Sexy Fish

[Waterloo Kid]

I have three M. Ramirezi in my 400 litre tank. I believe that they are all male although I can't be sure. Two of them, both introduced at the same time to replace a death, seem to have paired off and are controlling one side of the tank. They will not allow the other Ram near their rocks. There has been no breeding behaviour (nest site cleaning etc) and they often quarrel between themselves. The thing is, one of them seems to have changed colour slightly. It has lost the black patch half way along its side. The black stripe that runs down its face is still present and strongly coloured.
My question is, can this species of fish display sexual switching? That is, in a single sex group can a fish change sex?

Neat trick if it can!!!

WK

 

[Tanked]

no the fish can not change sex. the fading color is more than likely signs of stress in that particular fish.

 

[kevin007]

i would have to agree with tanked...

 

[semper fi]

with some of the africans the subdominant males will retain female coloring until the dominant male is removed. this is the way that the males keep from being beat on by the dominnant male.

semper fi

 

[-=DG=-]

with some of the africans the subdominant males will retain female coloring until the dominant male is removed. this is the way that the males keep from being beat on by the dominnant male.

semper fi

This is what happened to my aratus. I had a pair in my malawi tank. The male was very large and aggressive. About a month after i got rid of him, the female (till today) has changed to the males colour.

But it can work the other way round. Im still not sure whether it is male or female