TankBud

Tomato clownfish

Amphiprion frenatus

Also known as Bridled Clownfish, Red Clownfish, Tomato Anemonefish

SaltwaterFish

Tomato clownfish (Amphiprion frenatus)
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature
75–82°F
24–28°C
pH
8.1–8.4
Adult size
5.5 in
14 cm
Minimum tank
30 gal
115 L
Temperament
Mostly peaceful
Social behavior
Social
Swim level
Middle
Difficulty
Easy
Breeding
Medium
Rarity
Common
Reef safe
Reef safe
Family
Pomacentridae
Origin
Western Pacific

Overview

The tomato clownfish is a hardy, reef-safe clownfish for the middle of the tank. It is a good beginner marine fish.

Did you know

An adult female tomato clownfish can defend her patch of the tank aggressively. A well-fed one will often charge and nip at the aquarist's hand during maintenance.

Caring for the tomato clownfish

Give the tomato clownfish space, in a tank of at least 30 gal (115 L). Add it later in the stocking order, and keep it singly or as a bonded pair.

Keep the water at 75 to 82°F (24 to 28°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. It eats a wide range of prepared and frozen foods.

The tomato clownfish is mostly peaceful, but it is more pugnacious than the smaller ocellaris and percula. Its aggression increases with age, and a mature female can bully smaller or similar-looking tank mates.

Adult females develop a deep tomato-red body with a single white head bar, and they can substantially outsize the males. Males stay smaller and a brighter orange. Breeding a pair is moderately difficult.

Good to know

The tomato clownfish, Amphiprion frenatus, is one of the larger and more robust clownfish in the family Pomacentridae. It is also called the bridled clownfish, red clownfish or tomato anemonefish. It is a protandrous hermaphrodite, and the dominant fish in a group is always the female. A lone male will change sex to become female if no female is present.

In the wild

The tomato clownfish lives on shallow reefs and in lagoons of the western Pacific. It typically associates with the bubble-tip anemone and patrols a fairly small territory around its host.

Symbiotic relationships

Clownfish and their host anemones

A clownfish lives inside an anemone that stings and eats other fish its size. Its mucus coat keeps the anemone's stinging cells from firing, and a new fish builds that protection up over hours of brief touches. The fish gets a refuge no predator will follow it into and a nest site at the anemone's base. The anemone gets a guard that drives off the butterflyfish that would graze its tentacles, a steady supply of nitrogen from the fish's waste, and water movement at night, when the fish fans its fins among the tentacles and the anemone takes up more oxygen. Only ten anemone species host clownfish in the wild, and each clownfish species uses its own short list of them.

Captive-bred clownfish have never seen an anemone and do not need one; they settle for a coral, a powerhead or a corner of the tank. If you want the pairing, the anemone is the harder animal by far and goes in first, into a mature tank with strong light and stable water, at the tank size its own profile lists. The bubble tip anemone is the hardy host, and the one most clownfish accept in captivity even when it is not a natural host, so a clownfish profile lists it as the usual tank host where that is the case. The sebae, magnificent and carpet anemones are marked difficult, and the carpets eat fish. Expect a paired clownfish to defend its anemone against everything else in the tank.

Every symbiotic relationship in the catalog

Weekly picks

Tank mates

The tomato clownfish is a mostly peaceful, social species that keeps to the middle. These picks share a community profile with it, are safe together in both directions, and overlap on water type, temperature and pH.

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

What size tank does a tomato clownfish need?

A tomato clownfish needs at least 30 gal (115 L). It spends most of its time in the middle.

What temperature and pH does a tomato clownfish need?

A tomato clownfish is comfortable at 75–82°F (24–28°C) with a pH of 8.1–8.4.

What does a tomato clownfish eat?

A tomato clownfish eats a wide range of prepared and frozen foods.

How big does a tomato clownfish get?

An adult tomato clownfish reaches about 5.5 in (14 cm).

How can you tell a male tomato clownfish from a female?

Males stay smaller than females and a brighter orange. An adult female grows substantially larger, with a deep tomato-red body and a single white head bar.

Related species