[Social D]

Hi all just wondering why my Male anthias hasnt properly changed over to his purple colour yet, He started to change around 7-8 months ago and hasnt got the colour yet, Seems an awful long time but is their a reason for this.

Pic of the anthias

[BOM8ER]

I don't know the reason why yours has not changed colour Tim but that does seem a long time, when I spotted one of mine changing it then only took him 5 weeks for the full transformation including colour and shape, how many Anthias are in your tank? and maybe that comes into it when they change, I keep 5 but they also schoal with 6 Chromis

[tommo]

Is he the only anthias in the tank?

[Social D]

No i have 2 female anthias aswell ...and both of those havent challenged him to dominancy either

[tommo]

I think that the answer lies in the fact that the social structure of anthias is far more complex than we think it is, normally people that buy trios of anthias tend to buy already sexed fish. once a male has changed colour he wont change back. What i think is happening here is that the male is refusing to change colour as he doesnt have enough females to recreate a natural harem.

Perhaps increasing group size will help?

Tom

[Social D]

Id love to but my nitrates are bit high, Spoke to jason today and he said there are two different types of anthias like mine and one type dont change to the purple, Just my luck

[tommo]

it could well be a cheriospilos, jas may be right!

Tom