Cacatuoides changing sex?

[matt.misic]

Hey everyone just wondering if it's possible for my female cacatuoides to change sex? She has breed before so I know she's definitely a she but has been In a tank without a male for a couple of months, now I have put a new male in her appearance has changed( elongated fins and the pattern on her tail has changed from yellow to a dark orange)

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Hey everyone just wondering if it's possible for my female cacatuoides to change sex? She has breed before so I know she's definitely a she but has been In a tank without a male for a couple of months, now I have put a new male in her appearance has changed( elongated fins and the pattern on her tail has changed from yellow to a dark orange)

Old females will develop male characters.

The central fish is an old female.

Have a look at <"Female changed sex?">.

cheers Darrel

 

[gerald]

Yes they can, but it's not a common occurrence. Dwarflover (thread link above) had a female that had multiple successful spawns with a male, then changed to a male and successfully fertilized another female's eggs. Her photos in that thread are quite convincing. However, other females may appear to change sex externally, but never go on to successfully breed as a male. I suspect most of the apparent sex changes we see in cichlids are this latter type of incomplete sex change, where part of the ovaries change to testes, but they don't become functional males.