Tank color influence on the Tomato Clownfish Amphiprion frenatus metamorphosis

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveThe color of the environment positively influences the development of some fish species. Thus, we evaluated whether different aquarium colors affected the metamorphosis process of Tomato Clownfish Amphiprion frenatus.MethodsOperationally, we distributed the Tomato Clownfish larvae into white, yellow, blue, or black aquaria and monitored the larval development until 61 days posthatch.ResultWe found that environmental color influenced the early development of Tomato Clownfish and their metamorphosis process. In the black aquarium treatment, 87.2% of the larvae in block I completed metamorphosis and reached the juvenile stage, and 59.3% of larvae in block II completed metamorphosis (blocks represented two successive spawns). These high percentiles of metamorphosed larvae were not observed in the other tank color treatments.ConclusionThus, our results suggest that the metamorphosis of Tomato Clownfish could be accelerated if the larviculture occurs in darker‐color conditions, especially black aquaria. This result has practical and economic implications since Tomato Clownfish specimens are commercialized at the juvenile stage.