Male Lyretail Killing his females

[Noobeef]

Sooooo. I started off with 5 female lyretail anthias. One of them changed into a male about 3 months after I bought them. Recently, the male has decided he wants to destroy the school. He has quickly (by quickly I mean within the last week) killed 3 of the 4 females. Is this a normal behavior for anthias? When I say normal, I don't mean the predominant nature of them, but is it something that does happen from time to time? I know the tank is healthy. Water parameters are great, and I have SPS corals and other, less hardy fish thriving. I ask because I am wondering if I add some females to the tank, should I expect the male to do the same thing.

 

[falconut]

Anthias have a pecking order. I starts with the male, then the highest female until it reaches the weakest female. From what I understand, they will pick on the next weakest one down the line. This is just a simlified explaination.

So, to answer your question, it is possible normal behavior. I wouldn't recommend adding any more females. I was told to just a single anthias if I didn't have the room to add many. I did have a single male, then another time I had 2 females that did good for 4 years. The dominate female seamed to turn into a male.

 

[sanchoy]

Yes .. on the pecking order.

I started with 10 lyretails. One male all 9 females. The females battle all the time and kill the weakest. I now only have 5 lyretails. The attacks are pretty vicious. I also noticed that the dominant male will kill any female who tries to change morph into a male.

 

[jd474]

I generally don't see males bothering females that haven't started changing. Even in very large aquariums, we have the same problem. Eventually, most/all end up turning male, and fighting. At least the 6 or 7 species I've kept.

 

[Monkeyfish]

I also noticed that the dominant male will kill any female who tries to change morph into a male.

IMO this is most likely what occured in the OP's tank. For some reason a lot of female anthias seem to change to male in home aquaria.

 

[jimnrose]

sorry to hear about their behavior. I was just going to order 4 Ignitus anthias (1 male & 3 females). This variety is rated as having a peaceful temperment. I have a 125 gal (lightly stocked). Would it be best to go with one or two and avoid the risk? Jim