how to determine the sex of your clown fish

First topic message reminder :

have you ever wondered how you could tell if your clown fish are male or female? well this small topic is to help you determine that.


first off for those that do not know ALL clowns are born male. as time goes on some will start to grow to a larger size than others, these larger clowns have changed sex and are female. so when shopping for clowns when you want a "mated" pair you eityher need 2 the same size (in which case one will change its sex to female, or you need an already mated pair in which your LFS should have them in a tank mated up already.


now another fact is that clowns can change their sex so the one you have that is female today may change its sex back to male later and your4 male become a female, and they can change their sex more than once (although i have not personally seen this i have had a female become a male and a male become a female.

weird i knew they went from male to female but i never knew the other way around. so when that happens does the new female grow larger than the male, that use to be the female lol. or when a new fish is introduced to the tank does it change or stay the sex depending on what the other clown is??

drudown66 wrote:

weird i knew they went from male to female but i never knew the other way around. so when that happens does the new female grow larger than the male, that use to be the female lol. or when a new fish is introduced to the tank does it change or stay the sex depending on what the other clown is??

never been so confused in my life lol

i have heard of clownfish switching sexes in BIG aquariums but never a home aquarium. i think that is what lord is refering too

tim wrote:

i have heard of clownfish switching sexes in BIG aquariums but never a home aquarium. i think that is what lord is refering too

yes i am also referring not only to them doing it in large aquariums but also in the wild where large numbers are present

anything is possible and i wouldnt doubt it