Lyretail anthias advice needed -males

[Hal]

So I bought 7 lyre tail anthias and put them in my QT about 10 weeks ago. I ended up losing 6 of the 7 in the first two weeks. I saw some predation by the now lone survivor on the others. I lost 3 in the first 48 hours, which I attribute to shipping/stress. The other 3 were dead within 14 days. (There is also a flame angel in the QT, who is doing fine. No signs of aggression vs. the lyre tails).

I plan to replace the 6 I lost, but for reasons I won't go into here, it may not happen for 2-3 months from now.

I'm worried that if I add the remaining lyre tail to my display tank she will turn male. Then when I put the new 6 in my QT for 8-10 weeks one of them will start to turn male, and when they all go into my display tank the two males will fight.

How long does it take for a lyre tail to become male?
Will my lone lyre tail turn male absent any females?
Should I keep my lone lyre tail in my QT so that when I finally add the new ones if there is trouble I can catch and isolate fish as necessary? For other reasons? Once my lyre tail goes in my DT I probably won't be able to ever catch him again.

 

[eatbreakfast]

So I bought 7 lyre tail anthias and put them in my QT about 10 weeks ago. I ended up losing 6 of the 7 in the first two weeks. I saw some predation by the now lone survivor on the others. I lost 3 in the first 48 hours, which I attribute to shipping/stress. The other 3 were dead within 14 days. (There is also a flame angel in the QT, who is doing fine. No signs of aggression vs. the lyre tails).

I plan to replace the 6 I lost, but for reasons I won't go into here, it may not happen for 2-3 months from now.

I'm worried that if I add the remaining lyre tail to my display tank she will turn male. Then when I put the new 6 in my QT for 8-10 weeks one of them will start to turn male, and when they all go into my display tank the two males will fight.

How long does it take for a lyre tail to become male?
Will my lone lyre tail turn male absent any females?
Should I keep my lone lyre tail in my QT so that when I finally add the new ones if there is trouble I can catch and isolate fish as necessary? For other reasons? Once my lyre tail goes in my DT I probably won't be able to ever catch him again.

It does not take long for a female anthias to at least begin acting"male" and beginning its transition. You are in a tough spot as far as what to do. My personal suggestion is leave the anthias in qt until you get the others so that it is easier to remove one if necessary. Also, what size is qt. I would also add a lot more pieces of pvc for cover for the new anthias.

 

[Fragman4]

Keep the lone lyretail in qt and add the new additons. This will be the easiest approach.

 

[DrSoussou]

Got 5 small female lyretails in my 150 gal back when the only other fish in the tank were a couple of maroons. When I added a leopard wrasse and a solar wrasse, all hell broke loose. Days later I noticed some of the anthias disappearing. When there were only three left, I witnessed the largest female rip the gills off another anthias. I don't know if adding a male would have helped initially but at this point I'm just keeping the one that killed all the others. It's alone now, and still hasn't and never has shown any sign of turning into a male. These fish are weird

 

[nuxx]

Keep the lone lyretail in qt and add the new additons. This will be the easiest approach.

Yeap...

Also we went to Hawaii and had just put our 5 Lyretail Anthias in the display from QT, all female.

When we got back 10 days later, we had a full on male... would have loved to see the change

 

[Hal]

Keep the lone lyretail in qt and add the new additons. This will be the easiest approach.

Thanks. That is the plan.

My lone lyretail has been by itself (other than the flame angel) for 6+ weeks now, and I don't see any visual signs of it becoming male.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Without females present, there's less biological reason to expend the energy to turn male. A lone female may or may not change, or may change but less drastically (dorsal spike, muted color change). With multiple individuals present, the outward color change can happen in less than a week. With a group of females in QT, I would expect one to be male by the time they leave QT (that was my experience with my group of lyretails). Safest bet is to leave the existing fish in QT so they can all figure it out together when the new fish arrive.

 

[Hal]

What are the chances that a dominant lyretail starting killing off everyone else, as has been known to happen with chromis? I'm just surprised that I lost 6 of 7.

 

[nuxx]

What are the chances that a dominant lyretail starting killing off everyone else, as has been known to happen with chromis? I'm just surprised that I lost 6 of 7.

The male has picked one of our females eyes to pretty much nothing left. Leaves the other's alone.

 

[jbvdhp]

This thread makes me worry. I have four that have been together for over 2 months +:1 month at the LFS, and one month + with me. Perfect condition at the LFS; one month + home with me, in QT they're doing the kissing/locking lips dominance thing, and two days back into the DT, there's nothing but nipped tail fins all over the place between them. I would hate to lose any of them.

 

[nuxx]

This thread makes me worry. I have four that have been together for over 2 months +:1 month at the LFS, and one month + with me. Perfect condition at the LFS; one month + home with me, in QT they're doing the kissing/locking lips dominance thing, and two days back into the DT, there's nothing but nipped tail fins all over the place between them. I would hate to lose any of them.

It's funny no nipped fins here...

Just the eye thing...

Apart from it's eye being pretty much gone, it's acting normal...