Will male in clownfish pair stay small until female dies?

[jtf74]

I've read clownfish have been recorded to live over 40 years. My female maroon is approx 9 yrs and the male is about 3 or 4. She just kept growing from day one. Her white stripes turned gold and her body color darkened after about 4-5 years when I added the little one. It seems to eat less and hasn't grown as rapidly but his stripes have yellowed since I got him. Will the male eventually turn female if given enough time or not until she dies?

 

[Jekyl]

I've read clownfish have been recorded to live over 40 years. My female maroon is approx 9 yrs and the male is about 3 or 4. She just kept growing from day one. Her white stripes turned gold and her body color darkened after about 4-5 years when I added the little one. It seems to eat less and hasn't grown as rapidly but his stripes have yellowed since I got him. Will the male eventually turn female if given enough time or not until she dies?

There will only be 1 female. If there were 2, thunderdome.

 

[jtf74]

There will only be 1 female. If there were 2, thunderdome.

So some hormone or something prevents the male from getting larger to avoid that? I didn't know if in the wild maybe another female left the colony and moved elsewhere after changing. I always heard maroons were nasty but these two have been very good community fish.

 

[Jekyl]

So some hormone or something prevents the male from getting larger to avoid that? I didn't know if in the wild maybe another female left the colony and moved elsewhere after changing. I always heard maroons were nasty but these two have been very good community fish.

If your female happened to die. The current male would transfer to being a dominant female. Not sure of the science. Even if you had a clown harem with 30 clowns, 29 dudes and 1 chick.