Old pair of Amphiprion Ephippium

[Bojan]

I have two Amphiprion Ephippium more than 7 year.

I bought two clowns of differing size 7 years ago. 6 years ago became mated pair and lived in E. quadricolor. That had nest with eggs more than 200 times.

Now they started to fight. Both fishes are exactly the same size and I guess that now both want to be famales.

What do you think ?

 

[skyrne_isk]

If the former male of the pair was noticeably smaller than the female, and now is the same size, coupled with aggression being seen between the once spawning pair....then yes it would appear you now have two females and cannot do anything about it. Once the male develops into a female, there is no going back. Specifically, there have been hormonal changes that have taken place in what was once the male and is not reversible. If this behavior continues for more than a week or so, I would seperate the fish, add smaller Ephippium and pair them again. It happens. Bummer when it does.

 

[skyrne_isk]

forgot: did you seperate these fish recently? This could be the cause of the change.

 

[Bojan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13604288#post13604288 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skyrne_isk
forgot: did you seperate these fish recently? This could be the cause of the change.

No, both lived together 7 years, with no interuptions.

Thay have egg every 10 days and eggs always develops in larve, so it sure that are still pair. (famale and male)

I believe that it is possible that male wants to be female, but it is sure still male.

I guess that male have to win in the fight and than it is danger that male will become female. It is true that now are both fishes similar in size and strength and it is very difficult to predict result of the fight.

I do not know what happen in the nature with such old pair. In nature it is possible that old big male will find own home and establish new family as female and new smaller male with joint with famale.
But , this is only guess. I did not find any information on the net or literature, what happen with old pairs. I observe many pairs of clowns in the nature and there are mostly two fishes of the different size in the pair, but in the nature is diffucult to observe same pair 7 years or more.

 

[skyrne_isk]

how do you you know you are getting larvae? are you watching them hatch? eggs disappearing does not mean they hatched viable larvae. if the fish are fighting, then likely they would not be spawning, as these behaviors are mutually exclusive. perhaps you are not seeing real aggression, just the sort of "bickering" that clowns do to maintain the social order.