Dominance inverted?

[bl00]

As of he past few days my dominant male (a kenyi) has been shy and submissive. He's no longer eager to come to the front of the tank and I've caught him hiding up near the filter a few times. the situation also seems pretty strange since now my female kenyi has lost much of her color/striping most of the time and is now acting as dominant fish.

Anyone have a clue as to what is going on here?

 

[ibr3ak]

Are they still juveniles?

 

[bl00]

They're about 2.5 inches now. I forgot to add that the male's stripes have gotten much more pronounced as of late.

 

[bl00]

bump for no more of my confusion?

 

[ibr3ak]

I've seen this happen with juvies, this is why I asked, where one would be dominant for a while and then out of nowhere the most timid one would step up and start harassing everyone.

But they are also very close to their breeding size, so the aggression from the female and the vivid markings on the male might have to do something with that.

 

[bl00]

Thank you for the speculation. No one's really given me a clear answer on this, but I'm glad to know that its not too out of the ordinary.