Sea and Reef announces their 6th longfin designer clownfish called the Domino Longfin Clownfish. Keep reading below to learn more.
Longfin Clownfish are not new to the hobby, but Sea & Reef’s new Longfin Clownfish have a much different look to them than other longfin clownfish. The Domino Longfin has elongated, flowing fins with a rounded translucent margins. This sets them apart from the typical longfin strain that display jagged, stiff fins with uneven margins. This new trait is due to different genetics of the breeding pairs.
- Name: Longfin Domino Clownfish
- Scientific Name: Amphiprion ocellaris
- Maximum Size: 4” (10 cm)
The mutation that created the origional longfin clownfish came from a single fish. In December 2013 Sea & Reef’s Hatchery Manager, Brandon Weik, was looking into a tank of several thousand Black and White Ocellaris (also called Darwin Ocellaris) we he noticed a fish that looked very different than his brothers (all clownfish are born male). The recessive, genetic trait produced a fish with elongated fins. Brandon realized the fish was getting beaten up because he didn’t look like all the other boys. so the fish was isolated and later paired with another ocellaris fish.
Shortly after the pairing the 2 fish started to produce offspring. Unfortunately, less than 1% of the offspring produced displayed the longfin trait. For the last five years the Sea & Reef team has been tirelessly working on increasing the yield of longfin clownfish offspring. While the longfin yield has increased, expect the availability to be somewhat limited for the foreseeable future.
The temperament and captive care requirements for the Mocha Longfin Clownfish is very similar to that of the regular Ocellaris clownfish; peaceful and hardy.
Most clownfish are omnivorous feeders, meaning that they will consume a variety of different food types. In nature the diet of clownfish consists of crustaceans (such as copepods and amphipods), algae, polychaete worms, and leftovers from the anemone’s meal. Our captive bred fish are conditioned to eat a variety of aquarium diets including pellets, flake food, frozen Mysis shrimp, and frozen brine shrimp.
Mocha Longfin Clownfish will readily accept a wide variety of host anemones and many hobbyists keep them with Bubble Tip Anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor). As a reference the natural host anemones of the regular ocellaris clownfish are Magnificent Sea Anemone (Heteractis magnifica), Giant Carpet Sea Anemone (Stichodactyla gigantean) and Merten’s Carpet Sea Anemone (Stichodactyla mertensii).
