maroon clown fish

[salth2ofun]

clown can anyone tell me if you can tell the --- of a maroon clown fish. I would like to get it a mate but I dont know how to tell its ---.

 

[nemo1234]

Originally Posted by salth2ofun
clown can anyone tell me if you can tell the --- of a maroon clown fish. I would like to get it a mate but I dont know how to tell its ---.

I'm not too sure if it works with maroons, but prolly, the female is usually the bigger one. They form a ranking system with the largest being the female and the next in line is male.

 

[salth2ofun]

I only have 1, and am looking to get another. Would it be safe to get a smaller one, and brighter colored?

 

[nemo1234]

IMO, it won't matter, it will just end up that the bigger one will become the female, and the smaller one the male. Clowns are transgendered, and they are able to change their ---.
At least that is what I heard and read..... anyone else have an opinion or fact on this?

 

[nemo1234]

you might wanna wait until you get some other responses, because I am new at this again. But that is what I've read, and heard also.

 

[salth2ofun]

Thanks for the help. I have asked other people and I was told at the LFS that you can only put mated pairs together? But I think I am going to take the chance and see if I can arrange a date. I have other fish in the tank, and my clown seems lonely.

 

[travis89]

Get a smaller one and you should be fine, a larger one may fight, depending on how long you've had the current one. The color makes no difference.

 

[nereef]

all clowns start out as males. when paired, one will turn female and get larger.

 

[dawman]

Originally Posted by NEreef
all clowns start out as males. when paired, one will turn female and get larger.
All clowns do start as males . But don`t need to be paired for one to change to female . A clown that has been single for a period of time will turn into a female . It can be tricky introducing a mate for the maroon . Buy a smaller one and change the tank around before adding the new one .

 

[ric maniac]

also, is this a goldbar? if so it is also a juvinile because it doesnt have the gold yet.

 

[firedog]

All clowns start out as adolescents. The largest will become a female, and the next largest a male. Maroons will most likely kill all others outside of the pair. The recommendation for pairing is to get a second clown that is much smaller than the first, and they might eventually form a pair after some pretty intense aggression. In my first attempt to make a maroon pair, one candidate was killed. They were both the same size and added at the same time. When I added another maroon, I added a slightly bigger one (it wasn't as big as I thought) and it seems the new one has become the dominant one. My clowns were small to begin with so there was no chance of finder a smaller clown that the one I originally had. The aggression wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, as the first resident started to wiggle in fear about a week or two after adding the second one.
Clowns that live alone will probably develop into a female if alone long enough. No I don't know what that time period is. In addition, clowns will not morph from a female back into a male. It is a one way train: adolescent -> male -> female. So once a female always female. If the female dies the male will move up and change to a female. I think I read about some rare instance in which a female morphed back into a male but this is not the norm.
This should pretty much summarize what everyone else is trying to say.