I had a similar female from the Edward River from my first major collecting
trip who was also a "flasher" and never bred with the males of the same
collection - but she never produced any fry even though I tried her with
several males from the same collection.
However the "square-finned "female from Rocky Bottom Ck in Arnhemland did
produce fry so I am postulating that there are varying degrees of this
"intersex/hormone imbalance" phenomenon.
In my opinion Inornatas are the species that shows this phenomenon the most
often.
Regards,
Bruce.
Bruce Hansen, ANGFA, caring for our aquatic ecosystems.
Please visit us at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~fisher/angfa.htm
----------
> From: Matthew Stanton <matthews at ironbark.forest.nsw.gov.au>
> To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au
> Subject: Re: [RML] Hermaphroditism - was Kubutu
> Date: Monday, 16 March 1998 21:16
>
> I collected a few M.s.inornata from an upper tributary of the Gilbert
> River a few years ago and one of the females grew to be 20% larger
> that the largest male and also has some nice colours. The males don't
> seem to consider her to be a prospect for breeding and I have never
> seen her spawn but occasionally (usually after a water change) she
> will adopt a neon crown flash. Sometimes it is a pale blue, sometimes
> gold. She also pulses colours down the rest of her body. This
> behaviour is not done in interaction with other fish in the tank and
> I have never seen the neon crown on the males of the same type.
>