[Michael Menzer]

I bought two, very small Lithobates last winter. They've both grown nicely to about 2.5 inches. But I'm not seeing any color yet. I know that it's possible that I have females and won't see color. My question is, when does a male lithobates begin to get color? If I do have females, I'd like to get a male to go with them but I don't want to buy another lithobates if I have a male in hiding.

 

[Guest]

If you have males you should start seeing yellow on their heads soon. Sometimes it starts out as a yellow dot or line.

~Ed

 

[redstallion02]

Not to hijack, but I was wondering the same.

I baught 6 in Feb.

1 is showing tons of blue at times, but the yellow blaze is just at the tip of the dorsal fin. Does ther coloration fill in differantly on each fish?

 

[TeamFOS]

It varies, Lithobates Z-rocks are all different. Some get the blaze before the blue, and some get blue before the blaze. I've had full grown males at 5inches not have any color until I moved the dominant males out...and they colored up nicely. I've been breeding z-rocks for a long time, I have 5 tanks full of them...they are my favorite Haps...so I guess I can say I have a little experience in this species. Another tip I noticed, is if you have them in a community tank they tend to take longer to color up....Here are some pixes of my old WC breeder(I am preserving his line in my tanks)

 

[Michael Menzer]

Wow. Thanks for the replies (and the photos)! My two fish are in a community tank so I guess that I'll have to be patient. I sure hope that one of them looks like the fish in the picture!

 

[Sulfurhead]

i just got 5 myself @ 2". They are being housed in a 55gal. I hope to see some change in the coming months. Does anyone out there have any pics of the early stages of transformation?

 

[Sulfurhead]

i just got 5 myself @ 2". They are being housed in a 55gal. I hope to see some change in the coming months. Does anyone out there have any pics of the early stages of transformation?