Anthias question

[hoopsdaddy]

Can anyone identify?

I think Lyretail female changing to male? Fish store says Disbar, but I cant find any pictures of a disbar that looks like this. Also to note, it has a high spike fin on top, just couldn't get any pictures with it up...... Sorry I know this is a family forum.

For those of you who remember me, I swaped my Longfin bannerfish(reefsafe it was not) the one in my avatar, for this fish and some snails. It took me a couple months to catch him.

 

[daugherty]

that is what it looks like is happening. and i also think the is a lyretail

 

[hoopsdaddy]

Thanks man. Hopefully we can get a few more folks to weigh in with their thoughts also. I want to do a group of these, so I want to be certain before I look at any more.

 

[reeffreak]

Definitely not dispar.

Top is a male and the bottom is a female having a sex change.I know a male lyretail will destroy the hemaphrodite.

Pseudanthias squamipinnis(lyretail anthias)

 

[hoopsdaddy]

Same fish in both pictures. Just the two best I could get. So you think female lyretail turning male also?

 

[reeffreak]

Have you pick them up Hoops?

Sometimes a male Maldives lyretail can look a little like a female in transition mode.That doesn't seem the case with the second pic.There's just too much orange.Awhile back when I added some females there was one that had red on its tail and fins,my male killed it within minutes.I am 99.9% sure that is a female in transition to a male.It's hard to tell with the first pic because of the flash.It looks like it has some orange in it as well.

 

[hoopsdaddy]

Yeah reef it is the same fish in both picts.

I noticed the same thing while researching it. I wonder if it is a Maldives also. I will wait awhile before I add any others to make sure.

 

[reeffreak]

Oops,sorry.

I thought it was a pic of two different fish.There is no problem mixing that lyretail with true females(all orange).That one will continue to change and the other females will stay female.Go with at least 2-3 females or more.

 

[yote]

+1 Reef.

 

[hoopsdaddy]

So 3 females would be a good start. What would be the max amount of females I would want to add to the tank. I was hoping to do 5, but if three is better I will go with that.
So we all agree with Lyretail right.

 

[yote]

I think you'd be alright with 5 females Lyretails in there.

 

[reeffreak]

Five will be good.A 165g. should be big enough to handle adding five anthias at once.

In the wild there can be dozens of females in a harem.Of course thats not possible in our systems.They are true pimps(or is that polygymist) of the reef.Other species even have sub-males.They say the more females you have the lesser chance of more than one becoming male.I haven't had that problem with my Maldives.One male and two females have stayed the same for nearly two years now.

 

[hoopsdaddy]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help.