Clownfish turning black

[Matt spivey]

Hi, my ocellaris false percula (nemo, naturally) is turning black, here's the story..

I bought a fals perc about 8 months ago from my LFS put it in my tmc 30 microhabitat, it had lots of live rock in and a black background. My LFS owner said it could've been darkening due to the background/lots of rock but I was unsure as I've never heard of clowns doing this. He gladly swapped it for me and sure enough 2 weeks later it'd gone black again but the one I swapped out had turned back to its original colours!
My params were fine and I thought it could've been to do with the light but his theory sounds pretty plausible now! Anyway I've just moved it into my rsm 130d and I wonder if it'll get its colour back.

Just thought this was an interesting little experience and wondered if anyone else has seen this happen too?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Oxylebius]

photos?

 

[tomr33]

Are they the black clowns by any chance?

 

[Matt spivey]

Ha no I said that but he said they can show/change their colour later but the clown turned back to orange in his tank so it wasn't a case of changing colour when it aged.

It hosts a flowerpot! Very nice to watch.

It isn't massively black just not the perfect orange that I bought


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mike Johnson]

One thing that comes to mind is that the Damsel family turn black when they are stressed. I have Blue Devil Damsels that will turn black and switch back to fluorescent blue in seconds. It's a natural camouflage thing.

 

[Matt spivey]

Very odd but interesting! It's a long term thing though and quite gradual, strange how he turned back at the LFS thought but it's a much brighter tank with no rock in that they've got him in now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mike Johnson]

My Blue Devils stay black all night, every night, when they're in there caves sleeping.

My Tribal Blenny stays pure black with a clear tail all day. It only has its brilliant blue markings when it is stressed, which is never. Sure wish it was the other way around. When I bought it three years ago it was brilliantly colored. It does have a few pale blue spots when it's sleeping in its cave at night.

My point is a lot of fish change color to camouflage themselves, especially at night.

Another example would be the Blue/Green Chromis. It's blue when it perceives a threat from below and green when it perceives a threat from above. It makes it hard for predators to see them.

 

[Surfnut]

This is a stretch,.. but could this be a tanning effect from too much lighting? Or possibly not getting enough of a certain spectrum of light?

Just brainstorming here,...

 

[Matt spivey]

I suggested that to my LFS at first! I'm just gonna see if it changes in a few weeks, it could be mimicking its background. It doesn't look stressed at all and is enjoying his flowerpot!

I'll keep you all posted if this changes!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Matt spivey]

Hi everybody, since I last wrote on this thread my clown has turned back orange! It seems that they darken to mimic the background they're in, as there is more space and white sand in my new tank it has brightened back up just as it did when I gave the last one back to the LFS! Weird how nature works.

That's my theory anyway


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Matt spivey]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Matt spivey]

And before

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mike Johnson]

One thing that comes to mind is that the Damsel family turn black when they are stressed. I have Blue Devil Damsels that will turn black and switch back to fluorescent blue in seconds. It's a natural camouflage thing.

I'm sticking with this theory, it was stressed.

 

[Matt spivey]

2 separate clowns did the same thing in very good water quality, one after the other with enough room etc Seemed perfectly happy too. Otherwise I would have gone with stressed as the obvious answer.

Most people I've heard of having this problem have got a fish that hadn't coloured fully yet as a juvenile and it went very black and stayed that way or died as it was stressed.

It's weird to say the least but he's happy and back to orange so I'm no longer worried that's the main thing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk