish might color up a little anyway in a more comfortable situation. It just might never get the terminal male colors you're after.

 

[ataller]

Thanks for the information.

So submales will remain submales. Gotcha.

 

[ataller]

I suppose the next natural question then is how does one tell submale from the head honcho ? Color alone ? Finnage?

Could the one at the lfs be just a drab looking terminal male ?

 

[evolved]

Thanks for the information.

So submales will remain submales. Gotcha.

Not necessarily...

The problem with your question is there is no simple answer. A sub-male may go terminal without any females present, and without any other wrasses present for that matter. However, any females present of male fairy wrasses of a different species would greatly increase the chances in your favor. A sub-male by itself is a total coin toss.

Only terminal males develop the red tails. My avatar makes a nice example.

Terminal males cannot revert; however sub-males (aka transitional males) can. How well a terminal male fairy wrasse keeps it's color without conspecifics varies by species. In the case of C. lineatus, the males keep color quite well; I'd say 90%.