Cirrhilabrus scottorum Identity crisis

[Brad Johnson]

All,

I have 2 Cirrhilabrus scottorum - Scott's Fairy Wrasse and have run into the almost complete loss of color problem. I originally bought 2 so that 1 would change to the female coloring and maybe give me a shot at keeping the male coloring. Well there was absolutely no fighting for dominance. The larger of the 2 stayed with his male coloring and the other smaller one (about 1/2 the size) started changing almost immediately.

Now we are a couple months down the road and the dominent male has slowly lost his coloring and now is nearly the color pattern of a female. Actually less striking than the female. He doesn't have much of a purple hue to him, just VERY dark. I can still make out a little of the red square on his side.

I feed almost every form of frozen food available, so can't think of anything on the nutrition front. However I do not soak the food in any vitamins, etc. Have never been a big fan of this.

Simple question to this long drawn out post is, has anyone kept a Scott's coloring long term?? What did you do, and any suggestions on changing the sex of one of my Scott's back to male. Thanks for the help.

Rin (Todd) - Remember your post & pics back in June. How are your 2 Doing???

--Brad

[scubadude]

I was raised in Sugarland....Went to high school at Clements...lived in Town West...i think thats still the name of the subdivision...wat a small world...Im 32 any chance we might have gone to school together?

Anyway about your wrasse situation. Im curious of why you dont soak in zoe or selcon? Maybe that would help? also how is the SB life in the tank? got pods for them to munch on? I would think that if they seem healthy and are eating fine that they would be ok....sorry im not real keen on wrasses....just wanted to say Hi and welcome to RL

also bump this up a bit and maybe some1 else can shed some light on the situation.

[Brad Johnson]

Scubadude,

Nope. Moved here 2 yrs ago. I'm a huge spurs fan, so being in Houston a couple years back would have been about as painful as living in LA last year....

I have some zoe, just a real pain, and have read a lot of it doesn't make a difference from people. The positives I have seen are everything is great, not sure if it is the vitamins or what??

All is well within the tank. They eat like hogs and the SB life is great - refugium and imports from IPSF and IA. Don't think their happiness is the question, just wondering if anyone has had coloration success.

I have yet to find someone with success now. It seems all the reading I did before hand was all ideas. I'm relatively new to the hobbey. Is this fish just now becoming available/popular???

--Brad

[Ninong]

Check out this thread: http://www.reefland.com/cgi-bin/foru...&threadid=1638

Ninong

[Brad Johnson]

Ninong,

Thanks. This was actually one of the posts that led me to buy the Scott's. Loved the pics and coloration.

--Brad

[Rin]

Hey Brad, Like I said earlier, I'd try to post tonight. Nothing much more to report than I've already told you. I'll try to post some pics this weekend. The fish are a little shy tonight.

My SFW are doing well. The female is thriving much better than the male. The Female is almost 5" (she was 3.5" just a few months ago) while the male hasn't grown much that I can tell. It has resulted in some problems for him, too. Now that the female is bigger, she tends to harass him a little. The main problem with the male is that he jumps into the overflow box every once in a while. I found him in the sump once. This has led to a lot of stress for the poor guy. He took a little permanent scaring from the trip into the sump. Somewhere along the line, he damaged his mouth. I didn't think he was going to make it. But I'd have to say that SFW aren't as delicate as I thought at first.

As far as coloration goes, the male has become more overall purple and the spot is receding. He still has a striking red dorsal and a deep yellow and blue pectoral. The female is still purple, but has an added overall bluish sheen. Her dorsal is more yellow than before (I think) and her pectoral remains the same yellow. (I'll post pictures when I can.)

Both fish eat flaked food soaked in Zoe. (Their choice--they generally won't eat meaty foods any more.) I still feed Mysis and Brine Shrimp on occasion, but they don't go after it and the other fish get it all before they begin to show an interest.

I still enjoy my SWF, but I'm also a little disappointed in the overall muting of the colors of the male. I miss the olive green colors more than the spot.

Heck, I wonder if they'll change sexes now that the female is obviously more dominant. I also wonder what would happen if I got another male. Would the established fish become his harem?

I hope your fish are doing well. I know what you mean about the colors. Good luck.

[Sker]

Hi all,

I am bringing this thread back to the top because I am also having problems with my male Scott's fairy wrasse. I have had him for about a year, he has lost almost all of his bright coloration and is kind of a greenish blue with a very little of his red spot still showing. I am getting ready to add the LAST fish to my tank, and my question is this: do I add a female scott's in hopes of regaining my male scott's colors or do I need a harem of females to acheive this? I was hoping somoene who has kept a male and female together could report their results. Thank you...