Clownfish committed Suicide! Pairing Question!

[Drewposi]

Hey guys so I had a pair of Mocha Storm Clowns for a few weeks who were paired up and inseparable. Well unfortunately with the Hurricane that just hit my area I was stuck at work and my kid left the top off the tank last night. My female jumped out and was found the next day.... very sad but now if I wanted to add another and try to get them to pair what's the best option. The male is still alive and healthy. He was obviously smaller... do I get another one the same size as him? Smaller? Bigger? I don't want to mess it up and have them end up killing each other. Thanks in advance!

 

[T-J]

IME, the best chance of pairing is to get another one the size of him or smaller. Then they can decide who becomes the female.
By introducing a female, you'll have a greater chance of her picking on him.

 

[JT2418]

Yea always pick two that are different sizes.

 

[littlefoxx]

Hey guys so I had a pair of Mocha Storm Clowns for a few weeks who were paired up and inseparable. Well unfortunately with the Hurricane that just hit my area I was stuck at work and my kid left the top off the tank last night. My female jumped out and was found the next day.... very sad but now if I wanted to add another and try to get them to pair what's the best option. The male is still alive and healthy. He was obviously smaller... do I get another one the same size as him? Smaller? Bigger? I don't want to mess it up and have them end up killing each other. Thanks in advance!

Well you can do smaller so he becomes the female or go to an LFS and pick a bigger clown than him that would already be female and they probably would just fall into their roles due to size. I adopted a 12 year old female and a 6 year old female clown. Dude to size there was no fighting at all and the the smaller female reverted back to male and they paired with no fighting! For reference my darwin is the female, shes about 4 inches, the black ice is the one who reverted to male. He is probably 2 and a half to 3 inches.

Excuse Mad Max my purple tang. She loves to go zoom zoom and mess my pictures up lol

 

[Frank SM]

Just FYI...Once a clownfish turns female, it stays female. It's a one way trip.

 

[littlefoxx]

Just FYI...Once a clownfish turns female, it stays female. It's a one way trip.

Oh so I just looked into that after reading and youre totally correct. I thought this too but the LFS guy insisted on they can turn back (I thought this guy was knowledgable but guess not as he insisted that they cang turn back was a myth): Very strange since the smaller did the submission dance to the big female. Maybe she wasnt a she yet? I should know better than to trust LFS people lol

 

[littlefoxx]

Just FYI...Once a clownfish turns female, it stays female. It's a one way trip.

Now Im just completely stumped with how that one clown bonded to the big girl. That one was for sure in a tank alone for at least a year. Que breaking brain meme

 

[Frank SM]

Now Im just completely stumped with how that one clown bonded to the big girl. That one was for sure in a tank alone for at least a year. Que breaking brain meme

Either 1 of the females wasn't a female or they are just getting along - probably the former.

 

[littlefoxx]

Either 1 of the females wasn't a female or they are just getting along - probably the former.

Huh the bigger one for sure is female, she is kinda bossy. The smaller one just follows. Youre probably right and the smaller was still a male. Cause I totally thought that it changed back cause the guy said he was a girl but with the sie of the other one revert to male and they seemed to have paired so I was like thats wild. But youre explanation makes way more sense

 

[Frank SM]

Huh the bigger one for sure is female, she is kinda bossy. The smaller one just follows. Youre probably right and the smaller was still a male. Cause I totally thought that it changed back cause the guy said he was a girl but with the sie of the other one revert to male and they seemed to have paired so I was like thats wild. But youre explanation makes way more sense

This may help.

https://www.henshaw-lab.com/uploads/5/9/1/0/59106019/henshaw_2018_encyclopedia_of_animal_cognition_and_behavior_2.pdf

 

[Drewposi]

So far they are doing great! The old female seems to be the dominant one. The new clown (need help with id) seems to be submitting and doing the ol jitterbug dance a lot. They said it was a Picasso storm.. anybody agree? My lfs sold it to me cheap due to the other jumping out and being very expensive. Someone bought this ones mate so he was all alone. Thanks in advanced!