What sort of clown is this?

SmallFry · #1 05-22-2010, 04:28 AM

Ok, so I'm hoping to tap into some fishy expertise out there.. I bought my clownfish a bit over a year ago, I reckon he's now about 2" long. I bought him as a tomato clown, but as time has gone by he doesn't seem to have darkened any. All the pictures I have seen of tomato clowns are very dark, so I'm beginning to wonder if he really is a tomato clown or perhaps something similar.. This is what he looks like now:

I was wondering whether he may be a Fiji Barberi clownfish like this:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...54&pcatid=2754

The only difference I can see is that mine has a black line on the leading edge of the pectoral fins which the Barberi in the picture doesn't.

I'd really like to know what he is, because I was thinking of trying to pair him when I upgrade my tank to a 75 gallon, but I've no idea what'll happen if I try to pair him with something he isn't..

If anyone can shed some light on what he is or what the implications would be if I paired him with another clownfish of a slightly different species I'd be really grateful.

Thanks,
Rob.

saltwaterseahorses · #2 05-22-2010, 04:29 AM

tomato clownfish

infamous · #3 05-22-2010, 09:15 PM

Could it possibly be a "Tank Bred Tomato Clownfish"? As far as I've found in my reading, they don't seem to darken up as much.

intarsiabox · #4 05-23-2010, 04:10 AM

Looks like a Tomato clownfish to me and matches pics on google.

vaporize · #5 05-23-2010, 05:39 AM

Tomato clowns doesn't get alot darker until they are 10+ years old (or they matured as a spawning pair)

Funky_Fish14 · #6 05-23-2010, 06:09 AM

Thats definitely a tomato. And that little black line on the leading edge of the pectorals mostly confirms it. Some tomatos are more red with darkening and others are orange. I have a larger female tomato that is red with lots of darkening and a small male that is totally orange.

The facial shape and forehead also match tomato clown better than anything else.

It is actually possible to match different species of clowns (although I dont recommended it, hybridizing isnt really the greatest idea. It just blends the genetics of stuff over time and you lose purity (like all the mutt dogs we have nowadays - no offence to anyone - but you get the idea...). I have an unlikely trio of clowns... the two tomatoes I mentioned and a cinnamon clown between their sizes). I certainly do not plan on breeding these clowns or ever selling the babies. I'd feed them to my other fish.

Cheers,

Chris

SmallFry · #7 05-23-2010, 04:35 PM

Thanks everyone, things are beginning to make a lot more sense now.. I wasn't sure because a lot of the pictures I saw on the internet and some fish in aquaria, were really dark, almost black on their sides. I hadn't realised that they stay orange until paired or a lot older. Naively I was thinking that after a year he'd be more of less mature. Clearly I was wrong..

It's interesting to know that you can pair the different species though - not that I'd have any interest in doing so, or raising the offspring, for starters I don't have the facilities or time to do it.. Although I can see that if you have a load of eggs it might be very tempting to raise them.

Maybe I'd better just get him an anemone instead...!

Rob.

Funky_Fish14 · #8 05-23-2010, 06:03 PM

Rob... Well, if you wanted to keep babies for yourself I dont see the problem (I probably would if some happened to survive, lol). But I certainly would not 'inject' them into the gene pool if you know what I mean? But yeah like, I've seen a fire clown and a cinnamon paired, and stuff like that. Similarly looking fish can do it. I dont know about the viability of the offspring though.

Its possible your fish will stay orange for most of it's life. Like someone mentioned, tomato clowns dont always go red, partially due to captive breeding (I might compare this to horned tomato frogs, whom look terrible captive bred but are bright red in the wild). NOT saying your fish looks terrible though! Lol. But you understand my point.

You could definitely get him (which would become a her if not already) a smaller partner though if you wanted. And an anemone would certainly be cool!

Cheers,

Chris

SmallFry · #9 05-24-2010, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Funky_Fish14

Rob... Well, if you wanted to keep babies for yourself I dont see the problem (I probably would if some happened to survive, lol). But I certainly would not 'inject' them into the gene pool if you know what I mean? But yeah like, I've seen a fire clown and a cinnamon paired, and stuff like that. Similarly looking fish can do it. I dont know about the viability of the offspring though.

Its possible your fish will stay orange for most of it's life. Like someone mentioned, tomato clowns dont always go red, partially due to captive breeding (I might compare this to horned tomato frogs, whom look terrible captive bred but are bright red in the wild). NOT saying your fish looks terrible though! Lol. But you understand my point.

You could definitely get him (which would become a her if not already) a smaller partner though if you wanted. And an anemone would certainly be cool!

Cheers,

Chris

I think I'd try to avoid hybrid offspring because I wouldn't be able to come up with the tank space to keep them myself, I was just curious as to what would happen if you did get the match slightly wrong - whether they'd play nice or you could expect world war three in there!

I'm cool with him being (and staying) orange, it's all part of his fishy character - but if he'd just stop biting me that'd be nice!

I may just go down the anemone route, having watched him attack his own reflection in the glass I think the process of adding another might be pretty hairy...

Rob.

Funky_Fish14 · #10 05-28-2010, 12:09 AM

Haha oh really? None of my clowns try to bite me... some just have an attitude I guess, lol.

Often clowns will attack others they interpret as being in the same 'rank' as them... so a male clown who 'owns' his tank will attack an invading equivalent sized male (his reflection), and a female will attack any other female clown or large males. The best way to pair clowns is to add a distinctly smaller clown and hope for the best (usually, there are some exceptions like maroon matching is often much more difficult).

Cheers,

Chris