Cichlid Female changing to a Male

I have a 65-gallon tall breeder tank

Six African Peacock adult females
I have rotated different males into the tank over the last year to breed
I gave the females a break for the last month
I moved a young male into the tank about 10 months old ~4 inches
The male is smaller than the largest female that is 5+ inch
When I put the male into the tank, the larger female started to chase the male and make him hide. To a point where it was ultra-aggressive. For 2 days, I had to separate the female so she wouldn’t kill the smaller male.
I know she is a female because she has had babies a couple times. The male is her son.
The strange part is this female is acting like a male with her aggression. She is the tank bully with all the other fish. Now she is doing the mating dance going in circles with another female.
Is it possible she has transforming into a male? I could understand the aggression since she is larger but the mating dance with a female does not make sense to me.

 

They cannot change genders but I have also had overly aggressive females who would even bully males. Females, when fighting, will do the fast circling and "shimmy" which should not be confused with breeding. Fast, tight circling often in open water usually leads to lip-locking. I often seen my males doing this and sometimes a couple of females who really dislike each other.

 

Interesting...sex change is well known in some marine fishes, but I believe it has been reported in some cichlids as well.

 

They cannot change genders but I have also had overly aggressive females who would even bully males. Females, when fighting, will do the fast circling and "shimmy" which should not be confused with breeding. Fast, tight circling often in open water usually leads to lip-locking. I often seen my males doing this and sometimes a couple of females who really dislike each other.

So are you saying that when they circle each other in a tight circle and shimmy their tails is that fighting or breeding behavior.

 

So are you saying that when they circle each other in a tight circle and shimmy their tails is that fighting or breeding behavior.

It can be either.

 

It can be either.

I'm so confused on my fish behavior and sex. I got a peacock cichlid I thought was female started changing colors and dug a hole in gravel, like a mating pit (which is the males job), but she or he invited my confirmed male in there and they started circling each other and vibrating. Do they get confused about the other fishes gender? The gold peacock with the blue face dug the hole but the colorful one is definitely a male. Can you explain there behavior? Please help.

 

Interesting...I was looking at some other forums with similar discussions and apparently some kinds of colour-enhancing food can cause females to change to male coloration, but not necessarily change sex. But interesting that your “female” seems to have not only changed colour but is practicing male type behaviour - but the fish it is trying to attract is a male! Very strange, it seems like some hormonal thing is going on. Some people were suggesting that hormones (I think these would be steroids, androgens probably) are being given to enhance colours in young fish before sale to make them more attractive but I don’t really know anything about this. I know quite a few fish can change sex, but would have to read up some more to see if anything like this has been reported before In peacocks.
Behaviorally Induced Sex Reversal of Metriaclima cf. livingstoni (Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi on JSTOR
Not peacocks but another malawi cichlid.

 

Interesting...sex change is well known in some marine fishes, but I believe it has been reported in some cichlids as well.

Besides the article you found on the Metriaclima (which is brand new to me) I know of at least one species of Apistogramma and one from West Africa, that can do it.

 

The OB peacock sounds and looks more like a female to me from that angle. If they were spawning you will see that the female will have a mouth full of eggs. Check the OB peacock and try taking a few photos.

 

Besides the article you found on the Metriaclima (which is brand new to me) I know of at least one species of Apistogramma and one from West Africa, that can do it.

I believe sex change has been reported in Dicrossus as well.

 

Interesting...I was looking at some other forums with similar discussions and apparently some kinds of colour-enhancing food can cause females to change to male coloration, but not necessarily change sex. But interesting that your “female” seems to have not only changed colour but is practicing male type behaviour - but the fish it is trying to attract is a male! Very strange, it seems like some hormonal thing is going on. Some people were suggesting that hormones (I think these would be steroids, androgens probably) are being given to enhance colours in young fish before sale to make them more attractive but I don’t really know anything about this. I know quite a few fish can change sex, but would have to read up some more to see if anything like this has been reported before In peacocks.
Behaviorally Induced Sex Reversal of Metriaclima cf. livingstoni (Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi on JSTOR
Not peacocks but another malawi cichlid.

That is a really interesting article, so strange. I wonder if because the male didn't "step up" the female became a male. He's gotten very aggressive and when I put my finger to the glass he tries biting me through the glass. I know they can get very aggressive while breading. My other female peacock has gotten very pale and changed color to blend in to her hiding spot during all this out of fear and only leaves her spot to eat so I don't see any actual breeding coming out of this behavior but I'm still watching because this he/she does chase the female when she finds her she just doesn't get her to the breeding pit. I guess fish adapt quicker then humans to make sure there kind doesn't go extinct.

 

It could be that the other female is not ready to breed yet, but it will be interesting to see how things develop. There was another thread earlier today about a betta changing sex.
Sex change of Female Bettas | Betta Fish Forum | 506410

 

The OB peacock sounds and looks more like a female to me from that angle. If they were spawning you will see that the female will have a mouth full of eggs. Check the OB peacock and try taking a few photos.

Everytime the OB peacock gets near the pit they do there little dance where the blue mouth tries like **** to get the ob to get in his pit and he goes in they circle but eventually Sharpie (OB peacock) runs away. There so fast I would have to empty the tank and stress them to vent the OB but here's another pic. Let me know what you think.

 

Hey I've had a male OB Malawi Eyebiter hold eggs, maybe your 'female' (yellow blue face), spawned as a male and held some of a females eggs, making you think it was a female.
I hate hormone type foods, some shops get peacocks and haps in hormoned and others treat normal stock so all juvies, males, females look like breeding males.

 

So I know I wrote this a while ago but still haven't vented them. They just had a baby though. I only see one baby about a half inch long and the yellow blue one stays by the baby. So 1 is definitely a female and one is definitely a male just don't know which yet. I'm shocked my Oscars haven't eaten him yet but he's done a great job at hiding and what's even stranger it looks like my firemouth cichlids are protecting the area from the Oscars. When the Oscars go over there the firemouth cichlid chases him away even though the baby is definitely a peacock and not a firemouth. Sometimes I find my fish tank is more entertaining than a TV they're so fascinating how they act.
I'm pretty sure at this point the yellow blue is a male and the OB peacock is a female which was exactly opposite of what I thought in the beginning.