Black Ocellaris Changing Color

[2OceanLovers]

I have a pair of black ocellaris clowns that have been in my tank for about 2 weeks. They have a PLTA that they are hosting in. The male of the pair has his black coloring fading. I don't know what is going on. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks for the help.

 

[elegance coral]

What and how much are you feeding them? Is he feeding well? I assume he is showing no other signs of sickness.

 

[2OceanLovers]

I am feeding him a little of everything. Cyclopeeze, brine, mysis, flake, and marine gro granules. He is always eating and feeding his nem. Everything else is great with him. Always moving in and out of his nem. No signs of stress or sickness. There is 130w of pc lights, 2 MJ 1200s for flow, prizm skimmer that is working pretty well for it being that, and a modded hob fuge with purigen, lr, and grape algae. Hope this helps.

 

[2OceanLovers]

I'm kind of worried about him. Anybody know anything?

 

[BristlewormKing]

I have had a pair for a couple of years and the only time I had noticed a lightening of their color was when I had switched their pellets (was limited to the face area) - within days of switching back to the Marine New Spectrum pellets their faces returned to full black (they also get Cyclopeeze and brine shrimp).

I do have a pair of jigsaw Onyx perc and the male had the same problem. He stayed faded for about three months, then I noticed his stomach was starting to shrink in (but he ate like a little horse and was active!). I treated the tank with Melafix (that is all I had handy at the time) as a precaution and he started coloring back up and now has the deep black as the female.

Good luck!

 

[2OceanLovers]

Here are some pictures of the clown. Maybe this will help.

 

[2OceanLovers]

I started a treatment of Melafix yesterday and already I have seen a slightly darker hue to him. I hope this continues. I will keep everyone up to date.

 

[Slakker]

I've heard of instances black-variant clowns of all varieties fading when hosting a BTA. That could be your culprit, too...and afaik no one is really sure why it happens.

 

[2OceanLovers]

He is hosting in a LTA as far as I know. That is what I bought it as anyway.

 

[phender]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10070028#post10070028 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 2OceanLovers
He is hosting in a LTA as far as I know. That is what I bought it as anyway.

That may be how it was labeled, but it is definitely a Bubble-tip anemone (E. quadricolor).

The fading can also be a stress reaction or a submission reaction.
I know a guy who raises black ocellaris and only about half the clowns in his rearing tanks are black. The rest are faded like yours. My guess is that it is part of him being submissive to the larger clown and he will likely get his color back when he is fully accepted.

 

[colby]

Like Phil said, also...add brighter light, cycolpeeze and spirulina.

 

[2OceanLovers]

How can you tell it is a BTA? The clowns were bought as an established pair and the male was completely black when I bought it. They were bought from a fellow reefer and brought to my home in the same bag and released at the same time. Would that cause the female to reject the male she has been with all this time?

 

[GSMguy]

because its not a LTA no veracue tentacles are classic BTA

 

[phender]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10073654#post10073654 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 2OceanLovers
How can you tell it is a BTA? The clowns were bought as an established pair and the male was completely black when I bought it. They were bought from a fellow reefer and brought to my home in the same bag and released at the same time. Would that cause the female to reject the male she has been with all this time?

A LTA has very prominant white dots on the underside (verrucae), your doesn't have them.

I'm not saying that she is rejecting him, but a new tank is very stressful. In some cases a female's the need to establish a territory outweighs the need for a mate. When she starts to feel more comfortable with her new territory, he will start to feel more comfortable as her mate. Everything will likely go back to normal soon, but it is not unusual for a tank change to cause pairs to break up.

 

[2OceanLovers]

Thank you all for your help. The melafix didn't seem to do much in the way of coloring him up. It was a shot though. From what I understand, I have to play the waiting game now for him to get his color back. The female has grown noticably since I have had the pair. Is this a good sign that she is confortable? How long of a wait is there usually for this kind of thing?