Large male flame wrasse won't flash

holdyourlight

holdyourlight

New member
I have a ~4" Male flame wrasse that is somewhere between male and supermale. He NEVER displays/flashes for the female. Could it be that he is just not interested in her? What would be the likelyhood for him to start to flash if i add 2 more females? I don't want to waste $/room in the tank with 2 more females if not......
 
I've never kept one of these gorgeous fish, but have a couple in the same genus. I may be wrong; but these are fairy wrasse, not flasher wrasse. I'm not sure they are supposed to flash. Neither my Exquisite or Scott's ever flash. maybe they need a trenchcoat?
 
I'm no wrasse expert but I've been told that the presence of other males will get them to flash more often. Not sure if that would cause aggression issues in your particular tank
 
njudson said:
I'm no wrasse expert but I've been told that the presence of other males will get them to flash more often. Not sure if that would cause aggression issues in your particular tank
Click to expand...

I don't know about Flames; but putting more than one male of most fish in this genus is really asking for trouble.
Edit: I just read that they will sometimes flash during courtship. This is common with many fish. If this is the case, I wouldn't expect them to flash until both a male & female are mature. I just have males, so no courtship rituals.
 
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holdyourlight said:
What would be the likelyhood for him to start to flash if i add 2 more females? I don't want to waste $/room in the tank with 2 more females if not......
Click to expand...
NOT an expert, but I started last year, with 2 males and 3 F...now have 3M and 2F, and 1 of the F may still turn M. Very little displaying, despite a tank full of wrasses.
On the other hand, my friend has a supermale, with no Fs, and the thing displays constantly.
 
I've had 2 males together, it did not work out well

I've heard that more females = more flashing, but that does not seem to be the consensus so far in this thread...

Maybe snorvich will chime in...
 
< is the friend albano was reffering too. mine super male flash's all the time even before i really started adding other wrasse's, but he likes to show off, i catch him flashing himself alot on the side of the tank, do try the mirror, it will see its self and flash. since adding other wrasse's i cant say it flash's alot more, but i do have a few other wrasse's, super male Cirrhilabrus jordani- super male Cirrhilabrus lineatus- super male Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis- super male Paracheilinus lineopunctatus-paired Paracheilinus octotaenia- 1 un-known species

so i have alot of flashing going on all the time, and no aggression yet
 
NyReefNoob said:
< is the friend albano was reffering too. mine super male flash's all the time even before i really started adding other wrasse's, but he likes to show off, i catch him flashing himself alot on the side of the tank, do try the mirror, it will see its self and flash. since adding other wrasse's i cant say it flash's alot more, but i do have a few other wrasse's, super male Cirrhilabrus jordani- super male Cirrhilabrus lineatus- super male Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis- super male Paracheilinus lineopunctatus-paired Paracheilinus octotaenia- 1 un-known species

so i have alot of flashing going on all the time, and no aggression yet
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reefnoob- does yours have a full yellow body all of the time or only when it is flashing? mine seems to have more of a pale body when it is not excited
 
he looks like my avatar, when it does flash the colors intensify though, but they do on all flasher\fairies, when i got him he was only about 4" and had a female that went with him till it carpet surfed one day when i was doing a wc, it close to 6" now the lint is about 6" and rhomb is about 5"
 
We've had a mated pair of Flame Wrasses for about a year. The male was a Terminal/Super Male when we got them.

This is what he looks like when he is courting/displaying:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/4940932044/" title="fw 447 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4940932044_e2c60e2971_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="fw 447"></a>

He does this a lot. When he's not courting/displaying he looks like this:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5633910436/" title="DSC_5755 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5142/5633910436_b082d3f63a_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="DSC_5755"></a>

Our female looks like this:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5633908182/" title="nt 1026 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5064/5633908182_345c0fc8e3_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1026"></a>
 
Nice pics mike. That female is a stage 1 male

Gonna try to get a pic of mine later

still haven't decided if adding females will help his flashing/progression..
 
holdyourlight said:
What does it accomplish though?
My theory on why he is not flashing is that he is not interested in the female that's in the tank and i am wondering if adding 2 more females will spark his interest
Click to expand...
I believe, it would show if he'll display with 'other' males...
 
holdyourlight said:
Nice pics mike. That female is a stage 1 male

Gonna try to get a pic of mine later

still haven't decided if adding females will help his flashing/progression..
Click to expand...

Thanks holdyourlight! Interesting... I thought she might be turning male several months ago when our dominant female Lyretail changed, but after the initial color change that happened over a 3 day period, there has been no further change. Not to mention, the two Flame Wrasses continue to do their elaborate mating dances, LOL. I guess as long as they are getting along, it's ok by me. :p

And the mirror trick does work.
 
I have owned 2 flames for about 4 months now and initially i bought them as females. It took 1 month for the one female to turn male and for the last 2 months that male starts flashing right around 8:30-9 :00 pm every day. He gets that purple color like in the picture posted above, all fins flared, its a pretty nice show to watch.
 
will say this, after my initial female flame jumped, i added 2 more but were close to being male, was fine for a few weeks till one of them started going more male, then my super male wasnt going for it and started the constant chasing,
 
I have T5 ATI PM lighting. Not sure if it's a coincendence, but as soon as my main light goes off and only the dusk/dawn light stays on, the male flame wrasse flashes much more frequently. My dusk/dawn light combination is fiji purple with an ATI blue plus. Maybe the cooler lighting puts the male flame wrasse in the mood. Sort of like dimming the light in your bedroom. :inlove:
 
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