Tomato clownfish

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Tomato clownfish

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Pomacentridae
Genus:	Amphiprion
Species:	A. frenatus

Binomial name

Amphiprion frenatus
Brevoort, 1856

Synonyms

Amphiprion ephippium
Amphiprion macrostoma
Amphiprion melanopus
Amphiprion polylepis
Prochilus polylepis

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. It is also known as the bridled clownfish, red clownfish, or tomato anemonefish.

The adult fish is bright orange-red, with one white vertical stripe just behind the eyes, joined over the head. Some varieties 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 bubble-tip anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor, or the Sebae anemone, Heteractis crispa.

[edit] In the aquarium

As a pet, an aquarium of at least 25 gallons is necessary, while even bigger is recommended so that the fish can have enough space. A quarantine tank is suggested because this helps rid the fish of saltwater diseases before introduction to the main tank. It thrives 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 are introduced at the same time^{[citation needed]}. It is easy to breed; the fry can be fed on baby brine shrimp and rotifers.