Which do you like better? Male or Female Blue Star Leopard Wrasse? Please explain why!!

[EakTheFreak]

Good Evening Reef2Reefers,

Happy New Year to the community. Am very curious to hear your thoughts on if you prefer the male or female BLUE STAR LEOPARD WRASSE? Please let me know your thoughts. I currently have 3 BLUE STAR LEOPARD Females. I’m hoping for 1 to transition and for the other two to stay female.

If anyone has experience with this please tell me!

GO BUCKS!!

Matt E
@EakTheFreaksReef (Instagram)

 

[lapin]

Single ones, the male has more color.

 

[SaltyT]

I prefer the coloration of the female over the male.

However, I like the Red Sea species male M. Marisrubi over the male M. Bipartitus bc it doesn‘t have all the pale areas that male M. Bipartitus’ do. Guess I’m picky
Male M. Marisrubi

Male M. Bipartitus

 

[EakTheFreak]

Single ones, the male has more color.

That’s saying a lot because the female has tons of colors. I have never actually seen a male one in person.

Any idea how long it takes them to transition?

 

[rkpetersen]

I love love love the colors on the female blue star! Added one to my tank a few months ago, she's just a delight.

 

[EakTheFreak]

I love love love the colors on the female blue star! Added one to my tank a few months ago, she's just a delight.

For some reason I can’t view this video?

 

[EakTheFreak]

I prefer the coloration of the female over the male.

However, I like the Red Sea species male M. Marisrubi over the male M. Bipartitus bc it doesn‘t have all the pale areas that male M. Bipartitus’ do. Guess I’m picky
Male M. Marisrubi

Male M. Bipartitus

This are both attractive!! They look quite similar in contract to the BLUE STAR’s!!

 

[SaltyT]

This are both attractive!! They look quite similar in contract to the BLUE STAR’s!!

Marisrubri and more commonly Bipartitus, are both labeled as “blue stars” or “divided leopards”. The females of both species look very similar. Since you have 3, I‘d say you have a pretty good chance of one turning male but how long that will take depends on their social cues.

 

[vetteguy53081]

With most reef species- male is the more colorful

 

[mfinn]

I like the the female color pattern the best.

 

[EakTheFreak]

I like the the female color pattern the best.

I’m so torn on it. I’ve just never seen a male live. I have 3 females and they think look incredible. Hoping for both soon. The trio have been in my DT for around 4 months!

 

[rkpetersen]

For some reason I can’t view this video?

Hmm, I guess that's on R2R, it "converted" my video before inserting it.

Edit: Here it is again, already converted and renamed by me before uploading.

 

[OrionN]

I’m so torn on it. I’ve just never seen a male live. I have 3 females and they think look incredible. Hoping for both soon. The trio have been in my DT for around 4 months!

I don’t think you have any choice. The only way to keep them all female is not taken good care of them. It is likely that keeping them mal nourish will delay or prevent them from fully mature. Although some Leopard are not optimally care for I don’t think this is a real option. We all want to provide the best care we can for our fish. Any suboptimal care they get are all unintentional.

 

[EakTheFreak]

I don’t think you have any choice. The only way to keep them all female is not taken good care of them. It is likely that keeping them mal nourish will delay or prevent them from fully mature. Although some Leopard are not optimally care for I don’t think this is a real option. We all want to provide the best care we can for our fish. Any suboptimal care they get are all unintentional.

I feed mine twice a day and have recurring order monthly from algae barn to keep Pod populations up. They are all pretty fat. I vary their diet using the following:
• LRS reef frenzy
• sustainable aquatics hatchery diet pellets
• Mysis shrimp
• Fresh clam slices
Test my parameters weekly. No aggressive fish that compete with them. I’d say I’m doing as excellent of care as one can provide. They are housed in a 131 gallon DT with lots of hiding places and 3” sand bed as well.