Photo-documentation of M. meleagris sex change

[OrionN]

M. meleagris got to be one of my favorite of the wrasse. I kept several harem of this remarkable fish. I spend time over several years taken pictures of them trying to document their development. I had these for some time. I though I post them here to let everybody share the joy I have in taken good care of my pets. I often try to get small wrasses and spend man hours taken their pictures. Here are pictures of my Juvenile Meleagris Leopard changes to terminal male


4/5/2020 two of the 4 in the harem, the largest that will become male and one of the smaller one. Changes already happens here with the black spots start to line up and merge, darker blue in compare to juveniles and females.
These first few pictures are not of the same fish as the ones who later developed into the terminal males. Just very young Meleagris I had, only 1.25 to 1.5 inches. These eventually become females in my harem.

Female and another female that later change to terminal male.

4/5/2020 one of the female/juvenile

4/10/2020 The changing male. The first sign of the change is the alignment of the spots to form lines

4/16/2022
Another female

7/9/2020
More spots alignment, and the front part of the dorsal fin start to turn bright red. The black spots enlarge and lightened. The female has blue color with black spots and as the sex change progress, the male wrasse has brownish color with blue spots. The most prominent color chang eis the red front of the dorsal. This red and black spot plays a dominant roll in nuptial display.

7/18/2020. The body pattern is clearly brown with blue spots now. The alignment of the spots are not completly straight yet.

9/5/2020. Change completed.

9/5/2020. Nuptial display

 

[Flatearth]

Love seeing stuff like this! How long did this take total?

 

[OrionN]

Love seeing stuff like this! How long did this take total?

I edited the post to put in the dates and my observation of the important changes of the process. April to September 2020

 

[MEPAWN35]

This is so cool to see! Thank you for sharing!

 

[jkcoral]

This is such an awesome post. It is so interesting that such a significant transition and change happens relatively quickly in a couple of months.

How long did you have the harem of 4 in your tank before the transition occurred?

Beautiful fish, and great photos!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Wow this is really cool!

 

[Flatearth]

Is it a peaceful harem or it is more like other wrasse where the male is pretty bad to the females?

 

[violetjones]

Amazing thank you for sharing

 

[Griev]

I've got a harem of 3 juveniles in my 200, my male is just starting to transition. Appreciate these details on what to expect and look for!

 

[OrionN]

Love seeing stuff like this! How long did this take total?

I started this harem about May or June 2019. They were all very young wrasse. About 10 months or so to start changing. About 2-3 months to complete the change.

This is such an awesome post. It is so interesting that such a significant transition and change happens relatively quickly in a couple of months.

How long did you have the harem of 4 in your tank before the transition occurred?

Beautiful fish, and great photos!

Thanks. 10 months from young wrasse at about1.5 inches to be mature enough to change sex. 3 motnhs for him to complete changing.

Is it a peaceful harem or it is more like other wrasse where the male is pretty bad to the females?

The harem is great, peaceful. They sleep within a few inches from each other so it is really a "family". The male chase the female slightly. None of my females ever got wounded or even torn fin from the male.

 

[Lowsingle]

Thanks for sharing! I have never had any luck keeping leopard wrasses longer than a year or two

Darren

 

[mexi757]

That is amazing you did that. I definitely should have done the same. I’ve had mine for 3 year and seen it all. Thanks for this post.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Here are pictures of my Juvenile Meleagris Leopard changes to terminal male


4/5/2020 two of the 4 in the harem, the largest that will become male and one of the smaller one. Changes already happens here with the black spots start to line up and merge, darker blue in compare to juveniles and females

4/5/2020 one of the female/juvenile

4/10/2020 The changing male. The first sign of the change is the alignment of the spots to form lines

4/16/2022
Another female

7/9/2020
More spots alignment, and the front part of the dorsal fin start to turn bright red. The black spots enlarge and lightened. The female has blue color with black spots and as the sex change progress, the male wrasse has brownish color with blue spots. The most prominent color chang eis the red front of the dorsal. This red and black spot plays a dominant roll in nuptial display.

7/18/2020. The body pattern is clearly brown with blue spots now. The alignment of the spots are not completly straight yet.

9/5/2020. Change completed.

9/5/2020. Nuptial display

Beautiful photos!!

 

[Crabby48]

Thanks for sharing. Wish I could have gotten good photos of all my wrasse transitioning

 

[djf91]

I wish mine would go ahead and change. I have one large female (bought as a large female) and two smaller females. She’s been on the brink of changing for 18 months now it seems. Not sure what’s up.

 

[djf91]

@OrionN You still have these right? Any spawning behavior?

 

[OrionN]

@OrionN You still have these right? Any spawning behavior?

Yes I still hav ethem. Courting including the male swimming around the female . Up and down. He stay head pointing downward, back arched back. If you donl know this behavior, and dont know the wrasse well you can make a mistake that the dorsal is ventral and vi-versa. If the female is receptive, they dart up release their eggs and sperm and dive back into the rock.. Classic courting display, notice the arch back and the coloration. Lots of florescent green hat cannot be capture well on camera.

 

[danenelsen]

I really like seeing the change! Amazing photos as well!

 

[OrionN]

I just want to post pictures of courtship of my Meleagris Leopards. These were taken in 12/2020 when I took vacation to travel but my travel plan was canceled by Covid-19 Pandemic.
The coloration of the male is buch brighter in real life becasue most of the Florescent green coloration is lost when I try to take still pictures of the fish in courtship display. Here they are and my short explanation. Enjoy this series of picture. It was not easy to capture.

Normal coloration of a healthy Male Meleagris

Early stage of courtship, notice the more greenish tint on the body

Full courtship color display, more green and brighter blue. Bright red dorsal fin front

Classic head down display

series of moves of more courtship displays

Eyeing the apple of his eyes

This is the best picture of the color of the male during courtship display:

They dart up and release the eggs and sperm but I do not ahve picture of this moment. As you likely can guess, it only took a second and I missed the opportunity.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

That is incredible that you got to document that, once my 120 is established I'm planning on getting a harem of 4, I hope I get to witness this behavior as well.