Lyretail Anthias Stocking Question

[jvalentine]

I initially got 3 females from my LFS and they were doing great. One of them began to transition into a male, coloring up to the reddish color and developing the longer dorsal fin. Then one of the remaining females disappeared (its been over two weeks now so any possibility of it hiding is gone). I do have a rose bubble tip, so maybe it got too close in the night and became a meal? Otherwise I am not sure of where it went.

Anyway, my question is....can I buy a single female from the same LFS and introduce it into my tank? Or will the two I already have be aggressive with her because she is new?

 

[Fishnut]

Sometimes if two fish are transitioning to male at the same time one can be harassed to the point of death. I never had a problem adding to my groups as long as they were smaller then existing male.

 

[Radman73]

Agree with above. Get the smallest female you can. I had 3, 2 female and 1 male, and added 3 more females. I currently have 2 males and 4 females with each male taking half of a 220gal 6ft tank. So far so good. If a 3rd female turns male I'm not optimistic.

 

[Dolelo96]

Same as above. I added a smaller female with no problems

 

[sp1187]

I originally bought two. one transitioned. I added two more a month later. no overly aggressiveness. they do play "tag" occasionally but no one's worse off at the end.