Female clown pairing?

[John3]

Is there such a thing as female clown pairs? I have a orange ocellarice which I got as a tiny baby. I then later on added a black ocellarice which was medium sized. At that point my orange one was already on the larger size. I saw the black one do the submit twitch when first introduced.

Fast forward 8 months later. My orange clown has gotten a little bigger and I would think I’d full grown. It’s about 3 inches. The black clown has stayed medium but is clearly bigger than what most would consider a male fish. It’s about 2 inches.

They swim together about 75% of the time. The black clown will wonder around the tank a little but both tend to hang around some pvc pipe I have behind my rocks.

Would you say this is a pair and if so are they both females or do I have a larger sized male?

 

[GoPitt88]

Sounds to me like you have a bonded pair [emoji7]

 

[Gareth elliott]

As they age the difference between male and female starts to erode. At full size both are very similar.

 

[Elegance Coral]

feed them multiple times a day, and in a few months you should figure out who's male and who's female.

 

[John3]

As they age the difference between male and female starts to erode. At full size both are very similar.

Does that mean 2 females could pair?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Does that mean 2 females could pair?

No, meaning sometimes its hard to tell male and female apart from size alone. Behavior is far easier. See a waggle towards or submissive in anyway that is the male.

 

[Captain Quint]

Clowns are born male and can change to female in as little as a month. Often if similar in size there will be a stronger/longer dominance timeframe until one is hurt or submits.

You wrote that the black was submitting early on and is still smaller by roughly an inch indicating that the black is the male and your other is the female even though it is only about an inch bigger.

My female is about 4 1/2 inches and my male is about 3 inches. They've been together for about 10 years.

Congratulations. I strongly believe you have a paired male and female.

EDIT on 10-8 about being born male...I got ahead of my dumb self as I meant to write about neutral, then the submission thingy and conversion Sorry about that.... and thank you NanoCrazed for pointing it out my friend.

 

[davocean]

When we say to people get a small clown to assure it's male, that's new to tank fish.
After that the female will keep it in check and male, but they both will still grow, just the female will always be bigger, so there are plenty of males out there that are 3 or 4 inches or so.
I agree sounds like a bonded pair, if they lay eggs a mated pair.

 

[John3]

Cool! Thanks for the replies.

 

[NanoCrazed]

Clowns are born male and can change to female in as little as a month. Often if similar in size there will be a stronger/longer dominance timeframe until one is hurt or submits.

You wrote that the black was submitting early on and is still smaller by roughly an inch indicating that the black is the male and your other is the female even though it is only about an inch bigger.

My female is about 4 1/2 inches and my male is about 3 inches. They've been together for about 10 years.

Congratulations. I strongly believe you have a paired male and female.

Actually, clowns are born neutral...

In a pair, the more dominant, larger one becomes female while the small one will be male.

In pairing random clowns, choosing a larger clown and a smaller one that is 1/3 or so the size of the first one. In most cases, the larger one changes to female...small one grows to male.

In a community, same thing happens except you will also have non-mating males awaiting their turn to take pole position should the mating male died or simply fails at being fit for the female. Next dominant non-mating male takes the place of the former.... and the juvies will grow up to be non-mating males, waiting for the same...

If the female dies, the most dominant male changes to female. And the cycle continues.

 

[Captain Quint]

Actually, clowns are born neutral...

Yes indeed, I typed that before thinking and the sad part is that I knew that but goofed as I was rushing. Sorry for the unintentional wording. ARGH.

I skipped ahead and didn't embellish as you did. Thanks for the whole scoop. I was in a rush. ARGH again.

Thanks for the correction.

 

[Stigigemla]

The size and sex is not an absolute thing.
I had a pair of perculas that were prepairing to spawn and the male died. I bought a new pair and that female paired up to the "old" female. They spawned regulary with the old female as male in ten years.

I bought some wild caught ocellaris large and medium wich I use to put together to form pairs. I kept 2 of them for my own but when they spawned I saw that the large one (3,5 inches) was male and the smaller (2,5 inches was a female). I kept them for about 2 years and they spawned regulary with the same sexes.

And yes it is the female thats laying the eggs just as any other egg laying species on this world. (Ok there are a few hermaphrodites having both sexes)

 

[John3]

Well it Appears I have a mating pair. I noticed the larger orange clown rarely comes out from behind my rock. I was taking a look back there today and see eggs clinging to the underside of my rock. Both clowns like to rub their faces in the eggs.

 

[ShaunRobinson]

Well it Appears I have a mating pair. I noticed the larger orange clown rarely comes out from behind my rock. I was taking a look back there today and see eggs clinging to the underside of my rock. Both clowns like to rub their faces in the eggs.

Great photo!

 

[Captain Quint]

 

[JerseyClowns]

Is there such a thing as female clown pairs? I have a orange ocellarice which I got as a tiny baby. I then later on added a black ocellarice which was medium sized. At that point my orange one was already on the larger size. I saw the black one do the submit twitch when first introduced.

Fast forward 8 months later. My orange clown has gotten a little bigger and I would think I’d full grown. It’s about 3 inches. The black clown has stayed medium but is clearly bigger than what most would consider a male fish. It’s about 2 inches.

They swim together about 75% of the time. The black clown will wonder around the tank a little but both tend to hang around some pvc pipe I have behind my rocks.

Would you say this is a pair and if so are they both females or do I have a larger sized male?

Females cannot be paired. All clowns start as males. As they become adults, they go through a dominance ritual where one fish (typically the larger more aggressive of the pair) will become female. Once female, there's no going back to male.

 

[Stigigemla]

I had a wildcought pair of percula from new Guinea that was preparing to spawn when the male died.
I bought a new pair and my old "female" spawned with the new female under 13 years. I even raised 21 juvenils.
The new male was never allowed to join.
OK he never spawned as a female but the behavour and the belly indicated that.