How can I tell if my maroon has changed sex?

[RicoJa]

I have had a maroon clown in my 100 gallon reef for about 2 years. It is still small... about 1.5". I am thinking of introducing a larger 2.5"+ maroon as a mate, but I have read that solitary maroon clowns after a while will turn into females. Is there away of knowing?

Rico.

[Agu]

To my knowledge there is no way of knowing, and I've also heard that solitary clowns become the female.
Assume it's changed sex to be a female. The next clown should be visibaly smaller, preferrably from a holding tank with several small clowns in it. That way you're almost positive to get an immature male. This is what I did to get mamma clown a boyfriend and it worked great.

The problem with guessing and adding a larger clown is that if you're wrong you'll have war. If you're lucky one will survive, if you're not you'll lose both clowns.

When you introduce the second clown be sure the other one is distracted (feeding works well). The new clown needs a few seconds to get it's bearings and find a place to hide. This is when it's most vulnerable and you're most likely to see aggression.

Agu

[RicoJa]

Agu,

Thanks for the reply.. This was going to be my plan:

I was planning on getting a yellow stripe maroon larger than him and placing her in a breeder box to acclimate in. This way they can not hurt each other. I was planning on leaving the new maroon in the breeder box on the substrate near the male maroon for about a week or until they lose interest and then release the female. Hopefully there won't be any bickering. I am also planning on getting a bubble tip anemone around the same time as a home for the maroons, as this is the anemone of preference for this species of clown fish.

Rico

[Tomato]

You could also put your large one into a quarrantine tank for a day or two and add the two to the mani tank at the same time. I did taht with my maroon and my percula and they get along great.