Clownfish different colors?

[Azhaag]

Hey all, I have noticed that my premium snowflake ocellaris clownfish is quite a different color hue than my standard ocellaris clownfish.

Is this something normal? I haven’t had this much of a color difference in clownfish pairs I’ve had before. I’ve had these two for about 7 months.

Diet wise I feed them mainly spirulina mysis, occasionally some hikari small seaweed pellets, and on very rare occasions small amounts of calanus. Could it be diet wise? The female especially is very plump and growing at a very high rate, she has almost doubled in size in the last two months alone.

 

[SudzFD]

Yes this is normal. The females are typically larger and take more food. By color hue I’m assuming you mean the snowflake is lighter orange. This is also normal but I can’t answer it why, other than clowns come in many hues.

 

[D-Nak]

Color in a clownfish is partly genetic, but mainly due to diet. More specifically, if you want to brighten up your clownfish and bring out more of the orange hues, you can feed them a diet rich in Astaxanthin. This carotenoid is what makes salmon flesh bright red. Calanus (moreover most red shrimp species) contain Astaxanthin. There are also pellet foods rich in Astaxanthin. My preferred food is TDO Chroma Boost by Reef Nutrition. It can be found at many LFS and online vendors.