clownfish sex change question

[Ron448]

so i know clownfish are all born male and the dominant one will become a female. i have two black snowflake clownfish being quarantined since December and when i got them one was a little bigger than the other one and was clearly showing dominance by picking on and nibbling at the other one but towards the end of april the bigger one went a week and a half without eating anything and the smaller one was eating every day. i treated them with copper and the next day the larger one began to eat again but during the time the bigger one stopped eating the smaller one had grown and now appears to be the dominant one and will pick on and bite at the original larger one. Im hoping that these two will eventually breed so I'm wondering if the switching of dominance will be an issue of them eventually breeding if the original dominant clownfish had already become female. i read somewhere online that they can switch back and forth but I'm not sure if i can trust the source so I'm hoping someone on here will have some information about this.
thanks

 

[Azedenkae]

so i know clownfish are all born male and the dominant one will become a female. i have two black snowflake clownfish being quarantined since December and when i got them one was a little bigger than the other one and was clearly showing dominance by picking on and nibbling at the other one but towards the end of april the bigger one went a week and a half without eating anything and the smaller one was eating every day. i treated them with copper and the next day the larger one began to eat again but during the time the bigger one stopped eating the smaller one had grown and now appears to be the dominant one and will pick on and bite at the original larger one. Im hoping that these two will eventually breed so I'm wondering if the switching of dominance will be an issue of them eventually breeding if the original dominant clownfish had already become female. i read somewhere online that they can switch back and forth but I'm not sure if i can trust the source so I'm hoping someone on here will have some information about this.
thanks

Well for starters, they can't switch back and forth, that has been studied by scientists before. Unless the fish is a mutant and somehow obtained that ability or something.

Next, yes if one turned female and the other also turns female, then they will fight. But it isn't clear if the first one has turned female though, even if it was the more dominant one.

 

[Ginger bay]

Well for starters, they can't switch back and forth, that has been studied by scientists before. Unless the fish is a mutant and somehow obtained that ability or something.

Next, yes if one turned female and the other also turns female, then they will fight. But it isn't clear if the first one has turned female though, even if it was the more dominant one.

+1 agree

 

[Ron448]

Ok they aren't really fighting with each other one is just being picked on and the one being picked on just takes it so hopefully the sex change has not happened yet. If it did already happen is it possible for the other one to still change to a female too? There's only two of them so I would think if the one had already become a female it wouldn't let the other one but I don't know