Tank color influence on the Tomato Clownfish Amphiprion frenatus metamorphosis

Abstract

The environmental color positively influenced the development of some fish species. Thus, we evaluated whether different aquarium colors affect the metamorphosis process of tomato clownfish Amphiprion frenatus. Operationally, we distributed the A. frenatus larvae in white (WA), yellow (YA), blue (BA), and black aquaria (BLA) and accompanied the larvae development until 61‐DPH. We showed that environmental color influences the early development of tomato clownfish and their metamorphosis process. 87.2 % of the larvae in the BLA treatment completed the metamorphosis and reached the juvenile stage in block I and 59.3 % in block II. These high percentiles of metamorphosed larvae were not found in other tank colors. Thus, our results suggest that the metamorphosis of A. frenatus could be accelerated if the larviculture occurs in darker color conditions, especially black aquaria. This result has practical and economic implications since the tomato clownfish specimens were commercialized at the juvenile stage.