Clownfish Color Changed
- Thread starter DianaKay
- Start date
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear you aren't happy with the color change of your clowns.
Many fish change colors when they transition from juveniles to adults. And some have different colors while mating as well. This is all normal.
But the clowns have had so much genetic manipulation over the last decade or so that those mix of genes are finding their way into the regular gene pool for these fish. And not always in a way that we want. Some of the manipulated breeding types are here: http://www.orafarm.com/products/fish/clownfish/ You could have some mix of the mocha or the caramel clowns, the adult colors on both these are darker then when they were juveniles.
Even my black and white clowns were mocha in color at 5 months old and are now solid black and white (the male still has a little orange on the mouth).
5 months old
Many fish change colors when they transition from juveniles to adults. And some have different colors while mating as well. This is all normal.
But the clowns have had so much genetic manipulation over the last decade or so that those mix of genes are finding their way into the regular gene pool for these fish. And not always in a way that we want. Some of the manipulated breeding types are here: http://www.orafarm.com/products/fish/clownfish/ You could have some mix of the mocha or the caramel clowns, the adult colors on both these are darker then when they were juveniles.
Even my black and white clowns were mocha in color at 5 months old and are now solid black and white (the male still has a little orange on the mouth).
5 months old
How about a picture:
The BLUE Valve on the far left of the picture when turned toward the skimmer allows the collection cup to be emptied through the bottom tubing. Guessing that I had left the gate open.
I have a LifeReef Skimmer that I bought with my LifeReef sump/refugium. I am not as happy with this skimmer as I thought I would be. But Skimmers are just WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to buy & try then replace with another one that may or may not work any better. The bottom drain is a feature that I do like tho...I just need to be careful to close it back each time!
Very cool link Sue, Thanks! I think I have the same kind of clowns as you have.Sorry to hear you aren't happy with the color change of your clowns.
Many fish change colors when they transition from juveniles to adults. And some have different colors while mating as well. This is all normal.
But the clowns have had so much genetic manipulation over the last decade or so that those mix of genes are finding their way into the regular gene pool for these fish. And not always in a way that we want. Some of the manipulated breeding types are here: http://www.orafarm.com/products/fish/clownfish/ You could have some mix of the mocha or the caramel clowns, the adult colors on both these are darker then when they were juveniles.
Even my black and white clowns were mocha in color at 5 months old and are now solid black and white (the male still has a little orange on the mouth).
5 months old
Now I kinda wonder if the LFS knew that my clown pair were not regular Orange but didn't tell me. They were "on hold" for someone else & had been for over a month. Makes sense that they could have been a "special order" & not the normal orange variety.
Kinda glad they are probably supposed to be turning black & not just turning black because they suck on Zoas & Duncans & dive into the GSP all the time.
Pat24601
Well-Known Member
One thing that is neither here nor there, but I'm curious about. My black and white clowns were always black and white. I guess I don't know if they were adults or not when I bought them, but I always assumed they were juveniles as they were in tank with lots of others. Also, no orange anywhere on them (including lips).
Does that mean I bought adults or is it possible I have a different type that are all black even as juveniles?
Does that mean I bought adults or is it possible I have a different type that are all black even as juveniles?
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
All black and white clowns start off as mocha. You probably picked yours up when there were anywhere from a year to two years old. Not young of the year fish (1st year of life). But, maybe as juveniles or adults.
I bought mine from a local reefer who breed them at his home. My two clowns were born October 2011. They are 4 years old this month. I picked mine up from him in March 2012 at 5 months old (that is the pic you see above, when they were mocha in color).
The mocha color transitioned to black happened fairly quickly between 5-8 months old. After that they had black and white bodies with orange faces. The tranisition was not like what you see happening to @DianaKay 's clowns. Instead the transition from mocha to black was a slow even darkening that happen evenly all over the body except for the face. In contrast to Di's clowns which are adults and are changing color as if the black is spreading.
They kept their orange faces (from eyes to mouth) until about 2013. In 2014 the larger of the two lost her orange face and has had a black face since then. The male as of today, at 4 years old, still has a tiny bit of orange on his lip. Here are some pics of the transition: Oxy's RSM250