Don't laugh!

S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Ok, I'm afraid to even ask this one!
As we all know, there are many fish species(such as clowns) in the absence of....diversity.. that will change gender!
So, I was talking to someone the other day about my planned horse tank. Told them my plan was to get 2 females for starters. The response I received was basically that nature would "find a way"!
I didn't think this would be the case in horses!
So, does anyone know if it would be possible for one of my potential horses to....um...........switch teams???
 
ann83

ann83

Member
Well... Probably not.
Most likely, if you get full grown adults, you're going to continue to have two females. However, there are two ways that you could end up with a male. The first is because all seahorses start out looking like females, and then, when reaching sexual maturity, the male grows a pouch. Pouch growth usually happens around 4-6 months, but can most certainly happen at a later age, so one of your "females" could turn male that way.
The other thing is, there is documentation of at least one genuine gender change in seahorses. However, we're not sure what caused it, or whether the seahorse was always hermaphrodytic. The seahorse was initially a fully reproductive female that had produced fertile eggs, and later "she" grew a pouch. So, there is at least a chance that it could happen. However, it is very unlikely.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Thanks to all! Especially Mr. Clownfish! lol
So, Ann proved it wasn't such a silly question after all!
Just want to take my time with horses, before I even start thinking about babies! Hoping my clowns might breed and give me some practice raising something besides guppies!
 
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