Maroon clownfish Gener

[James_C]

Hi,

I recently purchased 2 maroon clownfish from a LFS, one larger than the other but both still fairly large (3-3.25 inches for one and 2.75-3 for the other). I need hope with sexing them. I’ve heard the females are darker so trying to find out if the larger darker one of mine is female with the lighter one being male?

The darker one has been attacking the lighter one as you see

 

[John Doe]

Aren't they can change their gender?

 

[John Doe]

The big one should turn into a female

 

[James_C]

I just bought them a week ago so how do I know when purchased the large one was female or not. They weren’t together in the same tank when purchased they were solo.

The big one should turn into a female

 

[exnisstech]

I never buy two unless they are a bonded / mated pair. At the size you have it's possible they are both female already. You'll know soon enough. There are probably ways to sex them but I don't know what they are. I always wait until I'm confident one has transitioned to female then I add the smallest male I can find. When I had maroons they were both dark in color but the male never got over 2 inches or so and the female was 4 or 5 inches when I rehomed them

EDIT: if they are both female you will have to seperate them or one is going to die. Speaking from personal experience

 

[James_C]

I never buy two unless they are a bonded / mated pair. At the size you have it's possible they are both female already. You'll know soon enough. There are probably ways to sex them but I don't know what they are. I always wait until I'm confident one has transitioned to female then I add the smallest male I can find. When I had maroons they were both dark in color but the male never got over 2 inches or so and the female was 4 or 5 inches when I rehomed them

EDIT: if they are both female you will have to seperate them or one is going to die. Speaking from personal experience

Yeah I wasn’t sure if one was a male and just larger or if they are both female. Thing is I do need them to be larger fish when I get them and not small and wait for them to grow. I guess I’d be ok with just 1 large clownfish worst case

 

[exnisstech]

Curious why you can not wait for them to grow? That's not the normal mindset I run accross in the hobby. I love growing out juveniles

 

[James_C]

Well they are going to go into a fish only tank with larger tangs, trigger, a snowflake eel etc. just wanted to be sure they don’t get picked and or become a snack if they are small. I think 3 inches would be safe but I don’t really want to go too much smaller

 

[CO2TLEY]

Maroons can handle themselves at that size. I had a pair in a fowlr that same size with tangs, wrasse, triggers even groupers. The bigger one is usually the female and more aggressive looking for submission

 

[James_C]

Maroons can handle themselves at that size. I had a pair in a fowlr that same size with tangs, wrasse, triggers even groupers

Oh for sure, at 3 inches agreed. But the suggestion to get them at let’s say 1-1.5 inches would be a mistake for my situation I would think. So i basically need a confirmed male and female who are both large enough to handle themselves but also not be aggressive to one another. I think the main issue is that I don’t really know how to sex them at the store and I’m not sure if every person who’s working the store does either. I’d prefer to be able to spot that on my own or at least be fairly confident about that sexing through other’s opinions on it

 

[exnisstech]

Well they are going to go into a fish only tank with larger tangs, trigger, a snowflake eel etc. just wanted to be sure they don’t get picked and or become a snack if they are small. I think 3 inches would be safe but I don’t really want to go too much smaller

IMO buying small is the only way to be positive the fish hasn't transitioned female already. My female owned half of a 6ft tank with several tangs, a blue throat and niger trigger. I paired her twice after her first mate died.

 

[James_C]

IMO buying small is the only way to be positive the fish hasn't transitioned female already. My female owned half of a 6ft tank with several tangs, a blue throat and niger trigger. I paired her twice after her first mate died.

Oh yeah and her and her male were fine even in the 1-2 inch range?

 

[exnisstech]

Female added at around 3" so I was pretty sure she had transitioned. Then the little male added later. None of the fish bothered the little one but I didn't really have much aggression in the tank to begin with.

 

[James_C]

Female added at around 3" so I was pretty sure she had transitioned. Then the little male added later. None of the fish bothered the little one but I didn't really have much aggression in the tank to begin with.

Perfect thanks for sharing that. Sounds like my best course do action is to sell one of my two, likely the larger one who’s already the aggressor and try a much smaller likely to be male

 

[exnisstech]

They can be challenging to pair sometimes. I had a female kill a male once then accepted the next so you never know. I've had decent luck placing the male in an acclimation box near the females area for a week so she gets familiar with him before she beats him up lol.

 

[jtf74]

Hi,

I recently purchased 2 maroon clownfish from a LFS, one larger than the other but both still fairly large (3-3.25 inches for one and 2.75-3 for the other). I need hope with sexing them. I’ve heard the females are darker so trying to find out if the larger darker one of mine is female with the lighter one being male?

The darker one has been attacking the lighter one as you see

Maybe both males. Here’s a comparison. Females are truly almost maroon. Bought the female waited a few years for her to grow and bought a much smaller male later and it worked flawlessly

 

[James_C]

Maybe both males. Here’s a comparison. Females are truly almost maroon. Bought the female waited a few years for her to grow and bought a much smaller male later and it worked flawlessly

Oh all change to that purple like maroon? The darker one might be transitioning then perhaps? I thought the purple-ish ones were just similar to an Ocellaris black variant

 

[jtf74]

Oh all change to that purple like maroon? The darker one might be transitioning then perhaps? I thought the purple-ish ones were just similar to an Ocellaris black variant

Mine are specifically both gold stripe maroons. Both started orange and white. The female first started turning from white to yellow which was a few years. Then in a few month period she went from orange to the dark color and started really growing in mass after that. Looking at your pics again these seem pretty large and you said almost 3" so maybe both are females then and its a different kind of maroon than what I have. Maybe both are about to become female and jostling for dominance? My female is 4" or more and my male is probably 2.5" at best. When my female was as old as the little male is now and alone she was much larger already as he's about 6 years with me.