Clownfish almost doubling in size over night?!

[PirateLove]

I just bought a new mate for my clownfish. At the LFS it was hard to judge how big my current clownfish was and I bought one roughly the same size on accident. Now when I look at my original guy he looks soooo much Bigger? Has anyone noticed this? Is this something these fish do or is it my imagination? It looks like he grew like 1/4 an inch! taller/long It has only been 24 hours.

[seabass]

I think it's your imagination. Are they both juveniles? If they seem to be hanging out together without too much aggression, I wouldn't worry.

[mattgumaer]

I don't think fish grow substantially overnight. I would suggest that it's one of two things: 1) when you look at a fish in a small tank at the fish store, it looks bigger than it does in a larger display tank at home. My fish seem to shrink when I move them from the 29 gallon quarantine to the 180 gallon display; and/or 2) when fish are trying to establish their dominance, they will often try to make themselves appear as large as possible by spreading their fins, etc.. So I wouldn't be surprised to see the existing fish 'displaying' for the new fish to say 'heh, this is my tank but I might let you live here if you're appropriately submissive'. Ultimately, one fish should become the larger dominant female and the second the smaller submissive male. If both fish are not already sexually mature females (which would be a problem), they should sort this out on their own.

Matt

[albano]

Originally Posted by PirateLove

Clownfish almost doubling in size over night?!
...
It looks like he grew like 1/4 an inch! taller/long It has only been 24 hours.

Doubling in size! ... You had ~1/4" fish?