clownfish maturity?

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Ayesha97

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Messages
365
Location
Maryland, USA
How do you know when your clownfish have reached maturity?

I have two tank raised false percs and bought them from another AA member. Am judging that they are just under a year old (they are still under 2 inches and look tiny!).

How long do clownfish live?
 
They are mature when they no longer find fart jokes funny. They are adults when they find them funny again :lol:
 
Clownfishes have an interesting life cycle. They all begin unisex. In nature, the babies all go find homes in new anemones with different "parents" (for genetic diversity). What happens is when the Female (the big one) dies, the Male actually mutates into a female, grows larger, and the next largest juvenile generally becomes a Male. I don't know how long this all takes, but I can tell you that most likely, one of the fish will take the roll of the female and become larger and the other will develop into a male. you will be able to tell that they are mature when you start to notice a difference in size (are they the same size now?). I don't know if you guys already knew all this, but I find it really interesting, so thought id give my two cents.
 
I find their life cycle interesting as well. For the most part they are both the same size. But I have noticed that one has taken to chasing the other, stating dominance? (I have a feeling that Bob will become the female) I just thought it'd be neat to actual know when they are going through their sex change. ;) Can you imagine the fun pixar would have had if they had truly followed the clownfish life cycle. (mommy, why did merlin become pearl???) :lol:
 
I have 3 that have been with us since last Nov. Two of them have grown quite a bit and the third hasn't grown at all. We think he may have a genetic defect or something. He is the same size as the day we got him. Healthy otherwise, we call him junior.
 
Ayesha97 said:
Can you imagine the fun pixar would have had if they had truly followed the clownfish life cycle. (mommy, why did merlin become pearl???) :lol:
:lol: , that would have been a bit confusing to the kids. 8O
 
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