Female Clown Being Bullied by Juvenille

[johnstires]

I have a female ocellaris that I've had for about 10 years. When I moved last year I unfortunately lost my male ocellaris when he got caught in a powerhead. They were a pair for about 6 years and got along fine. My female was definitely the dominant one.

I recently added another ocellaris to my tank. It is less than half the size of my female and it came from a tank with a bunch of other clowns. Tank bred and its white lines have not connected, so I was pretty positive it was a juvenille.

I kept the new clown in isolation until it got acclimated (about a week). I released it into the tank about 5 days ago and I was concerned that my female would not accept it into her 2 RBTAs. When they met I instantly saw a reverse of behavior than what I thought. My female was rolling on her side and shaking, showing signs of passiveness. The first night, the new clown slept outside of the anemone in the corner of the tank. The second night they both slept in their own anemone. The third night my female slept outside of my anemone. Today when I got home from work, my female wasn't anywhere to be found, which is really unusual. After about 5 minutes when I faked feeding time, she came out from hiding within the rocks. The new clown then started lunging at her and she began seizing on her side.

I'm totally confused by this behavior. I was expecting it to be reversed from what is happening. I'm wondering what I should do or if they will just sort it out themselves. I'd hate to stress out or loose a fish I've had for 10 years.

 

[trueblackpercula]

sounds like your female is turning into a male and the new clown is now turning into a dominat female. In anycase keep an eye on them as she may be to old to keep up with the younger fish. Can you post pictures of the new clown and the old one?

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

All clowns are born male. Once a male clowns changes into a female she cannot turn back into a male.

 

[trueblackpercula]

All clowns are born male. Once a male clowns changes into a female she cannot turn back into a male.

you dont no what you are talking about sorry but do some research before postung something like that.

 

[MarineBioHSU]

It is true that conventional knowledge/wisdom does indicate that clownfish typically do not have the ability to revert from female to male, and I would say that this is what happens 99% of the time. HOWEVER, there are cases of females reverting to functional males, although it seems very very rare in captivity, but this may be a function of captive environments. I have personally had a breeding female (who was placed in a tank with a clear divider next to another very large female), kill her male and try to spawn through the divider with the larger female, the eggs were fertilized! Blew me away, but again this seems very rare, but it makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint, so that if all else fails any two fish can reproduce.

 

[BonsaiNut]

you dont no what you are talking about sorry but do some research before postung something like that.

Sorry trueblackpercula, but you are mistaken.

All clowns start out life as latent males with gonads that are functioning testes but which contain latent ovarian cells. If the male matures into a female, the gonads become functioning ovaries, and the testicular tissue degenerates. This is a one-way trip. In biology-speak it is called protandrous hermaphroditism.

[EDIT] Having just read MarineBio's post, all I can do is shrug Who knew? I have never heard of this happening. It would have been very interesting to dissect the female/male confused fish and see exactly what was going on internally.

 

[trueblackpercula]

I remember martin moe Jr. telling me that if you put two females together one will change back to male. Maybe i was miss informed sorry about that.

 

[trueblackpercula]

maybe bill at cquest can be asked if he has tried this or maybe his daughter might no about it. If i have tume tomorrow i will give them a call and ask them.

 

[SkullV]

you dont no what you are talking about sorry but do some research before postung something like that.

Maybe you should do a little more research before making an insulting response like this. In any case there are a FEW (and I emphasize few) mentions of females going back to male on RC but I don't know how valid the claims are coming from an internet forum.

 

[trueblackpercula]

look it either happens or dosent happen ....I did my research.....With out being disrespectful to anyone here please ask major breaders like Cquest OR ORA If it can happen or not....I am only trying to help and from what i was told it happens...Now i have not seen it with my own eyes but i was told it has happened. Sorry if i came of insulting

 

[johnstires]

I'm going to try to corral this back to the topic at hand.

Here is a link to some video of the fish right after I introduced them to each other:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheiman/5642256810/in/photostream/

The female wasn't having any submissive seizures at this time, but you can tell she is totally freaked out by the new clown. This is really weird behavior for her because she has absolutely no problem biting the hell out of my hand when it is in the tank. She defends her territory. However as you can see in the video she is much more on the defensive.

From this video moments after introduction it seems weird that she would automatically revert to becoming a female. I would think that would happen over time.

As things stand in the tank right now, the new clown is in the anemone. The female hides in the rocks. I haven't seen her other than at feeding time.