Clownfish Sex behavior (not intercourse)

[XtremeFromHell]

i have 2 perc clowns in my tank, theyve been together in there for about 4 months... one is bigger than the other: Fish A, and the smaller one:Fish B

Fish A always showed the strenght of the two, Fish A would pick on Fish B and when they were eating Fish A would stay up top and Fish A also loved hanging in front of my powerheads stream and when Fish B would get near, she would scare him away.. i also noticed the Common submissive behavior of the twitching, Fish B would turn sideways and twitch to Fish A, but just right now, and i have never seen it happen before, Fish A the bigger one was twitching when Fish B would be near.. is this normal? or whats going on.. i thought my bigger more dominant one(Fish A) was becoming the Female..

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

Clownfish do their thing... I've had a bonded pair for 16 months and within the last 6 months there was an obvious size difference. The female went from 1.5" to 3" and the male went from 1.5" down a tiny bit... so about 1.35". They recently spawned on the last new moon, but they failed. They were actually spawning, but the female just couldn't lay the eggs... or they were being eaten. It was their first try. I know I was always anxious for them to spawn, but now I'm anxious for them to actually lay the eggs. It sounds like your clowns are just establishing bonds. After they are a pair, you will notice the submissive behavior is happening much less. The female sometimes even shows submissiveness to show the male that she loves him still. As I said, Clownfish just do their thing. A few months (yes, I said months) before the spawn the male will pick a rock to clean off. He will do this forever, then when they are ready, the female will be all like "Stupid fish! Nobody even likes that rock " and she'll go pick another which the pair will clean off and attempt to spawn on. The first few attempts of spawning will probably be fails (no eggs, not fertilized eggs, eaten eggs) but after the first few times they'll probably succeed and then it is up to YOU to take on the responsibility of raising their children for them and selling them...

 

[Toddrtrex]

Clownfish do their thing... I've had a bonded pair for 16 months and within the last 6 months there was an obvious size difference. The female went from 1.5" to 3" and the male went from 1.5" down a tiny bit... so about 1.35".

I don't see how that is possible --- the length of a clown fish will not go down, they can't shrink.

They recently spawned on the last new moon, but they failed. They were actually spawning, but the female just couldn't lay the eggs... or they were being eaten.

If the female didn't lay eggs, it wasn't a spawn. So either they didn't spawn or the eggs were eaten.

The female sometimes even shows submissiveness to show the male that she loves him still.

Simply not true.

As I said, Clownfish just do their thing. A few months (yes, I said months) before the spawn the male will pick a rock to clean off. He will do this forever, then when they are ready, the female will be all like "Stupid fish! Nobody even likes that rock " and she'll go pick another which the pair will clean off and attempt to spawn on. The first few attempts of spawning will probably be fails (no eggs, not fertilized eggs, eaten eggs) but after the first few times they'll probably succeed and then it is up to YOU to take on the responsibility of raising their children for them and selling them...

It isn't true that the female will pick another rock. Sure it may happen once in a while, but to say that she will pick another rock and they will clean that one off and spawn isn't true.

Each time any of my clowns has spawn (( 4 different pairs over the years )) they have laid on the first spot that was cleared off. And the male was only clearing that spot for a couple of days, not months, before the spawning happened.

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

I was sharing my experience. Sorry for trying to help...

 

[XtremeFromHell]

thanks for the info guys, i appreciate it.. and thanks for the help!

 

[Slickcg33]

Quote:
Originally Posted by WaffleWalffle22
Clownfish do their thing... I've had a bonded pair for 16 months and within the last 6 months there was an obvious size difference. The female went from 1.5" to 3" and the male went from 1.5" down a tiny bit... so about 1.35".

I don't see how that is possible --- the length of a clown fish will not go down, they can't shrink.


Quote:
Originally Posted by WaffleWalffle22
They recently spawned on the last new moon, but they failed. They were actually spawning, but the female just couldn't lay the eggs... or they were being eaten.

If the female didn't lay eggs, it wasn't a spawn. So either they didn't spawn or the eggs were eaten.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaffleWalffle22
The female sometimes even shows submissiveness to show the male that she loves him still.

Simply not true. [/COLOR]
my female regulary shakes towards the male, not sure why you said this is simply not true.... ?


Quote:
Originally Posted by WaffleWalffle22
As I said, Clownfish just do their thing. A few months (yes, I said months) before the spawn the male will pick a rock to clean off. He will do this forever, then when they are ready, the female will be all like "Stupid fish! Nobody even likes that rock >" and she'll go pick another which the pair will clean off and attempt to spawn on. The first few attempts of spawning will probably be fails (no eggs, not fertilized eggs, eaten eggs) but after the first few times they'll probably succeed and then it is up to YOU to take on the responsibility of raising their children for them and selling them...

It isn't true that the female will pick another rock. Sure it may happen once in a while, but to say that she will pick another rock and they will clean that one off and spawn isn't true.

Each time any of my clowns has spawn (( 4 different pairs over the years )) they have laid on the first spot that was cleared off. And the male was only clearing that spot for a couple of days, not months, before the spawning happened. [/COLOR]
my male has been cleaning the same rock for about 2 months now....(im not saying that it cant take only days, just saying that it can take much longer.

I agree with most of what you said except for what i highlighted...

 

[garygb]

Xtreme, your larger fish is/will become the female. Sometimes the smaller male will show momentary dominance and the larger female will behave submissively, and shake. But overall, the female is the dominant of the pair and most of the time it's the male that is displaying the submissive twitching behavior.


I question the part about the male shrinking, too. That seems to defy logic. I'm not saying it's impossible, but for the length to actually reduce seems very unlikely to me. Maybe you were mistaken in your measurements.

 

[XtremeFromHell]

thanks for the info! i have always noticed the male (smaller one) being very submissive all the time, i was just worried when i saw the bigger one start doing it...

this was really helpful

 

[steph119]

Ironically, my male clown is showing dominance right now. I purchased a small green bta a week ago. The male took to it immediately and seems to be running the female away. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.

Stephanie

 

[NirvanaFan]

My female clown would do the shake thing every once in a while when they were bonding. The male would shake for 3 or 4 seconds, then the female for a second or so, then the male would do it again. My male ocellaris cleaned the rock for about a month before I actually saw eggs. I think I saw them their first time, but don't know for sure.