trans-sexual angels...? for experts

[albano]

I have 5 Genicanthus angels in my 450g DT, 2 Bellus, 2 SwallowTail, and 1 Lamarck.
#1 The Bellus were purchased at separate times, I had the female first and 6 months later purchased the male from a friend. I did not put them together, as I was waiting for my upgrade. Within a month the male went back to F. (The funny part is that the F color pattern is not quite right.) When I finally put the 2 together in June, the original F that I had, changed colors in 1 week to M, so now I ,again, have a pair, although the F color pattern is not perfect.
#2 , I purchased a sm. M lamarck to go with my Large F ...big mistake, they did not get along, and even though I removed the new small M, my F changed it's color pattern, and became a M...now it's the largest M Genicanthus in the tank!
#3 ...my large M swallowtail has lost all its stripes in the past 2 weeks, and now looks almost identical to the smaller F
I'm worried that the only other remaining M (the Bellus), may also revert to F, because of this large Lamarck...Anyone ever heard of this?
here is a tank video to check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuvhYs8vH90

 

[small alien]

That is pretty damn interesting.

 

[small alien]

Very pretty tank. Would look even better if you put some fish in there.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

I have a personal theory that these fish, while they appears to switch back and forth chromatically, do not change they sexes once they reach male. A very similar situation occurs in many birds, where the males will have a glorious breeding plumage during breeding season, but when not breeding they transform to an "eclipse plumage", which is often dull and drab, very similar to females. Biologically and evolutionarily, it is a hazard to be flamboyant, so they only do so when necessary. I think this occurs with these Genicanthus angels too. There is no need to be bright and showing if there are no females to impress (and breed with), so the coloration wanes for self preservation purposes. But, in my opinion, they likely remain males glandularly, just dont show the plumage. Then, if another male is introduced, unholy war breaks out. This is all just my speculative opinion and theory.

 

[small alien]

Very interesting idea, panda-man. Thanks for sharing.