sexing an adult pink skunk clown

[jordanh]

Is this easy to do visually? I've heard that male clowns have orange on the tip of their fins, is this true?

 

[JHardman]

No. It is virutally impossible to sex a single fish. Skunks the females "tend" to be rather large, however it is far from a rule.

 

[phender]

Males are supposed to have red/orange on the upper and lower margins of their tail fins. I have not kept any pink skunk paris so I don't know if ALL males have the red magins. I also don't know if a male with the red margins would lose them once they become female.

Very often in wild caught "mated" pairs, the larger fish has the red magins on the tail. I have always assumed that meant it wasn't really a mated pair, but just two fish from the same anemone, or just two fish randomly put together.

It is not unusual for males in the clarki, tomato and skunk complexes to be nearly the size of the female, which can be quite large.

 

[jordanh]

I have a pink skunk that has lived alone for over a year; is it safe to assume that it is now a female?

 

[ChunksInClemson]

IMO yes, you can assume that it is female. I have heard it can take as little as a couple months for the change to happen so I think a year is a pretty safe time.

 

[jordanh]

OK, so is there any way to tell if a jeuvenile is a male? I want to get a pair going...

 

[Wolverine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7376247#post7376247 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jordanh
OK, so is there any way to tell if a jeuvenile is a male? I want to get a pair going...

Not really. Even a small one could be older than it looks. It could be much smaller than your's but still be a female if it was bigger than the ones it came with. If you get a small tank-raised specimen, you maximize your chances. The next best is to take the smallest one in a tank with a group of them.

Dave