Lyretail Anthias transitioning. Now what?

[SMB]

I started with three female Lyretail Anthias 6 months ago. After QT they were added to my 90 gal DT. Within days one started transitioning to a male and became a beautiful fish. All was calm until last week when a second female got larger, more bossy and now has almost completely transitioned to a male.
Some pretty big jaw locking battles ensued but now the males have divided the tank right down the middle for their territories. The remaining female gets a lot of attention.
Now aggression is mostly at feeding. Despite all the battles nobody hides and there are no injuries. There is a relative calm now but can I expect this to last? No way I can remove a fish unless someone has an ingenious trap. There are lots of hiding spots in the tank for all three.

Female

First male

In Transition

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Beautiful photos!! I've heard that this is unfortunately what happens at times with multiple anthias. It's good that aggression hasn't been too bad so far. Hopefully that trend continues. Best of luck!

 

[F i s h y]

I have no experience with this and no helpful advice, but wondered, what if you added (if you have room) a few more females? They could each have a harem? 2 separate schools. I worry that your lone female is going to get bullied.

 

[jayteerq]

I started with three female Lyretail Anthias 6 months ago. After QT they were added to my 90 gal DT. Within days one started transitioning to a male and became a beautiful fish. All was calm until last week when a second female got larger, more bossy and now has almost completely transitioned to a male.
Some pretty big jaw locking battles ensued but now the males have divided the tank right down the middle for their territories. The remaining female gets a lot of attention.
Now aggression is mostly at feeding. Despite all the battles nobody hides and there are no injuries. There is a relative calm now but can I expect this to last? No way I can remove a fish unless someone has an ingenious trap. There are lots of hiding spots in the tank for all three.

Female

First male

In Transition

Thats so cool!!! Im hoping my pair of anthias will have one transform! How long did it take for this transformation to start? Also how long did the transformation take from female to male?