Large clowns with black color faded in spots?

[Gryphoemia]

I just adopted two large clowns. They look good and plump, and so far they act healthy. But, both fish have 2-3 large spots in their black bands that appear to be fading to match the yellow. The spots have soft edges, and do not look like irregular markings. It almost looks like the fish are losing color in patches the way a person develops a bald spot. Why might that happen?

[Emma Turner]

Hi Gryphoemia,

What size (approx) are your new large clowns? Larger specimens, typically (but not always) over 5" in length go through what I call 'stripe splitting'. First of all this starts off as very small pale areas in the middle of the black bands, and these sometimes interconnect to form pale stripes within the black stripes. Does this sound like what you are seeing? We'd love to see some pics when you can get them.

Here is the stripe splitting on Marge:



Emma

[Gryphoemia]

Thanks Emma. The new guys are around 4.5" and 6", and yes, that does sound like what I'm seeing. I wasn't sure about it, because my three resident clowns of similar size haven't shown any color change like this. I wonder if it's genetics or environment/diet that causes it?

They have settled into their quarantine tank pretty well, they came out for a while this afternoon and I was able to snap a few decent pictures:

[Emma Turner]

Yes, that is perfectly normal. I have noticed that this tends to start on the dorsal surface (within the black stripes obviously) then it starts to develop on the sides as the fish grow further. I have one clown that is about 14 years old but which has never grown more than about 5". She has the stripe splitting on the dorsal surface but not on the flanks. I will try to find a pic for you.

Lovely new additions, by the way.

Emma

[Emma Turner]

I know I have better shots than this somewhere, but this is the loach I mentioned above. You can see the stripe splitting on the dorsal surface, but not on the flanks:



Emma

[Gryphoemia]

Thanks for spending so much time on this forum, too- we all appreciate it. I don't post much, but I read a lot and I've learned a lot.

Thank you so much, it is always great to receive such positive feedback.

Emma