Do clowns get depressed?

So over the X-mas holidays I was away from my tank and unfortunately had my orange ocellaris jump, not really sure why. Ever since then, my b&w has kind of stayed towards the back of the tank and doesn't swim around like he used to. He was the male, hence the he, and would always follow the orange one around. He's still eating and looking healthy. I will occasionally see him venture out but not too often. If I come up to the tank, he will come out and greet me and then go back to his spot. Is he depressed about the lose or what's going on?

 

i had the exact same thing happen to me around the same time. ive been watching the male for the same signs. he eats and swims around. but im sure they could feel that way. losing a partner, even for a fish , isnt easy i would think. im considering getting another female just so hes got a partner and hoping they take to each other.

guy

 

Yes I have noticed that all fish exhibit feelings of trust, fear, curiousness, depression, and stress.

From a psychological perspective that makes sense also because these feelings are all evicted in the brain from the release of chemicals. Since the female made the male release chemicals that he associated with safety, he would feel safe. Now thatthe female isn't there he doesn't produce those chemicals so he doesn't feel safe.

With time he will be back to normal... Also introducing a new mate will speed up the process

 

I thought about getting a new one but I just did a lot to my tank: three new pieces of equipment, a bunch of new corals, so I was thinking of just letting things settle down a bit before I get a new one. The only thing is he's grown quite a bit since a got him so when I do get a new one, he will then become the she. You don't think this will matter at all do you?

 

That sounds right... He will go to a she and the new one will become the he (granted that it's still a juvenile)

 

I think they definitely have some behaviors that are similar to a lot of human emotions. But be careful about over-anthropomorphizing them and reading too far into them.

For example, the fish's mate jumps out and the fish appears "depressed", then a week later you find that fish has jumped out as well.
It would be easy to link this to a human series of events and call it depression and suicide following the death of a mate but that isn't necessarily the case.
It may have more likely happened like Dingo said, the fish didn't feel as safe without it's mate around and was more easily spooked into jumping.