It's a boy (Lyretail Morph)

I've read that, but have also seen cases where they do turn all the way to male. I'd be interested to figure out what factors are involved, but people don't always seem to document the change that well unfortunately. There is some good info out there though, but it can be tough to find. It is incredible how fast they go. Really one of those reef things that you should see at least once in your life.

 

Updates, three days latter. There is also a very bright flourescent blue line formed accross the top of his dorsal fin. I can't get it to show up in the picture though. And so far, no observed fighting (knock on wood).

 

There's been some question on the sex of my lyretail. There were all females in the holding tank and this one female was beating the snot out of the other girls... we brought her home. She was an adult when we got her. She looked very "female" for a number of years but after awhile started with the extended dorsal spine indicative of males. She was a lone anthias with no other fish that resembled her... a foxface, leopard wrasse, mandarin, pipefish.

This was about 3 years old here.



And this was her later....

 

Neat. From the sounds of it, it isn't uncommon for the dominant female to become more male, but not completely male. I haven't heard anything definitive about what happens when you only have one female. Although, I noticed a number of threads where people asked about this, but I don't think anyone really answered definitively. Maybe there just isn't enough pressure to force the change all the way?

 

I probably should have sent her in to see what gonads she had exactly. Hind sight.......


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1 + on that!

 

Here is an update, some more progression, but it has slowed. The purple is becoming more distinct and he seems to be getting bigger.



Also here is a picture of one of the females for comparison.