Carpenter Flasher Wrasses?

[tracyliz]

Hi all,

Was out of the hobby for awhile and jumped back in earlier this year, you can treat me as a newbie. :) We've a small (50 gal) reef tank, about 6 mos old, no sump, full of live rock and some creatures, and stable.

I wanted to get a harem (3 females) of Carpenter Flasher Wrasses for this tank (and have been waitlisted for about a month), and then introduce a male, but acquiring them can be challenging. Got the male last week first despite requests (grr) and put him in an isolated tank while awaiting females. Yesterday my 3 juvenile females arrived!

While watching the females, I have concerns about their behavior. I know it's too early to evaluate. Still, I would expect them to all hang out together as a harem, but one of them seems to have taken a territorial approach to a swim-through cave and sometimes chases off the others. It is hit and miss, sometimes they all hang out together, sometimes they separate. They all seem to 'flash'? Or maybe it is just two? I have no experience with flasher wrasses. Because of their behavior the thought has crossed my mind that maybe I really received two males and a female, while a third male waits in the isolation tank???? That would suck. I may just be paranoid, it's only been one day. All the females look the same, but it may be because of age.

So my questions are, what sort of behaviors have you seen your Carpenter Flasher Wrasses exhibit, and do you think I should be concerned? And although the vendor stated sexes, do you know of a way to tell? (Realize looks change with age, which is part of my problem.) Appreciate any insight!

[tracyliz]

I should amplify that according to the vendor the 'females' are "juvenile" while the 'male' in the isolation tank is "young". The females look identical to me. The male lacks a yellow stripe in his tail that the other 3 have, it is all purple. But I may be missing some nuances in appearance. And there's an age disparity.

[eatbreakfast]

If there are any filaments on the fins and color in the tail the females have begun their transition to male.

Also, their sex roles are determined by social.situations as well so aggression between females is normal as they are setting up a heirarchy as to which will be dominant and will likely begin the transition to male first.

Oftentimes females will transition to male even with a male present, and males of the same species are generally more aggressive toward one another than towards males of a different species.