When Does A Clown Fish Get Its Sex Change?

[MrLiam]

Im just wondering if one of my clowns is starting to become a female as it is a tiny bit bigger than the other one and is starting to be a bit more aggressive.

 

[weezawoo]

Ooooo you changed your name

 

[fishy55599]

oh yea, haha

 

[MrLiam]

Any way back to the question.

 

[fishy55599]

This sounds like it is

 

[lewiss]

They tend to about 2weeks-1month after purchasing. They normally begin fighting and will do a Wierd twitching thing. When they stop fighting one will get bigger and that one will then be the female.
So if yours have fought already then chances are it's happened. It's a slow transaction though with no definate answer of when!

It's like the NHS, you could be waiting a while..

 

[MrLiam]

Is it normal for them to swim separately whilst this stage is happening.

 

[-Nemo-]

Eh I would have to disagree with you lewis on certain conditions
It first off depends on their age/size. Clowns are considered "juveniles" for about a year to sometimes two and at that point they will start to change into either adult male or adult female, depending on the environmental situation.

 

[TheHolding]

What size would you say they reach maturity Nemo?

 

[-Nemo-]

What do you mean by maturity? They won't reach sexual maturity until they are their full adult sizes. If you mean changing from juveniles, there is no definite size but likely around 2 inches for ocellaris clowns. Most percula and ocellaris clowns are sold at about 6 months of age.

 

[lewiss]

So Nemo, are you saying they can't change sex earlier?? Only my clowns changed straight away?

 

[-Nemo-]

What are you judging as them changing sex lewis?

 

[lewiss]

Well I'm no expert!!! So I'm confused. Well mine did the twitching thing, and fought badly.. Then one went really submissive and then they started swimming together and one got bigger!? I assumed that was when they changed sex?? I might have bought mine older than the average clown, I'm not sure??

 

[-Nemo-]

Bickering, twitching all signs of them "working it out" to become a pair. When one starts to become larger is when the clown starts to transition into a female. Even with larger juvenile clowns that I've seen, it generally takes 2-3 months for that to happen though.

 

[lewiss]

Oh fair enough! Sorry TheHolding to misinform you! Thanks Nemo!!