How Many of You...

[Reefing Newbie]

Yeah that is why I am suprised the female hasn't changed yet. It may be changing for all I know... Would maybe having a "super" or "terminal" male help keep females in check? My lfs told me that they labouti was a super male when I asked what it was and he said they have to rule the tank for a long time to get to that point... Are super males more dominant or aggressive than just a plain male?

 

[nonimmigrant]

Yeah that is why I am suprised the female hasn't changed yet. It may be changing for all I know... Would maybe having a "super" or "terminal" male help keep females in check? My lfs told me that they labouti was a super male when I asked what it was and he said they have to rule the tank for a long time to get to that point... Are super males more dominant or aggressive than just a plain male?

My understanding is that "super males" are just the super horn dogs of that group of wild cirhillabri, which would include females and sub-males. Take him out of that competitve environment and you just have a male in his terminal phase with less of a hormone load. A big full grown male would certainly keep the fems in check. The problem is that once you start the changing process, you're done. So you could have a fem on the way to being male and not be able to tell visually. I'm still a pairs guy.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

The same lfs had a pair of some kind of fairy wrasse. I only saw the genus, for species it just said sp. I am unable to remember the common name for it. The "female" was about the same size as the male, so it could be on its way to being one...

 

[nonimmigrant]

Could be. Now that said my female Whip Fin has not changed and she's been in a year and the only Whip Fin as are my fem Anampses meleagrides and melanurus. My female Flame is small. Her soon to be hubby is already in Hong Kong and is being shipped up in 2 weeks. He's a full grown male - we'll see what happens!

 

[Reefing Newbie]

I may try my luck and get either three female exquisites or two females and a larger male(budget pending). I definantly want to try it out and see what happens.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

I just have a question. Why are the flame wrasses on PIA so much cheaper than the flame wrasses on LADD? If they are that cheap I would buy 3 females and see how it goes, knowing that I could recover the cost later...