Ahhh! My fish is requesting a sex change!

[this is me]

What am I to do?
Once upon a time, there live 7 happy Tierra Anthias. Among them, there was one dominant male and his 6 girlfriends. But for some reason, the handsome male find himself spending most of his time hiding in the crevices of rocks and totally neglect his girls. Now one of the female is ready to take on his role and has been battling the Male to steal the rest of his girlfriends.

But seriously, one of my female is changing into a male and has become quite aggressive toward the true male. What am going to do? Is there a way to stop the sex change?

True Male

Semi male. Notice the color of the fins. They're getting more colorful and the stripe through the body is starting to show.

True Female
Very little color on the fins and the body is pure pink.

 

[cujo6984]

i dunno but those are some really good pictures

 

[Blueflu1]

You could constantly berate him and make him hold the others pocketbooks. That will take away his manhood.

Ok, sorry, I don't have a solution. lol.

 

[fanaglethebagle]

Wouldn't you hide in a cave too if you were surrounded by women all day?

 

[this is me]

uh...no! I would play with them all day.

Wouldn't you hide in a cave too if you were surrounded by women all day?

 

[~Flighty~]

My tierras did the exact same thing. About every 6 months one would change and fight it out with the male to the death. I ended up with one left that lived for several years. Keeping the super male as healthy as possible will help keep the others from changing. An auto feeder that gives them a tiny bit of food continuously all day is the best bet. Yours look like they could use a little fattening up which is probably a contributing factor in the sex change. The females sense a week male and think they could kill him and take over. I feel the same way some days

 

[paulthomas]

It's no wonder... damn doo! He hungry! ::

Tell those... uh... other anthias to make him a mysis sanwich or something.

 

[this is me]

These damn fish eat too much!!

 

[~Flighty~]

Anthias have a wicked high metabolism and they can't eat much at once, thats why they do best with lots of smaller meals. If they are fattened up that tiny dip right above the skull will fill in with fat and bulge the other way.

 

[this is me]

So on the autofeeder, I have to use flake right? I feed them once a day.

 

[paulthomas]

I believe some of them allow pellets of various sizes too. Here, since you're such a huge Eheim fan :

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4430+16107&pcatid=16107

This one feeds up to 3X/day. LMK if you're going to order one online and receive it before you head over here. I'd like one too and will pay my share. Unless of course you're feeling very generous.

 

[jbishop]

Great shots. Sorry about the fish I don't have any experience with this.

 

[this is me]

You want one of the male? I'm pretty sure one will get killed. I saw them locking lips this morning when I feed them!
How I'm going to catch them? I don't know....

I believe some of them allow pellets of various sizes too. Here, since you're such a huge Eheim fan :

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4430+16107&pcatid=16107

This one feeds up to 3X/day. LMK if you're going to order one online and receive it before you head over here. I'd like one too and will pay my share. Unless of course you're feeling very generous.

 

[paulthomas]

You want one of the male? I'm pretty sure one will get killed. I saw them locking lips this morning when I feed them!
How I'm going to catch them? I don't know....

Uh... sure. I suppose. My QTs are fully cycled now.

 

[coldshutter]

Play some action movies?

 

[~Flighty~]

Once a day feedings is definitely an issue with anthias. People who know more about it than I do often say that 2x is not enough for these guys. Flake seems the easiest for an autofeeder, just get a ring at the surface of the water for it to fall into so it doesn't wash into the overflow. If just a tiny bit comes out each time there won't be much waste. You don't necessarily need to feed more, just more frequently.

 

[this is me]

Thanks Cindy for the info.
I'll look into the autofeeder.