This may be a strange question, but has anyone ever observed the smaller clownfish of the two becoming dominant and eventually becoming the female in the pair? I've got two occy clowns, one approximately two inches and the other one inch. By weight/volume the two inch one is probably three times larger in total than the smaller. Recently, I noticed the larger clown nibbling the tentacles of my zoas showing hosting behavior, so I got a BTA for them. They ended up hosting it immediately (had to shoo them away because they were trying to get in within 5 minutes of putting the BTA in the tank). Now, the smaller one is keeping the larger out of the nem and running them out of it. I'm fairly certain the larger one is doing the side submission wiggling, but then again clowns are odd so I could be misinterpreting it. During the daytime they can both fit in the nem when its fully extended, but at night there isn't room for the both of them. They both thrash about in it non stop, and the smaller one is not looking to give up its turn.
Smaller clownfish dominant?
- Thread starter TheStrangler
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Rmckoy
7500 Club Member
Could be ...
the smaller one was with smaller and became dominate female .
move read once they become female they can’t change back .
they are dominant female until they are challenge and killed by a larger one .
But .. the male is the second dominant .
Once she is
Gone he will become female and another clown will become male .
the smaller one was with smaller and became dominate female .
move read once they become female they can’t change back .
they are dominant female until they are challenge and killed by a larger one .
But .. the male is the second dominant .
Once she is
Gone he will become female and another clown will become male .
TheStrangler
Active Member
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That is a possibility, but I figured both were too small to have established genders yet. I'll keep watch and see if I can't get video, its pretty interesting. They were both buddy buddy until an anemone came into play.
looselyhuman
New Member
How did this play out? I'm in a similar situation with two percs.
As with yours, this started after I added a nem. "He" took to it first and is defending it from "her"; sometimes she gets in for a bit - a little back and forth - but generally he's winning the confrontations.
They were well on the way to bonding
Video
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