White Stripe Maroon (Premnas biaculeatus)

Description:
A strain of the maroon-colored clownfish with three white stripes.

Natural Ecology:
This species naturally lives among the tentacles of bubble-tip anemones (Entacmaea quadricolor). This natural behavior protects wild clownfish from predators. Proaquatix clownfish do not require anemone hosts but will accept them if present. This species is a case of convergent evolution, where it has independently evolved symbiosis with anemones, without inheriting this trait from phylogenetic relatedness to Amphiprion.

Indigenous To:
Range extends from western Indonesia to Vanuatu, northward to Taiwan, and southward to northern Great Barrier Reef.

Behavior:
Like all clownfish, Premnas biaculeatus is a sequential hermaphrodite. The largest individual present will exert dominance and become reproductively female. The next largest fish will become reproductively male. The female will not tolerate other smaller individuals.

Compatibility:
Usually ignores reef invertebrates and corals. Clownfish sometimes adopt various corals and algae as substitutes for host anemones.

Food:
Proaquatix specimens have been weaned to take aquarium pellets and flakes. Freshly frozen invertebrates such as ocean plankton, Mysis shrimp, and brine shrimp will be readily accepted.