i just lost my female today and i was wondering how long it would take for the male to switch back to a female. the lfs said they will be getting some more in next week if i wanted to get a replacement. they are black ice and the female was 1.50" long and the male is 1.25" long. trying to decide which why i want to go. thanks for any input.
HOW LONG FOR CLOWNFISH TO TURN FROM MALE TO FEMALE
- Thread starter chum
- Start date
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I had a similar experience when my female carpet surfed. I bought a new clown that was still very small so knew was a male. Placed in a acclimation box for about a week. I wouldn’t say they accepted each other for about 2 months. And much longer till they paired.
They bickered a little for about a week. Chasing but no damage to either fish. Both still ate healthily.
After that week they ignored each other for about a month.
After about another month they would swim together but sleep separately.
They eventually started sleeping in the same spot.
This timeline is subjectively based on my memory of this.
Not sure if this helps. Btw my clowns are false percs, not sure i would have used this method with more aggressive species.
Edit also i didnt add the second fish for several months after the female was gone.
They bickered a little for about a week. Chasing but no damage to either fish. Both still ate healthily.
After that week they ignored each other for about a month.
After about another month they would swim together but sleep separately.
They eventually started sleeping in the same spot.
This timeline is subjectively based on my memory of this.
Not sure if this helps. Btw my clowns are false percs, not sure i would have used this method with more aggressive species.
Edit also i didnt add the second fish for several months after the female was gone.
ShaunRobinson
Active Member
The male does not ‘switch back’ to female. They are male until one of them becomes a female in a pair. If your pair were bonded and the remaining one was definitely the male you can add another of similar size or smaller and as they mature one of them will become the female.
Oldsalt
Active Member
My female ocellaris passed away last month. I bought another small one a few days later. They paired up and started to sleep in the anemone the next day. Now my existing larger male is turning into a female. I've seen this before - they tend to nestle the anemone and sleep in it much more. This lasts around 3 to 4 weeks at which point we now have a dominant female. I'm estimating that the smaller one I bought is already male, or close to being male because he's already started cleaning the rock that my previous pair spawned in every 2 weeks. I'm hoping to see some spawning in around another month or so.
laverda
2500 Club Member
In my case the change was in a few days. I had two pairs of clowns in a 240. The larger female disappeared. The male with in days stole the male from the other female and beat up and killed the other female. This all took less than a week.
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