Clown fish colour

[Newbie2269]

Hi,

I got a pair of clown fish from a friend who has had them for nearly 4 years, when I got them they were really vibrant in colour. I have had them for almost 4 weeks now and they have progressively turned brown from the top down. They don't seem to be getting any darker but I am concerned as it is only since I have put them into my tank. I have tried to research this but am only more confused as far as I can tell it could be anything from black ich (but they don't seem to be spots and the fish don't seem to be scratching on rock or substrate, they do twitch now and again but my friend said this is a warning to other fish in the tank and they do that all the time) to a change in diet or stress. My tank is slightly smaller than what they are used to as mine is 10 gal but they were previously in a 12 gal. I feed them frozen marine feast and mysis shrimp mainly where they were previously given ocean nutrition pellet and marine flake. My levels are

Ph 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate up to 10
salinity 1.024
Temp 24/76

There is 6 kilo live rock and 1 snail, 1 hermit, 1 shrimp and a wrasse other than the clowns. Does anyone know what this might be and what I need to do?

I have a larger tank that I can put them in but it is cycling at the moment and has a couple weeks before it will really be ready for fish. Will this help their colour return to normal

 

[iDream]

Are you feeding the same as your friend? I had a vibrant yellow clarkii clown who turned brown because I was feeding a different food than the store I got him from was.

 

[Newbie2269]

Yes, I only feed them frozen marine feast which has brine shrimp, krill, cockle and red plankton in it. Sometimes I give mysis shrimp. My friend only gave flake or pellets and mysis shrimp or rotifers as a treat. However if I only feed flake then the wrasse doesn't eat as he will only eat the frozen, would it be best to separate them?

Thanks

 

[iDream]

No problem, there's nothing wrong with this color change. I was just saying the cause of it is the difference in diet

 

[Henry405]

There was another thread about clowns turning brown and the reason was genetics on that thread. From my experience, the food didn't affect my clowns. I have a false perc that stayed the same when I bought her and the other false perc turned brown on the upper half of his body. I rotate every three days feeding them mysis shrimp, flakes, and a type of frozen angel fish food

 

[Newbie2269]

Ok thank you, as long as it's not serious. They seem healthy and happy enough otherwise.

Thanks