Help with lyretail anthias

[UM Aquarium Club]

We recently purchased 3x lyretail anthias with one being male and two being female. We began noticing about one to two weeks into having them that one of the females began displaying some characteristics which seemed to indicate a transition to male such as appearance of dorsal fin. Since then it has been nipping at and practically eating the tail of the male lyretail anthias. For now we're attempting to separate them to stop the behavior. Is there any way that they will be able to be housed again or will we need to find a new home for the aggressive female/male and if so will we need to purchase another female to keep with the remaining two?

 

[EriksOasis]

From what I was told it’s better to keep three females and if you wanted a male you would be better off with at least 6 females to prevent aggression.

 

[UM Aquarium Club]

Hmmm okay, may have to try that. What I heard was that if you had only females one of them would just transition to male anyways. We definitely can't fit 6 of them but I had read of people doing 1 male x 2 females in tanks before with success. Might have just been transitioning before we got it.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

You will have to remove either the male or the dominant female. I would remove the male at this point as he obviously was not strong enough to stop the female from changing.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Remove the male. Your dominant female will be the male. However, if you only add a single lyretail it will be killed by the current two. If you want any more than two you will need to add at least three to prevent bullying.