Oh..Anne! Cocopuff turned into a boy!

FishyMel

New member
I am not kidding. First, my silly kellogi looks more like a Reidi then a Kelloggi. Suddenly she sprouted a pouch. It seemed like overnight. Have you ever seen this happen? I assume that she was always a he and just too immature to see the pouch. She has grown a lot in the last month, and apparently sexually matured..as she is now most definitely a he. Hmmmmm
 
It happens, and I should have figured with how small he was when you got him. All seahorses are born looking like females, and then they grow their pouch later on. Usually this happens sometime in the first 3-6 months, but sometimes it can be years. There is at least 1 case of a female seahorse who actually produced eggs and then grew a pouch... but that wasn't normal, and certainly not what happened with cocopuff. Cocopuff was just an immature boy.

How is he doing? I just read something recently suggesting that temperature requirements may be one of the big problems for the imported Kelloggi, since Kelloggi, while found in tropical areas, are found a deep depths where waters are cooler. It seems like if he was a true Kelloggi, you might want to experiment with cooler water (around 68-70), which would even work out even after you introduce your erectus, since northern erectus are often more comfortable at subtropical temperatures too. If he's a full blood Reidi, in my experience he would be happy at 71-72, but I've never personally taken my Reidi any lower than that (didn't consider experimenting until this summer, and now 71 is as low as I can go until winter), although they do really seem prefer temps around 72.

Have you started the nerve wracking experience yet of mixing the erectus water in with him? Or are you waiting the full 6 week QT to start that (which IMO would be better, but I know some people are impatient or have insufficient QT for that long)?
 
Oh, and I completely forgot to congratulate you on your "new" boy! :)
You're going to have one tired little girl erectus... or a tank full of gay seahorses (which does happen ;) ).
 
My Barbouri did that. He was a she and she was called "Starlette" Then months and months later, she is now a he... I was assured that didnt happen in seahorse world but here I am :)
 
Jayded, seahorses don't actually change gender (except on that rare occasion I mentioned - and the seahorse died soon after, so there is no evidence that it was even a functioning male after the change), BUT sometimes male seahorses are just late bloomers. So, from that perspective, whoever "assured" you, was correct; assuming they said "seahorses do not change gender". Now, if they said "a pouchless seahorse will never turn out to be an immature male and develop a pouch later in life", then I would stop going to them for information on seahorses ;)
 
Yes, I havent been back there. I have since started getting my horses from breeders. I asked them about it originally because I wanted a male and female and they only had females. So I got two and I said is it possible theyre too small to have developed the pouch if its a boy, they told me they usually had them by now when they got them and it was a female. He was a late bloomer though as I had him for months and months before she was a he so Ive always considered it to be the "girl" that changed... even though I know on the inside it was always male.
 
What surprised me was how quickly my male grew a pouch. It seemed like it happened overnight, but more likely was over a weeks time frame. He is cute even if he isn't a girl! :-)
 
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