Gold Stripe Maroon's stripes turned white

[Kawaii]

Lol try saying that five times fast.

We got our gold striped maroon clown in March 2005 and his stripes have slowly turned white. Is this normal, and if not what would be the cause of this? Is there any way to reverse it?

Here is a photo of him in March 2005

Here is a recent photo of him

Here is a link to our progression thread, if it helps (warning lots of photos)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=893898

 

[TOURKID]

what do you feed it?

 

[Kawaii]

BIO-Blend fish food daily
frozen brine shimp a couple times a week
We put seaweed in the tank a couple times a week, but he doesn't eat it

We have a royal gamma and a coral beauty in the tank with him.

 

[Kawaii]

I have read that gold striped maroon clowns have white stripes that will turn gold after a year, but our has seemed to do the opposite. I can't find any information online about a maroon clown's stripes turning from yellow to white. Does anyone have any information about this?

 

[TOURKID]

Ive never seen that happen or heard of it before. But no Im very curious as to what other people say.

Only thing Im sure of is theyre nutrition really matters and can effect theyre coloring.

The brine shrimp has NO nutrition worth mentioning. use it if a fish is refusing to eat. or a treat every so often.. no point though.
I dont know what bio blend is...

But clowns need vegitables as well as meat. and its always a good idea to even supplement theyre food with vitamins.
I use selcon, (huma fats) and zoe, that has some vitimin C and a few other things (soak theyre food in it before feeding)

mysis shrimp is a much more nutritional shrimp to feed it
emerald entree is easy to feed with and theres some vegis
My friend has hers eatting broccolii, but mine wont touch it.
Im no expect, but Id pick up 'clownfishes' or a book like that and read up on feeding.

 

[Kawaii]

Our LFS said it may have to do with the fact that the clown has changed sex from male to female, what do you guys think?

 

[TOURKID]

Id say your lfs is crazy. But STILL want to hear others opinions (come on people)

As my maroon aged and presumably has turned female (had her alone long enough that she should be)
she turned from bright red to a very dark maroon. but her stripes are still as yellow as ever

had her about a month or so in this pic

had her about 7 months in this pic

 

[ek9vboi]

Hi, I think I talked to you boyfriend or husband...

anyways, try feeding it mysis shrimp. my clowns go nuts over it! it will provide more nutrients then brine shrimp. With my clowns they always spit the brine up for some odd reason.

 

[Kawaii]

Hmm, very pretty fish, I hope ours will look like that again someday. Unless anyone else has an input I guess I will just try feeding him a better diet and see if that helps.

 

[Kawaii]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7828211#post7828211 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ek9vboi
Hi, I think I talked to you boyfriend or husband...

anyways, try feeding it mysis shrimp. my clowns go nuts over it! it will provide more nutrients then brine shrimp. With my clowns they always spit the brine up for some odd reason.

ours eats the brine no problem, but if it isn't really beneficial at all then we'll try the mysis.

 

[clown fanatic]

check this out

these pics were taken with my camera phone, sorry about the quality

if you cant see it that well the head stripe is gold and the other two stripes arent! weird!

 

[TOURKID]

clown fanatic... its not weird, your clown is young maroons develop the yellow stripes after about a year, and the first one to color up is the head band