what sex??

**Archer** · 01-25-2007, 07:40 AM

Can I tell the sex of a mature(approx 3'') gold striped maroon clown fish?
Nikki

**Zeus** · 01-25-2007, 08:21 AM

Hi Nikki,

Tricky one that.

You'd have to find out if it was ever in a pair and what size the other fish was. If it was in pair and the other was larger then the one you have will be maile, if the other was smaller you have a female.

This is how it works with Clownfish, they are all born male and change according to dominance in the shoal/group with the "top dog" becoming female, the 2nd in rank will be the dominant male, the rest will stay as immature, subordinate males.

The one thing I don't know is what happens to single Clownfish, kept on its own since Juvenile. I would guess, and it's a guess mind, that since the sex change triggers aren't present the fish would remain male. If correct then you have a male Clownfish.

HTH
Campbell

**Archer** · 01-25-2007, 08:28 AM

So if I brought an immature clown would one then change to female or would the fish I already have attack it?:confused:

**MR Teee** · 01-25-2007, 08:40 AM

A single marroon clownfish will change to a female if left on its own in every instance. It is the most dominant (by virtue of being on its own) and so automatically changes to a female.

If you bought a juvenile, you would have a fairly high confidence that it would stay as a male if there is already a dominant female in the tank.

**Archer** · 01-25-2007, 08:48 AM

Thats great..thankyou! I will search for a suitable 'beau' for my lovely girly!!:D

**Zeus** · 01-25-2007, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by MR Teee

A single marroon clownfish will change to a female if left on its own in every instance. It is the most dominant (by virtue of being on its own) and so automatically changes to a female.

.

Cheers Adam, makes sense. That clears that one up.

Campbell

**MR Teee** · 01-25-2007, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by Archer

Thats great..thankyou! I will search for a suitable 'beau' for my lovely girly!!:D

What you could do with finding is a number of these living together in a LFS tank. The biggest would be the female. The next largest would be the dominant male, and the rest would be juveniles.

I'm not quite sure which would be best to pick, the male or a juvenile. I would have thought a Juvenile has much more of a chance of pairing up with a female, than what an already established dominant male would.

Even if you can only find 2 of these types in any one tank, you would have pretty good confidence in the smaller one being the male of the 2. As long as its smaller than YOUR female, you should be OK.

PS, they can get very moody the females (typical!) Mine attacks my han d whenever I get too close to her area of the tank!

**moorish** · 01-25-2007, 01:27 PM

be very careful when trying to pair maroon clowns up the female is one of the most agressive clowns there is.you would need to make sure the one you are putting in has plenty of hiding places because the larger one will attack the smaller one.it took me well over a week before my large female would accept the smaller male,she kept biting its fins constantly untill eventually she accepted the male.other times you are not so lucky and the larger one will kill the smaller one.derek