How Long Is A Single Clown Stay Male?

[tanglovers]

Hi All,

I have paired many clowns over the years and even breed out a fair number of them.

My question is how long is a single male clown stay male? I have a female leucocranos (3.5" or so) and looking to pair it with a male.

I have found a single healthy one locally but it has been by itself for around 6 months. It was the smaller of the pair.

What is the likeliness this one is still a male? This 'male' single is around 2.5" right now. Noticeably smaller then my female.

Any thoughts?

 

[2Addicted]

Do you know how old the smaller one is? I think a mature male could turn female in just a few weeks. I wouldnt chance it.

 

[Ben_Im]

I've heard as little as 4 weeks.

 

[LesMartin]

I had a pair of A.polymnus and lost the female. The male at that time was approx. 3" long. I really wanted to pair him up again so bought a small juvenile approx. 1" long thinking that the original male would turn into a female and I'd have a pair once more. Sounds reasonable ? They got along from day 1 so the plan was, errr, going to plan. The juvenile got to the size of the original male, then grew larger than the male and became the dominant partner. Once this occurred, they spawned and what was the juvenile, was/is now the female. The original male never changed sex. I don't know if this is because he was too old to change as he was an adult size when I bought him or simply because once the juvenile had reached the same size it became the dominant partner, preventing the male from changing. They are still together as I write and still spawning every 10 days or so. Sorry for such a long winded reply but I thought that it was interesting and highlights the possibility that a male doesn't always have to change sex.