Clown Courtship, Which Does Which

[dakota9]

In ClownFish courtship, is it the male that does the little jerky dance for the female, or the other way around?

 

[reefhawke]

Ive heard... the Female is the larger. In the ocean, all are born male. If the female dies, the next largest clown will turn female.

 

[lady baboon]

ReefHawke;324586 wrote: Ive heard... the Female is the larger. In the ocean, all are born male. If the female dies, the next largest clown will turn female.

Correct, the female is the larger fish. But all clownfish are born sexless. The most dominant fish in a group will become the female. The next in line the male. The rest stays sexless. If the female dies the male will change into a female and the next in the group will become a male. So it continues.

Hope that helps.

 

[cfrank84]

I thought the male danced for the female

 

[dakota9]

cfrank84;324657 wrote: I thought the male danced for the female

Thanks, that was the answer I was looking for!

 

[enderg60]

they do. Males will turn on thier side and twitch(looks like its having a body spasm). Mine only did this when first introduced.

In day to day life, the female seems to be the one that defends the home, while the male does most of the work caring for the eggs.

 

[roundman]

My pair have been doing some kind of dance for weeks now. They keep pushing each others heads and rubbing against each other but no eggs that I can find and they don't appear to be protecting anything