A. allardi or Fiji A chrysopterus

[Winwood]

So we have brown variety blue stripes from Guam, Marshal Island and Fiji. Interesting. I've also seen pics showing thin striped brown variety from Tahiti.

I'm quite certain yours aren't a Fiji variant. I've recieved mislabeled ones from Bluezoo aquatics in the past, even though they specify their locations. I think with most wholesalers and retailers there is a good chance fish like these can get mislabeled. I've probably owned a dozen or so Fiji chrysopterus, and seen quite a few more. All the ones I've owned have yellow tails and yellow pelvic fins, even smaller ones. I have never had a Fiji variant brown out significantly like the other varieties.

 

[LargeAngels]

There is always a possibility. Yes, many places can and do mislabel but I feel pretty confident they did come from Fiji.

 

[LargeAngels]

THRoewer: between the two I would pick chrysopterus over allardi.

 

[ThRoewer]

Here is a pair I had a while back from the Marshall Islands.

Here is that same pair a couple months later.


I also had a smaller pair with thin bands like yours Large Angels. They too were from the MI and went brown on me. Unfortunately at that point I was over documenting brown clownfish.

Did you change their anemone? If yes, was the browning out related to that?

It seems somewhat that the browning out is a reaction to captivity conditions (environmental or nutritional?).
At least so far I've never seen any brown allardi or chrysopterus in underwater pictures or films.

 

[Winwood]

Yes I did change their anemone, but they were already brown by that point. There are examples of brown individuals in the wild, although they are not as common.

Here is an old thread that documents the history of the pair from the Marshall Islands. There is also information on brown morphs in the wild in posts 86 and 89 provided by Yuri de Barros.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2279098&page=4

 

[ThRoewer]

I'm not sure that that isn't a A. akindynos in those pictures. How would you tell the difference from just a picture?

 

[phender]

Akindynos only have a little yellow tint to their pectoral and pelvic fins. They are basically caramel and white with a little peach color on their nose. I have had a couple chrysopterus that have browned out just like Winwoods. Seems to happen more with the white tailed variant than the yellow tailed.

On your question a while back on how to tell allardii from other white tailed clowns (clarkii, chrysopterus), allardi almost always keep at least a triangular remnant of yellow on the lower part of the caudal peduncle between their white tail and brown/black body. You can see it in the first pic in the upper fish. The lower fish still has a complete band of yellow. The white tailed chrysopterus in the second picture has no yellow at all between it tail fish and its body.
Juvenile allardiis usually just have white on the top edge of their tail fin. The rest of the edges are yellow and the middle is normally black/brown.

 

[Winwood]

Akindynos only have a little yellow tint to their pectoral and pelvic fins. They are basically caramel and white with a little peach color on their nose. I have had a couple chrysopterus that have browned out just like Winwoods. Seems to happen more with the white tailed variant than the yellow tailed.

On your question a while back on how to tell allardii from other white tailed clowns (clarkii, chrysopterus), allardi almost always keep at least a triangular remnant of yellow on the lower part of the caudal peduncle between their white tail and brown/black body. You can see it in the first pic in the upper fish. The lower fish still has a complete band of yellow. The white tailed chrysopterus in the second picture has no yellow at all between it tail fish and its body.
Juvenile allardiis usually just have white on the top edge of their tail fin. The rest of the edges are yellow and the middle is normally black/brown.

That's a good observation regarding the yellow triangle on the peduncle. I've never noticed that.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Almost all of the Allardi clowns here in SoCal are sold as juvis like the one in the photo taken at my LFS. They hardly ever know the origin and can't predict the adult colors.