Role reversal?

Capt.Nemo

New member
Maybe I had it wrong.
Pair of Tomato's I had in QT....I thought I had it figured out.
The darker and slightly bigger one, I thought was female, was charging and being dominant in QT.
Slightly smaller and very orange, I thought was male, acted submissive in QT.
Added them to 75 display yesterday and they have completely opposite actions now. What I thought was male is ruthless. Darker one can't seem to get away. They got some shaking going on, like I said, complete role reversal. I know they will nip and darker one has some tattered fins already.
Will watch closely. I want to give them time, but also don't want darker one beat to hell.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 
Maybe I had it wrong.
Pair of Tomato's I had in QT....I thought I had it figured out.
The darker and slightly bigger one, I thought was female, was charging and being dominant in QT.
Slightly smaller and very orange, I thought was male, acted submissive in QT.
Added them to 75 display yesterday and they have completely opposite actions now. What I thought was male is ruthless. Darker one can't seem to get away. They got some shaking going on, like I said, complete role reversal. I know they will nip and darker one has some tattered fins already.
Will watch closely. I want to give them time, but also don't want darker one beat to hell.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Until you see one lay eggs and the other fertilize, there can be no certainty as to sex. Working out dominance/sex can take a long time, especially if there isn't a substantial size difference.
 
How big are they? I disagree with D-Nak. I think you have two juveniles that is trying to see who is the boss and wear skirt in the house.
 
How big are they? I disagree with D-Nak. I think you have two juveniles that is trying to see who is the boss and wear skirt in the house.

they are about 2", and I am probably more agreeing with you on this. if the one that is more orange is any smaller, it's not but 1/4".

there has been a lot of the shimmy-shimmy shake going on and submissive arching. I don't really care who wants to be the drunken prom queen, I just want them to figure it out. don't see the oreange one nipping anymore. good thing cause darker one looks pretty tattered. orange stays right on dark one tail though.

I know nobody can solve my issue, i guess i am just looking for reassurance that everything will work out. i don't want light to come on to a dead Tomato. if i feel i need to separate, i have a clear box for temporary isolation.
 
Sorry guys. I read the original post quickly and for some reason I envisioned that the clowns were larger and older (for some reason when I see tomato clowns in my head I always see big clowns).

Since they are only 2" they could definitely still be maturing and have not established their hierarchy. Sounds like they're working it out, but definitely keep an eye on it to make sure you don't have any sorority hair pulling or eye gouging.
 
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