melanurus wrasse pair *[more pics]*

IDK if it will be male or female. it is coming from Sustainable Aquatics as part of our group buy. do they both color up like our male or will the female remain the way she is? I pick it up tomorrow at noon and it will be temp acclimated and be ready to go in by 1:30 or so. the lights come on then. I may just leave them off for a few extra hours to make sure. im sure the tangs will have no issue with them. they have more of their own to worry about as they got into a fight wed night....

thanks for the tips. what does your eat? I do plan to offer flake and a home made frozen made from scallops, oysters, mussels, shrimp and brine shrimp.

 

well I hope its a male, they are much more pretty. When I purchased my male I requested a terminal phase (TP) one because their coloration is much better compared to the initial phase (IP). Since my TP male was lacking a female for the fist week that i had him (she died soon after acclimation), he started to dull out his colors but now that he has a female to display to, he is starting to color back up again. If you get a male his colors will likely go to IP or very dull TP coloration in the lack of a female and/or other male to compete with.
A female will have the same coloration as mine and I cannot say for sure if it will turn male eventually. Blackraven has a female which he is currently trying to get to go male and Irr001 had a female for over a year that never went male.

Both of mine eat anything I put in the tank, cyclopeeze, mysis, homemade mix of clams and scallops and stuff, ON marine flake, formula two, and my new favorite prepared food: golden pearls.

 

Well, I though I have an IP male, correct?

I think I'm going to get a smaller female soon TBH, but I'm fairly sure they don't change colors too much when they're alone.

 

I am fairly certain this is an IP male because the spots have not disappeared yet and it is not as bright as the TP male... but yet still has the male coloration. Or this could just be a normal variation?
Im not sure on this, but im just making educated decisions based on observations from pictures
Diving The Gold Coast

If you look at your female and my female they are very similar in color. My male however has no spots...