Lyretail Anthias

[jadakiss]

Hi guys I just got 3 Lyretail Anthias female and my question is how long does it take a female to change to a male and how would I know. For what I see I see one of the female which is the biggest one controlling the other two.

 

[tosiek]

then it already started. Might be in a few days, might be in a few months before it shows it in its coloration and fins. But depending on how old they are they might not at all. just a bigger lyretail.

 

[jadakiss]

Huh I thought once female changes to a male it looks like a male not male but female color?

 

[tosiek]

Do you know how old the females are? Do you know if they are juvenile or if their female sex change has actually happened? And yes and no to your question as we don't know their actual age, and there isn't a mathematical formula on how quickly they will change colors. Just throwing adult fish that are known to sex change does not mean your going to get a male also. The larger of the females can stay that color and continue bullying the other two around. If they are all juvenile you will see the larger one get a darker coloration on its head and then slowly change to a different color. Also, the reason you see soooooo little of the superbright males and why they cost alot is because it takes alot of time for them to get to that.

Ive had a haram of squami's before that the male died after a year leaving 3 females. One of them just grew longer fins and bullied the other two around over the next year.

Here is some reading. There is a bunch of info on it online as well as alot of the anthias books. This is just from me googling "lyretail anthias sex change". Its that simple.

emales are orange-gold overall, with a red line edged in purple running from
the eye to the pectoral fin base. Females also lack a violet marking on the
pectoral fins.
Male coloration varies somewhat,but most are dark red or violet with a large
pink smudge on the pectoral fins. The first signs of female sex change to
male consist of a darkening of the head, back, posterior dorsal fin, and
pelvic fins. Female sex change typically does not take place until the fish
is 2 years old (2.5-3.9 inches) and takes months for the brilliant reddish
violet colors to take hold in the fully transformed Male. Try to keep only
one male to every eight females, or you'll end up with one male anyway

http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=267

 

[jadakiss]

Ok.

 

[ming]

Mine took probably about 2-3 months to fully transform. It was VERY gradual.
I think the first thing I noticed was 1 side fin had an additional slight discoloration which eventually became bigger giving it a little red