male or female

[txtwstr]

I have a large maroon clown female. I have been wanting to find a mate for her but do not know how to tell a male from a female when they are small. Can anyone help my fish? She is starting to flurt with my niger trigger?

 

[promisetbg]

Buy another clownfish that is smaller than the one you have.Clowns are sexually dimorphic..{I think that's the term}Whenever there is one large and one small.. the larger will become the female,and the smaller will stay a male.

 

[txtwstr]

Thank you for your response. In all the stores the are all real young. Are you saying it does not matter which one I get, as long as I put it with the female it will be a male? Do males have a lighter color or any other differences when they are inch long or less?

 

[promisetbg]

Smaller will be male...if the female were to die,then the smaller one would become a female..and an even smaller new one would be male.No difference in appearance is apparant.

 

[txtwstr]

I now have a new maroon clown. I have him or her in a safety net in my tank. The female clown checks it out but does not hang out long. Will this new fish turn out to be male if I keep it somewhat separated like I have it? I need him to be big enough and smart enough to avoid the caverns of my lion fishes stomache before he is free to roam the tank.

 

[promisetbg]

They should be together.You cannot possibly plan on keeping a fish in a net He will die from stress.

 

[txtwstr]

Sorry. He is not in my net. He is in my breeding cage which is covered in netting.

 

[zanoshano]

wow cool, didnt know that one. Thanks for the info!
But are they both in the breeder? or both in the tank? im assuming you are looking for them to spawn, in that case they arent seperated...?

 

[viper_930]

Originally posted by promisetbg
Smaller will be male...
Not necessarily true. Just because if one person has a large female clown, doesn't mean every clown smaller than it elsewhere is male. And once they are female they cannot turn back to male.

 

[txtwstr]

They are separated. I have not been able to catch the female and I do not want to stress her.. I guess I will feed the lion fish real well and set the new clown free and let nature take its course. I will let you know how he is tonight after work.

 

[txtwstr]

Well, I was worried my trigger would eat my new clown. I was wrong. Princess (niger trigger) could not have cared less. The lion fish did not care either. The little guy just swam around exploring and everything was cool, Then "coral" the red eyed maroon widow clown fish proceed to tear the little guy up. She dragged him around the tank and shook him like a rag fish. I managed to get him back into the safety of the breeder net but he is a bit messed up. I think he wants to take his chances with the lion fish.