Lyretail anthias sex change....a new record?

[SDguy]

I can't believe how quickly my lyretail anthias changed from completely female colors to virtually completely male in 7 days.

November 8, 2006 Can't even tell which one it is in this pic...I think it's the one in the middle though...

November 11, 2006 Slight darkening...

November 12:

November 13:

And today, November 14:

Anyone else have a similar experience, with the change happening so quickly?

 

[Ironsheikh]

your tank looks really healthy and you prob feed really well --

 

[zemuron114]

that is impressive. i really think it is due to the lack of dominance in the previous male. Any squabbling???

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8549818#post8549818 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zemuron114
that is impressive. i really think it is due to the lack of dominance in the previous male. Any squabbling???

Previous male? I've only ever had three lyretails in the tank, all female. Minor squabbling...nothing major...just the dominant fish keeping dominance I assume...

Luckily the one lowest in the pecking order is larger than second in line, so it doesn't get bothered too much.

 

[SDguy]

Looks like he's done changing, so I thought I'd finish off this thread...

 

[Ironsheikh]

crazy what hormones can do ;-) nice fish Im trying to decide between these or dispars

 

[danfrith]

Nice fish, love the last picture!

 

[rccarlton]

That is quick. I read somewhere that it's just a few days in the wild. Looks like a good sign - they all look fat and healthy. I had a school in my previous tank and it took several weeks/months for the complete transformation.

 

[RichConley]

the male is definitely the bottom one in the pic of 3. Take a look at the dorsal fin. THe extended first ray is already there.

 

[plancton]

How did you take care of your anthias?, I also bought 3 females and 1 male lyretail for my 70 gal, the male didn't look healthy. They were very timid, I fed them cyclop eeze and they ate it. They got harrased by my blue tang, in a few days they would hide a lot, they would spit the food out. And one by one they died.

My LFS guy told me that anthias are really bad eaters, very delicate. In a future I want to go anthias, since they look beatiful in groups, what meassures should I take?

 

[SDguy]

Almost a year later....

 

[cirujano]

My favorite Anthias!
I have four tiny females Lyretail for a month already.
Hopefully, one will turn male.

 

[yoboyjdizz]

Beautiful i love it. Looks very healthy and fat.

 

[SDguy]

Yeah, he's actually become "taller" after comparing the pics...

 

[adddo]

Cant wait for one of my females to turn male, beautiful fish.

 

[bstone]

I had one male and 12 females. Within a week one female turned into a male, and then about 5 months later another one turned into a male. So, I have 3 males now. Its very cool to watch the transformation!

Good Luck!

 

[SDguy]

Not surprising in a 680g tank! :eek2:

 

[SDguy]

I guess I will continue the developments here. I lost the male anthias recently (see here ). The next in line was either going to be an Indo female, or another Maldive female (both around the same size, except that the male only exhibited spawning behavior with the Indo female). Well, it's Indo FTW... it'll be nice to have a different colored male for the next several years....

She is already getting the dark ends on the dorsal and pelvic fins, and the spots on the pectoral fins are already faintly visible...

With a smaller Maldive female. The Indo one was always darker.

 

[xxtriggermanxx]

Pete , what's the time span of this second change. I have a trio of lyretails and a pair of square spots and my sub male lyretail still hasn't completely changed . It's been over a year ! any ideas on how to speed him up?

 

[SDguy]

The old male died last weekend, and these pics of the new changing female are from today.