I have three Lyretail Anthias, all female. How long will it take for the dominate one to become a male? One mostly hangs out by itself and the other two usually stay together. Will the loner become the male or the more dominate of the pair?
Lyretail Anthias
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jlanger
Well-Known Member
Usually it will happen around a couple of months before you notice the transition.
When I purchased my first trio of Lyretail Anthias over two years ago, I made sure one of them was larger than the other two so that the hierarchy was predetermined. The first indication of your dominant female will be the streamer on her dorsal fin; the longest one wins. After a couple of months, we noticed the spots developing on the fins and the body color starting to darken. The color transition happens quickly in the beginning but once the body color reaches the dark purple stage, it slows down before turning the bright red color.
Earlier this summer my male passed away. It took a couple of weeks as he lost any interest in feeding and his behavior became more erratic. Upon inspection of his body, I found no signs of disease or parasites, so I chalked his death up to age. Anyways...
A month after his passing, my larger female started to show the signs of transitioning to male. Same procedure; lengthening of the dorsal streamer, spots developing on the fins and the body color starting to darken up. I'm assuming that since my tank had an established male for a couple of years, that the dominant female was biologically ready to transition upon his passing.
I have recently added another trio of females to my system to create a harem as I did not want to have just one female for the male. Males can be very aggressive towards the females; not physically but they dart after them quite often to show their dominance.
If you want to see pictures of my anthias (and more information), you can find it here.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/jlangers-120gal-arts-and-crafts-inspired-reef-build.191023/
When I purchased my first trio of Lyretail Anthias over two years ago, I made sure one of them was larger than the other two so that the hierarchy was predetermined. The first indication of your dominant female will be the streamer on her dorsal fin; the longest one wins. After a couple of months, we noticed the spots developing on the fins and the body color starting to darken. The color transition happens quickly in the beginning but once the body color reaches the dark purple stage, it slows down before turning the bright red color.
Earlier this summer my male passed away. It took a couple of weeks as he lost any interest in feeding and his behavior became more erratic. Upon inspection of his body, I found no signs of disease or parasites, so I chalked his death up to age. Anyways...
A month after his passing, my larger female started to show the signs of transitioning to male. Same procedure; lengthening of the dorsal streamer, spots developing on the fins and the body color starting to darken up. I'm assuming that since my tank had an established male for a couple of years, that the dominant female was biologically ready to transition upon his passing.
I have recently added another trio of females to my system to create a harem as I did not want to have just one female for the male. Males can be very aggressive towards the females; not physically but they dart after them quite often to show their dominance.
If you want to see pictures of my anthias (and more information), you can find it here.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/jlangers-120gal-arts-and-crafts-inspired-reef-build.191023/
charleslotz
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http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=266
I found this very useful have over 18 , 3 spices that live together...in 400 gallons.
I found this very useful have over 18 , 3 spices that live together...in 400 gallons.
Thanks I will start looking at the dorsal streamer.
That was interesting reading. After I have a male I might pick up a couple more after reading that.
pickupman66
5000 Club Member
I have just a pair of Lyretails that I recently got. a Supermale and a Female. so far they are doing well in my tank. I have tried them before and just could not get it right. but these seem to be doing quite well.
