Melanistic from Mertens

[alprazo]

I added a pair of Madagascar clowns to my Mertens Anemone.

It took two weeks, but they have gone from straw colored to black.

I'll take pics tomorrow the lights just went out. It is pretty amazing what this anemone can do to the coloring of clowns.

 

[ThRoewer]

Mertens anemones are known to sometimes cause melanism in clarkii complex clownfish.

Are those latifasciatus wild or tank bred?

I had it with percula and gigantea the other way around - nice black Solomon percula lost a good deal of their black and got a lot more orange after being housed in a gigantea.
The female of my first percula pair also got a "blond spot" in her dorsal fin and on her back.

While the anemone certainly has a part in this, the mechanism is not yet understood or predictable.

 

[alprazo]

The latifasciatus are CB.
I knew it happened with clarki and bluestripes. Wasn't sure about these

 

[Winwood]

Blue stripe melaninism is more of a function of collection location rather than anemone selection. Amphiprion tricinctus on the other hand, shows extreme melaninism when kept with S. mertensii.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Are those latifasciatus wild or tank bred?

.

Blue zoo just sold two wild ones for $380 each. Hefty price tag but for collector or breeding I suppose it isn't much.

 

[alprazo]

Finally photos

Before pairing with the Mertens

 

[alprazo]

Lighting is different but they are black now. Even the entire dorsal fin, half the pectorals and the base of the tail.

 

[ThRoewer]

Finally photos

Before pairing with the Mertens

Those look very nice for captive bred - no misbars, no under-bite, from the look you couldn't tell they were tank raised.
Who bred them and where did you get them from?