Flame Wrasse

[scuzy]

Is my female Flame Wrasse turning into a male? THe male died 3 weeks ago in the QT and she's been all alone.

 

[tsiklauss]

I cant answer your question, but that is a beautiful fish!

 

[scuzy]

She's been showing a lot of yellow lately in the underbelly.

 

[NyReefNoob]

yes it is and looks like it was a sub-male anyways look at my avatar thats a full blown supermale

 

[philter4]

The fish in the photo is a male already, the photo below is a group we collected and you can see the color difference in the males and yours matches the male color more then the female. I don't know the normal time it takes a female to change to a male under normal circumstances but when the dominant male is removed the most dominant remaining female change really quickly so others don't make the change
.

 

[scuzy]

ok thanks for the info guys. So my best bet is to buy a trio female to pair with it? But if i have the trio in a QT for 3 weeks won't one of the females turn male and thus causing a havok in the tank?

 

[holdyourlight]

a little off topic but what lighting do you have him/her under? incredible color

 

[scuzy]

LED's actually

 

[mfish1]

Nice looking sub male.

 

[scuzy]

So if i was to get a few females and keep in QT for 3 weeks during that time the new females will have a male would that cause some fighting going into my
DT with this sub-male?

 

[prop-frags]

So if i was to get a few females and keep in QT for 3 weeks during that time the new females will have a male would that cause some fighting going into my
DT with this sub-male?

If your tank is large enough and you keep them "fat and happy" they can co-exist. We have a terminal male and sub-adult male and they get along. They were purchased as a "mated pair" over a year ago and several months back, for whatever reason, the female decided to morph.

Here's a pic of our sub-adult:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5795742803/" title="nt 1107 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5031/5795742803_64e00dd000_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1107"></a>

 

[albano]

Less than a year ago, I started with 2 males and 3 F...I now have 3 M (1 about to be supermale), and 2 F (1 of which is about to change to M)...they all get along fine, in my 450g DT, along with over 20 other wrasses (mostly males)



.

 

[gmpolan]

yeah, i think you would be fine adding the additional females, what causes the change to a super male? or do they just stay a sub male?

 

[philter4]

yeah, i think you would be fine adding the additional females, what causes the change to a super male? or do they just stay a sub male?

There are two ways a wrasse becomes a supermale in the wild, the first is they are primary males, which means they are male from the day they settle. These are the huge males you sometimes see that are so much brighter then a "normal" supermale. The other way is just age and dominance, if they are the only male or the dominant male they also become a supermale but are never as large as primary males.

There are also males that never become supermale, in fact that is how most males spend their lives, they still breed and are quite successful because they retain the female/juvenile color pattern and sneak up and spawn while the larger supermales are otherwise occupied. There are several articles to primary males (fish that are never female) and female patterned males that are referenced in fish studied in New Guinea and Hawaii if anyone wants to look them up.