Introducing Female Clown to exsisting Male Clown

[Reefing Newbie]

I am selling my true perc clownfish(A. percula) on my local reef club's forum and had someone interested in taking her. The one I am selling is a definant female, she was the larger of the pair I had. The male passed because of multiple factors(starved, harassed a little too much by the female, etc). I don't think it was so much her harassment that is too strong overall, but too much for a tiny fella like my male was. He was about 1/3 her size so he was a small guy to take that much of a beating. The person interested in purchasing said he had a male percula that he would like to get a female for. His female recently died, he didn't say why but that isn't what we are here to talk about. I told him my female was 1.5" long. He was still interested then 4 days later he said that he didn't want her because his male was 2" long and thought that would become a problem. Now I would like to know if the 1.5" female could manage to stay female and keep the male from changing if he hasn't started to yet? She is a little bit more aggressive than your average percula, but I guess it would depend on his male's personality. Would it work out if his male was say averagly aggressive for a percula? Also, how long does it take for a male to go female without a dominant female present?

[Reefing Newbie]

Any help on whether you can add a female to a larger male? This is more so for a future reference for me to come back to. I am not going to try and sell it to the same person.

[Gandolfe]

I had a large maroon clown and added a very small maroon clown, they paired up after only 2 days..they will change sexes anyway and the larger of the two will become the female as I understand

[IslandCrow]

There's a sticky in the clownfish forum that talks about pairing clownfish. Fortunately, perculas are much more docile than maroons. The short answer is yes, it can be done, but I'd highly recommend finding and reading the sticky. It gives good advice that I won't do a very well trying to quote from memory.

[Gandolfe]

my marrons are still together after 2 months, Lost my bubble tip though, it got under the rocks while moving and my engineer gobies burried it with sand...I'd have to take the tank all apart to find it....don't think it's worth it but that's My opinion, sure some of you will chime in about why it's wrong to just abandon it

[davocean]

Even IF yours is truly a female at 1.5"(that's pretty small) and if that other is a male at 2"(good size for a male, but could be) I think you would be really lucky to have this pair work out, unless one of you is mistaken, mainly you on yours truly being a female.
You could try a specimen container to intro, see how they react, but honestly I think it was a wise choice for the other guy to pass, as this would be a bit of a gamble more than I would risk also.

[Khemul]

Sounds more like you had a juvie and baby clown. Similar for the other person. Doesn't necessarily define gender, although the juvie one would have always been destined to turn female just do to growth rate in that tank. But in my experience, any clowns of that size will instantly pair up. Doesn't mean they'll work out long-term or define who the female is.

The 2" one would be a bit of a wildcard there. It could be male. It could be making the change. In theory it shouldn't make the change without a reason too (other clowns around), but fish don't always match what they are supposed to do. But either way, adding a smaller female may just cause the 2" male to stage an assassination and turn dominant.

[Gandolfe]

in my case the one Maroon I've had for almost 4 years and is at least 3" the one i added was about an inch

[Reefing Newbie]

So you guys think my clown is still gender less? I bought two back in August and they had it worked out, one being significantly bigger than the other. This would mean that the one I have living would turn female when old enough. I know it takes awhile for a male to turn female. I had a male Ocellaris for 6 weeks without a female. When I traded it in because of unknown gender and wanting to get a clean stocking slate I traded for two perculas. They introduced my clown to a smaller juvie. It was still male because it wasn't wanting the little fella flipping on his side and what not.

[davocean]

Hard to say for sure, but if you are correct in your estimate of size, that would be a pretty darn small female, but it could be.
I'm just going by general guidelines, but like Khemel stated, it could make that larger male decide it's time for a change in who wears the pants.(Or do we say who now wears the skirt in this case?LOL)

[Yinzer]

Bottle of wine and some smooth jazz.

[bearpeidog]

Bottle of wine and some smooth jazz.

Dang - you beat me to it!

[oblongshrimp]

sweet thanks for the info, I am looking to get a new clown after I lost one.