Tomato clownfish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Amphiprion frenatus Brevoort, 1856 |
The tomato clownfish (Amphiprion frenatus) is a clownfish that is found in the waters of the Western Pacific, from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, to Malaysia and Indonesia.
The fish is also known as bridled clownfish, red clownfish, or tomato anemonefish. It has been classified also as Amphiprion ephippium, Amphiprion macrostoma, Amphiprion melanopus, Amphiprion polylepis, and Prochilus polylepis.
The adult fish is bright orange-red, with one white vertical stripe just behind the eyes, joined over the head. Some vareties have darker coloration or dark spots on their flanks. Juveniles are a darker red, with three vertical white bands and black pectoral fins.
They can grow to 14 cm (5.5 in) in length, however the female is usually larger than the male. The eggs are deposited on a flat surface and tended by the pair until they hatch (6 to 11 days). They prefer to nestle in purple anemones such as the Bulb Tipped anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) or the Sebae Anemone (Heteractis crispa).
[edit] Aquarium Conditions
As a pet, a 20-gallon tank aquarium is suggested so that the fish can have enough space. A quarantine tank is suggested because this helps the fish from saltwater disease. It does fine even without a host anemone, and will eat most meat or vegetable food preparations. It is reported to be aggressive and territorial when mature and specimens have been known to be extremely aggressive to clownfish of other species if not introduced at the same time. For this reason, it is best kept singly or in mated pairs; but some claim that it will cohabit with other clownfish varieties if they introduced at the same time. It is easy to breed; the fry can be fed on baby brine shrimp and rotifers.
[edit] References
- Amphiprion frenatus (TSN 170149). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 15 February 2006.
- "Amphiprion frenatus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. 2 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Tomato Clownfish page at Animal World.
- Tomato Clownfish page at Stan & Debbie Hauter guide to Saltwater Aquariums.
- Photo of Tomato Clownfish in anemone, Astrolabe Reef, Kandavu, Fiji, at Walt and Mimi Miller's Ramblin' Cameras site.
- Several Tomato Clownfish images at Aquarist Classifieds Gallery, UK.
- Some Tomato Clownfish images at FishIndex.com site
