Mystery Wrasse
Bob
<Hi Ian>
I have a question for you. I was told that female mystery wrasses (Pseudocheilinus ocellatus) don't change to males. I thought that most wrasses were hermaphrodites. Is this true?
<As far as I know yes>
And I have never seen the mystery wrasses labeled as male or female. Is there a price difference?
<Don't know, but may be that all sold are actually (better looking) males>
I was told today by the owner of my LFS that he has seen plenty of "female" Pseudocheilinus ocellatus at the wholesaler(s) in Tampa. And they were only 50-60$ while the "males" were around 200-300$ and that all of them were from Vanuatu. I thought these species came from the Marshall Islands exclusively. 
<Mmm, no western Central Pacific en toto>
And the other tidbit of advice that he gave me was that the females will not change to males unless many are housed together. I thought if you keep one specimen by itself that it turns to male coloration.
<Much more likely to do so with the company of other females>
I don't even know that male and female Pseudocheilinus ocellatus look different. Can you please help me. I want this fish, and there absolutely NO information anywhere about it and I don't purchase ANYTHING without knowing as much information as I can get about it.
Thanks
IanB
p.s. does anyone in the crew have a mystery wrasse? thanks again
<Actually, at least Jason Chodakowski does. Am sending your mail to him. Be chatting. Bob Fenner>