Lyretail Anthias, gender question

[Extremeengineer]

So we got this Anthias almost 4 weeks ago now. There were 4 females in a tank at LFS, and my daughter picked the biggest one. I didn’t think anything about that at the time, and we brought Yopa home. Where she gets these names I have no idea. After a few days, noticed this change to dorsal fin, and over the course of maybe 8 days there was a slight color change too. But now the fish looks like it did 2 weeks ago, no more changes. It’s like the sex change was triggered, but then the fish was removed from the reason for that, and the change just sort of hangs in limbo. So do I expect this is it, no more change, or does the process continue just at a very slow pace? Honestly I like the color, so I won’t be sad either way, just curious.

Pic is right after WC, so a little cloudy, but I also just noticed the darker tip on fin, not sure I’ve noticed that before.

 

[i cant think]

So we got this Anthias almost 4 weeks ago now. There were 4 females in a tank at LFS, and my daughter picked the biggest one. I didn’t think anything about that at the time, and we brought Yopa home. Where she gets these names I have no idea. After a few days, noticed this change to dorsal fin, and over the course of maybe 8 days there was a slight color change too. But now the fish looks like it did 2 weeks ago, no more changes. It’s like the sex change was triggered, but then the fish was removed from the reason for that, and the change just sort of hangs in limbo. So do I expect this is it, no more change, or does the process continue just at a very slow pace? Honestly I like the color, so I won’t be sad either way, just curious.

Pic is right after WC, so a little cloudy, but I also just noticed the darker tip on fin, not sure I’ve noticed that before.

She may continue to change but just wondering why did you only get one of the group?

 

[VintageReefer]

Getting 1 ensures no aggression. I thought they could do fine singly

@Extremeengineer
I bought two. One male one female.

The female grew a little faster and is a little larger than my male. She harassed him and grew the dorsal fin. Now the male has grown a bit and he’s taken the dominant role and shes no longer aggressive. I thought for sure I was going to end up with two males. Hoping they stay this way

Female dorsal fin up

Male dorsal dorsal fin up

Both with fins up

 

[Doctorgori]

You can get another one but with two more the male can spread the attention/aggression

 

[VintageReefer]

You can get another one but with two more the male can spread the attention/aggression

For me, for now, there is no more aggression. The female harassed the male for weeks. Relentlessly. Torn fins. Bite marks. Chasing him to hide inside corals or rock caves and not letting him out. Then…it stopped. He doesn’t want revenge. He doesn’t chase. Nobody chases. He just seems to have become a more aggressive eater and then it’s back to coexisting peacefully

 

[Doctorgori]

For me, for now, there is no more aggression. The female harassed the male for weeks. Relentlessly. Torn fins. Bite marks. Chasing him to hide inside corals or rock caves and not letting him out. Then…it stopped. He doesn’t want revenge. He doesn’t chase. Nobody chases. He just seems to have become a more aggressive eater and then it’s back to coexisting peacefully

I’ve had males that were nightmares, my most peaceful setup ever is right now: 1 male lyretail, 2 female dispar

 

[Extremeengineer]

She may continue to change but just wondering why did you only get one of the group?

Getting 1 ensures no aggression. I thought they could do fine singly

Exactly, I was told that a single would be a peaceful tankmate. The 4 Anthias were in a tank with several other fish, including a Coral Beauty, I got the Anthias and the Coral Beauty, they were the 2nd and 3rd fish after a 1" Black Ice clown. I've never seen aggression between the CB and the Anthias. The very slightly smaller Tomini Tang that was added a few weeks later seems to hold his own, the Anthias will pop the dorsal fin and turn sideways to the Tang, and the Tang stays sideways and wiggles towards the Anthias, and the Anthias backs down, but I've never seen any chasing or biting. The Anthias will sometimes be a jerk to the tiny clown, very mild chasing, but I've not seen any biting. I will say I just added 2 new pieces of live rock, and the Anthias got pretty agitated, so I have the lights off today to see if that calms down. The Anthias is like an ADHD kid, it just isn't the calm fish that it was portrayed as in the LFS. Feeding time the Anthias stresses everybody out. It's the fish my 7 yr. old picked out for the tank, so I am hoping there isn't an increase an aggression, as if so I'll have to figure out what to do.

 

[Extremeengineer]

The female grew a little faster and is a little larger than my male. She harassed him and grew the dorsal fin. Now the male has grown a bit and he’s taken the dominant role and shes no longer aggressive. I thought for sure I was going to end up with two males. Hoping they stay this way

I did not realize the female would grow the dorsal fin. That looks very similar to mine. I am hoping that mine calms down a bit, I am about to add another fish, which would be a small Biota fish, so I'd have that in an acclimation room in the tank for some time, so I should be able to judge some of the Anthias attitude with a panel in between.

 

[VintageReefer]

My two anthias show no interest to my Tomini or to any other fish in my tank luckily

 

[VintageReefer]

Well. Here’s an update

Both have dorsal fins. The female changing male is larger. They don’t chase each other or anything. They do their other thing. They swim together sometimes. So far so good!

@Extremeengineer How are yours doing?

 

[maroun.c]

If tank size allows I'd add 6-8 making sure all are females, 1-2 will turn male and there us potential for one killing the other for establishing dominance. Then if it's a strong male it'll dominate all the females to stop them from turning . Aggression is only towards anthias . I lost my male( as it was sucked by syphoning return) and in less than 2 weeks one of the females transitioned fully into a male .

 

[VintageReefer]

If tank size allows I'd add 6-8 making sure all are females, 1-2 will turn male and there us potential for one killing the other for establishing dominance. Then if it's a strong male it'll dominate all the females to stop them from turning . Aggression is only towards anthias . I lost my male( as it was sucked by syphoning return) and in less than 2 weeks one of the females transitioned fully into a male .

OP situation / question is:
At LFS the anthias were a group of 4. They bought the biggest one. And it seemed while in the group it was triggered to transition to male. But now I’m the new aquarium, it is the only anthia. In an in between stage. Op is curious if it will stay this way or continue to convert to male coloration. Also question on what to expect as far as aggression/boldness when there is only one anthia in the tank

Op has a 75g tank and can not accommodate 6-8 more anthias

This is a family tank with fish the kids picked out, I don’t think we should be making suggestions to add more anthias and risk them killing each other.

 

[maroun.c]

OP situation / question is:
At LFS the anthias were a group of 4. They bought the biggest one. And it seemed while in the group it was triggered to transition to male. But now I’m the new aquarium, it is the only anthia. In an in between stage. Op is curious if it will stay this way or continue to convert to male coloration. Also question on what to expect as far as aggression/boldness when there is only one anthia in the tank

Op has a 75g tank and can not accommodate 6-8 more anthias

This is a family tank with fish the kids picked out, I don’t think we should be making suggestions to add more anthias and risk them killing each other.

Hence the "if tank size allows " at the beginning of my answer. Point of my post was that anthias are fish with will bicker with each other. Having 1-2 will lead to male heavily punishing female all day. Having one alone will give you a not so nice looking male as female leads to better colors and display of the male in anthias. If one really wants anthiss 4 would be manageable in 75 g and lyretails are forgiving in less daily feeding than most other anthias. So I'd have multiple anthias or none in any of my tanks 4 would be my minimum.

 

[VintageReefer]

Hence the "if tank size allows " at the beginning of my answer

Answer is in the op tank page.

Having 1-2 will lead to male heavily punishing female all day

See post 5 and 10. Plus outside of this thread I have documented my female was the aggressor. But after a few weeks the female began changing to male and now there is no aggression. Maybe not the norm but you can see my two in post 10 and the do not battle all day, they don’t mind each other at all. Zero aggression

Having one alone will give you a not so nice looking male as female leads to better colors

That’s your opinion. The males look very nice and op stated they like the colors and wouldn’t mind if it became male.

So I'd have multiple anthias or none in any of my tanks 4 would be my minimum.

Ok.

Op has 1. I have 2. You would have none or 4. We all are happy

 

[maroun.c]

Answer is in the op tank page.



See post 5 and 10. Plus outside of this thread I have documented my female was the aggressor. But after a few weeks the female began changing to male and now there is no aggression. Maybe not the norm but you can see my two in post 10 and the do not battle all day, they don’t mind each other at all. Zero aggression



That’s your opinion. The males look very nice and op stated they like the colors and wouldn’t mind if it became male.


Ok.

Op has 1. I have 2. You would have none or 4. We all are happy

Answer is in the op tank page.



See post 5 and 10. Plus outside of this thread I have documented my female was the aggressor. But after a few weeks the female began changing to male and now there is no aggression. Maybe not the norm but you can see my two in post 10 and the do not battle all day, they don’t mind each other at all. Zero aggression



That’s your opinion. The males look very nice and op stated they like the colors and wouldn’t mind if it became male.


Ok.

Op has 1. I have 2. You would have none or 4. We all are happy

Female being the aggressor is a female that's showing dominance to start transitioning into male. Many times a female will kill an established male and transition. Males are amazing, especially ones that come male from the wild VS one that transition in our tanks even with enriched food to enhance the color I couldn't get the male to get the nicer coloration wild turned males have.
Of course everyone is free to chose which fish and how many the have but the real pleasure of anthias is seing the "hareem" behavior and the interaction abd hierarchy with the male especially with the transition and establishment of the hierarchy....
Would I have one alone, NO. I have the more difficult ventralis in a smaller tank where a friend had a group of 8 and by the time he took down his tank only one was left which I took. It's an amazing fish shape and color wise but I miss the interaction and character he had in his tank. IMHO anthias are more enjoyed in a group than a single fish in a tank like other fish.
We're of course all very happy.

 

[VintageReefer]

I have wild caught male + wild female. Female became aggressor and started transitioning. (Tiny dorsal fin was present even from the early days indicating beginning of transition) Now I have what you see in post 10, they surprisingly both get along and both are beautiful fish and it’s been an interesting journey

They are both almost a neon pink under blue lighting and they don’t fight. Sometimes they stick together and sometimes they explore separately. They are eager to eat but don’t fight or chase each other

 

[vetteguy53081]

So we got this Anthias almost 4 weeks ago now. There were 4 females in a tank at LFS, and my daughter picked the biggest one. I didn’t think anything about that at the time, and we brought Yopa home. Where she gets these names I have no idea. After a few days, noticed this change to dorsal fin, and over the course of maybe 8 days there was a slight color change too. But now the fish looks like it did 2 weeks ago, no more changes. It’s like the sex change was triggered, but then the fish was removed from the reason for that, and the change just sort of hangs in limbo. So do I expect this is it, no more change, or does the process continue just at a very slow pace? Honestly I like the color, so I won’t be sad either way, just curious.

Pic is right after WC, so a little cloudy, but I also just noticed the darker tip on fin, not sure I’ve noticed that before.

In my case when I started with 7, two got darker and high in color being the males. I have two males and three females currently and the females have kept their color throughout

 

[Reefering1]

I have wild caught male + wild female. Female became aggressor and started transitioning. (Tiny dorsal fin was present even from the early days indicating beginning of transition) Now I have what you see in post 10, they surprisingly both get along and both are beautiful fish and it’s been an interesting journey

They are both almost a neon pink under blue lighting and they don’t fight. Sometimes they stick together and sometimes they explore separately. They are eager to eat but don’t fight or chase each other

I would consider those as transitioning males. Not wild caught male

 

[VintageReefer]

I would consider those as transitioning males. Not wild caught male

Ok.
1 Wild caught transitioning male
1 wild caught female that transitioned after captivity

 

[Reefering1]