Clown turning Black!

B

Bogart80

Premium Member
I do not have a picture I wish I did. But I was visiting my mother who has a LRFOT and she has one HUGE false Percula Clownfish. He seems healthy however the top of him is turning black.

Is this just age, or does my mom have a seriousness problem?
 
wow... the same thing is happening to mine too. I have two little false percs and the one who is coming out as the agressive one (female?) is getting very thick black lines on the top and bottom.
 
is this happening because they are "picking " a gender? When I got them at the store I was told they dont have a sex til they pair off and one gets larger and turns female, the smaller of the two turns male. I dont know much else...but Its freaking me out.
 
Hypermelanization, it's a pretty common darkening of the pigmentation. Happens a lot with red/orange fish in captivity (clownfish, obviously, and flame angels are another good example).

Nothing to worry about, not too sure of the cause myself but some have speculated that lighting has something to do with it.
 
Any ideas on what exactly about the lighting makes it happen? I have two ocellaris in my 12g under 175w MH, so if it's intensity I'd expect them to show signs of it, but they don't. My brother has an Ocellaris in his stock BC14 and it's got the black gradient coloration.

Maybe spectrum/type of lights plays a role?

Those of you seeing this with your clowns, what kind of lights do you run?
 
I'm running 2x150 watt 10k MH"s and 4x110 watt actinic VHOs. Only one of mine is reverse MJ'ing. (I hope someone gets that.)
 
hmmmm new to marine fish but was a nurse for many years... seems to me that Hypermelanization would be caused by one of two things food or possibly lighting. Food as in if the food your are feeding encourages color then that could cause hpermelanization eventually... IE I had a patient once who ate about a pound of carrots a day he was yellow/orange. The betacarotein dyed him basically. Light is the other culprit to look at. As in these fish I don't think live life that close to the source of their light... a few million miles I believe. So filter that light through time, space, atmosphere and then about 10+ feet of water yes they are receiving bright light but possibly not the strength of UVA or UVB rays that they are getting from their new homes lighting source. You also have to figure in that even in the best years a cloudy day must fall so light isn't always as "constant" as we think it is for our little guys.

Just my newby thoughts on the matter.

who know's it is 4am here and I've not been able to sleep so may be just talking in a fuzz of sleep induced brilliance LOL
 
I have 4 tank raised A. Ocellaris from the same brood and only 1 kept the bright orange pigmentation. All are fed the same food, under the same lighting(400w MH), and they're in 2 separate tanks.

The bright orange 1 is also housed with a male who developed the semi black color. There is also a MUCH larger pair of B/W A. Ocellaris in that tank.

I think it's genetics.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12914397#post12914397 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Maxi
Well.. here comes Evolution!



Sorry, i just dont believe in EVOLUTION, just too many missing pieces to it...

Creation is much more clear and understandable...


and anyways... my false perc is idk whats, happening, but on its body, black spot are starting to appear, so weird.. it doesnt look sick...
Click to expand...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12918955#post12918955 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JamesJR
Mine have done the same thing and they are only under vho lighting. I bet it is probably mostly genetics.
Click to expand...

I second that. I have seen them do this under everything from compact fluorescents to halides.
 
I've fed my clowns the same thing and it always seems like the male is darker, but it could just be coincidence. The one that does turn black usually had darker markings to begin with.
 
mine is the same as well, I think it has to do more with the type of food your feeding, feeding a certain type of food will either lighten or darken the color of the fish. I used to feed my clown all different types of frozen food daily, and the top started to turn a darker color almost black, so I stop and feed it just New life, and the color started to turn back to orange. but I maybe wrong JMO
 
I have just noticed one of my clowns has a few dark spots on it. The only thing he gets into is one of my Zoas. Could he be getting burned or something like that?
 
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