The Breakup

[dantodd]

I had a male clarkii change to female after fertilizing 6 nests with his mate. "He" nearly killed his mate and I separated them for their own safety for a few weeks. Once the female was recovered I re-introduced her former mate. I tried this three times before she was finally able to beat him into submission. It was anything but pleasant, she had to nearly kill him before he would submit. They eventually settled into a truce for a few weeks but would not stay together. The pair bond was clearly broken. I introduced a new male for the proven female and she had him breeding within 2 months. The new pair has now stopped but that has to do with other things going on in the tank. I introduced a new male for the newly transformed female this last week and tehy seem OK together. It was a pretty nasty fight for a few hours but it wasn't as bad as the fights when the original couple split up.

 

[colby]

Thanx for the info dantodd. Yeah it is a shame they broke up but they are both happy now so I think it will all work out ok..

As far as putting the clown in the anemone, noth the fish have been around humans their entire life and they are very trusting of me, they will even let me pet their chins lol. All I did was gently cup the female in my hand and then but her in the anemone and she LOVED it. Thats all there was to it, if it was not a Ritteri I would not have tried it though....