mccoskeri transitioning male to female?

[therman]

I purchased a trio of "females" off live aquaria several months back, and all arrived with extended fin rays in a transition to male. I nearly gave them all to a LFS but decided to keep them as they seemed to get along acceptably well in quarantine.

After moving them into a 180 with many other fish, the smallest seemed to stop the transition and act very submissive and female-like to the dominant male. A few months later and it appears the extended fin ray has disappeared altogether.

Is this common? If so, does anyone know how far along in the transition the fish can be for it to reverse and result in an adult female?

 

[Half Vaped]

I've had fully terminal phase Flasher males have their colors fade and lose their dorsal filaments after a few weeks/months in my tank. And if they improve their standing in the Wrasse hierarchy they can sometimes color back up and regain their filaments.

But I think they transitioned from being the dominant/semi-dominant TP male to either initial phase male or submissive TP male. I don't think it's possible for a Flasher Wrasse to transition back to female once it turns male. I could be wrong though.

 

[OrionN]

I read that transitional males can revert back to female. Only Terminal ones cannot. At which point the wrasse become terminal, I am not sure.