Clownfish sexing

[lkoechle]

Questions:

 

If a male clown is larger than a young female clown, what happens? Will the male stay male or will the male turn female?

 

How long does it take for a clown to go female when kept alone?

 

I have, what I am assuming, a gender neutral phantom. We got it out of a group 10 days ago, so I'm assuming it still does not have a gender. My husband is picking up a DaVinci male today to go with it. The male is older, so I'm assuming is larger. I think the phantom is still neutral/male but thats why I'm asking.

[atrox]

Males can change back to asexual then to females. Females can not change back. They won't go to female unless a smaller clown is in there to trigger it. Otherwise it will stay asexual. Sounds like you will end up with two females.

[lkoechle]

I know that.

 

In this scenario, if the small one is already female, would that stop the larger male's change to female? In the wild, it would not make sense for that to occur and then have the two females fight. You would think one being female would do it...

 

 

(keep in mind, this is all speculative, I'm fairly certain my clown is still neutral, its only been on its own for ten days. But it got me thinking and I couldn't google any answers.)

[atrox]

are you positive smaller is a female?

[lkoechle]

For my situation, no, like I said, I'm pretty sure mine is still gender neutral. It's only been alone for 10 days and was in a group prior. But my husband asked and it got me wondering.

 

So since this is all theoretical, lets say it was confirmed female. What happens?

[clownfitch]

Don't quote me on this as I am not positive but.. Male clowns stop growing at some point and do not reach the size a mature female clown achieves. Therefore I don't think it is likely to have a female that is significantly smaller than a male clownfish as they have not matured enough to become female. At least that makes sense in my mind.

[lkoechle]

Hm, yes that would make sense.