Do anemonefish really change sex??

[deangelr]

So Im just curious... Has anyone out there had a fish that spawned as a male.. fertilized eggs and made viable offspring.. Then the female died, or tanks got switched around and that same individual laid eggs as a female?

So not asking if a fish you thought was male, then turned into a female, but that the same individual actually made viable offspring as both sexes..

Anyone have good proof? and if so how long did it take?

 

[gunther13mt]

What from what i understand clowns are able to do this. Say you have a dominate clown who dies that would most likely have been the female so the male left in the tank would transation into female if left alone or if he became dominate. As i dont know a lot of people who house more than one set of clowns you would have to introduce another to spur spawning. Which could lead to conflict between them and possible death of the fish due to stress or damage. Hope that helps

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[cody3819]

In the high archy of clown fish you will have one dominate fish, the female, and it's mate, the dominant male. When the female dies the male becomes a female and the rest of the fish on that area of the reef fight for the dominant male spot.

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[addictedreefer]

I think everyone is missing OP's point, which is an interesting one. We all know what the books say. OP is asking whether anyone here has DIRECTLY OBSERVED it happen in their tanks -- i.e., a mating and fertile male transitioning to a mating and fertile female. I for one have not.

 

[phender]

Yes, I have observed this directly with my orange skunk clowns (A. sandaracinos). The pair produced every 2 weeks. I even raised some of the babies. I had them for about 5 years before the female jumped out of the tank and died before I found her. I replaced her with one of her babies. It took about 3 months and the fish that had previously been a male was now laying eggs and the new male was fertilizing them. They laid every 2 weeks for about 4 more years before I gave them to a friend.
I don't know if it took 3 months for the male to become female or it took the baby that long to become a functional male, but that was the time frame.

What I am curious about is that I heard from a ichthyology professor that maroon clowns are all born female and then change to males. I had never heard that, and I sort of doubt it, but I suppose when the females turned male they could just stop growing and those that will be females just continue to grow. Still doesn't sound right to me. Perhaps I will do a google search.

 

[ThRoewer]

I had it with a melanopus pair, where the female died and I added one of their babies as a replacement. It took a bit but eventually they spawned with the previous male being now the female.

It has also been tried out in field and lab studies with some of the test fish later dissected to make sure the gonads had changed.
Sex change in anemonefish is a well proven fact beyond any shadow of a doubt.

 

[ThRoewer]

...

What I am curious about is that I heard from a ichthyology professor that maroon clowns are all born female and then change to males. I had never heard that, and I sort of doubt it, but I suppose when the females turned male they could just stop growing and those that will be females just continue to grow. Still doesn't sound right to me. Perhaps I will do a google search.

Maroons are closest related to percula, ocellaris and latezonatus - and IMO unjustly placed into their own genus as they are firmly located inside the phylogenetic tree of the Anemonefish. They shouldn't be much different than the rest of the gang.

I think that professor was a bit fuzzy and confused things, or he used the wrong terms.

Born is an ambiguous term with fish. It could be that hatched larva could be seen as female, though in reality they are rather both or neither as they have both ovarian and testicular tissues, but at best in a very immature form.

Only the most aggressive individual of a group develops its ovaries and becomes female. The second in the hierarchy develops its testicles while maintaining its ovaries in immature form and becomes a functional male. All the others in the hierarchy are technically sexless or at best non-functional males.

 

[deangelr]

What I am curious about is that I heard from a ichthyology professor that maroon clowns are all born female and then change to males.

there is some debate about this.. I disagree, but there is some evidence to support the claim.. when you first look at the gonads in early development, they look female.. at time.. but other factors don't add up.. specifically circulating hormone levels..

 

[deangelr]

It has also been tried out in field and lab studies with some of the test fish later dissected to make sure the gonads had changed.
Sex change in anemonefish is a well proven fact beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Im not debating the fact.. But I have issues with the field studies.. lets just say I have put in a lot of work into understanding how the process is coordinated and have been frustrated by the results..