Lyretail anthias - female changing colors

[Gregg37]

I have one male Lyretail anthias and 3 females. They've all been together since purchase, 2+ years ago. Other than the male occasionally "getting frisky" with a female, there isn't really any chasing or aggression. Yesterday I noticed that the largest of the females is getting much darker in coloration, resembling the male a bit. Would a female switch sexes if there is already a male present? It's a 220g tank so there is room, but not so much that they don't see each other all day. Is the female getting sexually mature? Any one ever seen anything like this?

"Normal" female:

Original male:

Dark female:

 

[i cant think]

I have one male Lyretail anthias and 3 females. They've all been together since purchase, 2+ years ago. Other than the male occasionally "getting frisky" with a female, there isn't really any chasing or aggression. Yesterday I noticed that the largest of the females is getting much darker in coloration, resembling the male a bit. Would a female switch sexes if there is already a male present? It's a 220g tank so there is room, but not so much that they don't see each other all day. Is the female getting sexually mature? Any one ever seen anything like this?

"Normal" female:

Original male:

Dark female:

It does appear you have a transitioning female, which in the wild it isn’t unnatural to find several males in one huge group. If possible, adding more females will hopefully break up aggression. I think it’s recommended to have 2-3 females to every 1 male.

 

[Labridaedicted]

I've found lyretails to be somewhat prone to transitioning sex fairly readily as compared to other types of anthias. I would suspect in a tank of that size, however, that they would (while still showing aggression) be ok. I have multiple male anthias of different species in my 180 and while they do chase on occasion they are able to space out enough that it's not constant.

 

[Gregg37]

Thanks for the replies! Hopefully they will stay like they are .. semi peaceful.

 

[Gregg37]

Would you suggest more female lyretails only or would it work if I added females from a different species?

 

[Gregg37]

In case anyone is still following this, or finds it later during a search, the one that was changing colors has continued to get darker and more 'purply', especially around the eyes and tail. Please excuse the quality of my pics, I am using my Motorola and the fish won't stay still.

Here is the 'original' male:



And here is the 'convert' (Pardon the Clown tang, he insists on being the center of attention:


The last 2 days, I have seen the original male chasing the convert a few times, but he gets tired rather quickly and they go back to their own business.

I have also purchased 6 more female lyretail anthias as a group, and they are in my QT now: