colby
In Memoriam
I have a very strange incident occurring in my tank that I am hoping someone here can help explain to me.
I have a large Ocellaris (7+ years old...)that recently lost his female counterpart. Towards the end of their relationship however hostilities between the pair ensued as it seemed the male was intent on breeding while the female was not. Anyway this clown has been by "himself" for about 4 months I wold say. Actually I take that back he was with a small Ocellaris for about a month and they had seemingly paired up until some swim bladder affliction(I believe) did him in.
So...anywho I was just given a pair of CB Ocellaris from a friend who has had them for over two years. She purchased them as juvies and as expected they did the dance and paired up. The "female" of the pair is roughly 2" where-as the male in accordance is 3/4 "her" size.
So this is where it gets weird...I decided to go against me better judgment and test fate by putting them all in the same aquarium hoping that the two mild mannered "females" could reach an acceptable compromise. Well when I placed them in the tank my original fish pretended like they were not even there as "it"was just looking for dinner. When they finally met up I was afraid I would see the females face off. Quite to my surprise the new "female" showed standard submissive behavior to the big girl and they quickly paired up. I now a have a harem of four Ocellaris (forgot to mention the fourth, he is a little guy about 3/4"). There are no hostilities amongst the family what-so-ever. In fact they quickly set up a territory right next the a very large BTA and have driven off everything that comes close to include the lone Bangaii in their tank, snails and Scarlert hermits. Hell they will even bite a piece of caulerpa if it floats by.
All of my prior knowledge of clownfish would indicate to me that this is a seemingly impossible scenario. I would think that the females would at best just work out sharing the tank with each other. So it seems that there are only three possibilities...
1. The large "female" I had, had never in-fact turned into a female...and for some weird reason they paired up. (This seems unlikely however considering the large one is considerably larger than the new female. Furthermore, the smaller "female"acts just like a male would.)
2. For whatever reason, there could be a lack of stimuli, the pair I just acquired was not actually a pair but simply two "males" living in union. (Again this seems unlikely as the lady I got them from purchased them as little guys and raised them for two years in a tank all by themselves. From a glance one would clearly think they are a pair considering the size difference and behavior.)
3. Unlikely as it seems, perhaps clowns do have the ability to revert back, but just rarely do as they never receive the proper stimuli. In nature if a female shows up at an already occupied anemone the pair just drives her off. However perhaps if they are forced to bed together so to speak as in my tank, maybe the natural instinct to reproduce carries more weight than previously thought. It seems implausible, though possible.
Last and very possible(And my moms favorite scenario.)...the two girls just got fed up with the guys and wanted to try something new...?:rollface:
Anyway so what do all you clown experts think?
Thanks
I have a large Ocellaris (7+ years old...)that recently lost his female counterpart. Towards the end of their relationship however hostilities between the pair ensued as it seemed the male was intent on breeding while the female was not. Anyway this clown has been by "himself" for about 4 months I wold say. Actually I take that back he was with a small Ocellaris for about a month and they had seemingly paired up until some swim bladder affliction(I believe) did him in.
So...anywho I was just given a pair of CB Ocellaris from a friend who has had them for over two years. She purchased them as juvies and as expected they did the dance and paired up. The "female" of the pair is roughly 2" where-as the male in accordance is 3/4 "her" size.
So this is where it gets weird...I decided to go against me better judgment and test fate by putting them all in the same aquarium hoping that the two mild mannered "females" could reach an acceptable compromise. Well when I placed them in the tank my original fish pretended like they were not even there as "it"was just looking for dinner. When they finally met up I was afraid I would see the females face off. Quite to my surprise the new "female" showed standard submissive behavior to the big girl and they quickly paired up. I now a have a harem of four Ocellaris (forgot to mention the fourth, he is a little guy about 3/4"). There are no hostilities amongst the family what-so-ever. In fact they quickly set up a territory right next the a very large BTA and have driven off everything that comes close to include the lone Bangaii in their tank, snails and Scarlert hermits. Hell they will even bite a piece of caulerpa if it floats by.
All of my prior knowledge of clownfish would indicate to me that this is a seemingly impossible scenario. I would think that the females would at best just work out sharing the tank with each other. So it seems that there are only three possibilities...
1. The large "female" I had, had never in-fact turned into a female...and for some weird reason they paired up. (This seems unlikely however considering the large one is considerably larger than the new female. Furthermore, the smaller "female"acts just like a male would.)
2. For whatever reason, there could be a lack of stimuli, the pair I just acquired was not actually a pair but simply two "males" living in union. (Again this seems unlikely as the lady I got them from purchased them as little guys and raised them for two years in a tank all by themselves. From a glance one would clearly think they are a pair considering the size difference and behavior.)
3. Unlikely as it seems, perhaps clowns do have the ability to revert back, but just rarely do as they never receive the proper stimuli. In nature if a female shows up at an already occupied anemone the pair just drives her off. However perhaps if they are forced to bed together so to speak as in my tank, maybe the natural instinct to reproduce carries more weight than previously thought. It seems implausible, though possible.
Last and very possible(And my moms favorite scenario.)...the two girls just got fed up with the guys and wanted to try something new...?:rollface:
Anyway so what do all you clown experts think?
Thanks