Do all percula type clowns turn black over time or just mine?

LeftyReefer · Nov 30, 2022

When I entered the hobby 2 and half years ago... like most people... my first fish were a pair of clowns.
Got them from an LFS. They were from two different tanks... one was sold as a picasso clown and the other was called an extreme picasso clown.

both fish were mostly orange/white with a little bit of black around the edges.
Here are a couple pics after I first got them. Brand new tank... my marco rocks were still white and brand spanking new.

2 and a half years later, the only thing orange on them is now their faces. All other orange areas have turned black.

Is this normal? Do all percula type clownfish eventually darken, lose their orange and become black like this?
They still have a little bit of orange on the under side of their pectoral fins, but other than that... they are turning blacker and blacker as time goes on.

dedragon · Nov 30, 2022

No, not all perculas will turn mostly black overtime. Most will develop a little more black but not go full black.
I think most of the captive bred ones will turn mostly black as they were most likely bred with onyx clownfish. Wild caught will probably have less of a chance but will still darken a bit over time.
I have kept multiple percula clownfish and that is just my experience with wild caught vs tank bred ones.

Spare time · Nov 30, 2022

Are you sure the fish didn't die and someone swapped it out so you wouldn't notice? XD

Kellie in CA · Nov 30, 2022

I had one that did this, I think it's normal.

Kathy Floyd · Nov 30, 2022

My female got darker too.

LeftyReefer · Nov 30, 2022

I've even been feeding them TDO chromaboost since day 1 too, which has astaxanthin that is supposed to help promote red/orange coloring. lot of good it did. lol.

exnisstech · Nov 30, 2022

I like the black and white look. Makes their cute little orange faces stand out

exnisstech · Nov 30, 2022

My clowns are in a 180 thats pretty active with larger fish and they are in nems so I guess I take them for granted. I just took a good look and I believe they are starting to turn black also. The female below. The male doesn't have hardly and orange left but he stays hidden in the nems so can't get a pic. I guess I need to start paying more attention to all my inhabitants not just the ones that that hang out in front begging for food

MoshJosh · Nov 30, 2022

One of mine has slowly been darkening under the dorsal fin. . .

CoralsAddiction · Nov 30, 2022

LeftyReefer said:
When I entered the hobby 2 and half years ago... like most people... my first fish were a pair of clowns.
Got them from an LFS. They were from two different tanks... one was sold as a picasso clown and the other was called an extreme picasso clown.

both fish were mostly orange/white with a little bit of black around the edges.
Here are a couple pics after I first got them. Brand new tank... my marco rocks were still white and brand spanking new.

2 and a half years later, the only thing orange on them is now their faces. All other orange areas have turned black.

Is this normal? Do all percula type clownfish eventually darken, lose their orange and become black like this?
They still have a little bit of orange on the under side of their pectoral fins, but other than that... they are turning blacker and blacker as time goes on.

Some, even the wild caught percs, do turn darker as they mature without any genetic alteration. In your case there is a high possibility of Onyx-Picasso crossbreed. I’m almost certain of that actually. That’s just based on how much darker your clowns got.