This is the plain maroon, sold in most shops with no varietal name attached. Bars stay white for life, so a keeper hoping for gold has bought the wrong form. Of the two natural forms it is the pushier one, and that difference is worth planning around when you pick tankmates. It is also the cheapest maroon on any price list.
In the wild
White bars are the wild pattern across most of the species' range, so this is not a bred line at all. Captive bred stock descends from that wild form rather than from any selection program. The gold barred fish of Sumatra and the Andaman Islands are the regional exception, and the rest of the range carries white.
Good to know
Bar color here is fixed, not a stage. Unlike the Sumatran fish, white stripe maroons do not convert to gold at nine to twelve months or at any later age. The 2021 damselfish revision moved every maroon out of Premnas into Amphiprion, so older labels reading Premnas biaculeatus describe the same fish.
Did you know
Gold stripe maroons ship as white striped juveniles and change later, which is why keepers keep asking whether their white stripe will follow. It will not. The gold belongs to the Sumatran population, not to age.
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.
Is a White Stripe maroon clownfish a different species from the Maroon clownfish?
No. A White Stripe maroon clownfish is a variety of the Maroon clownfish, Premnas biaculeatus, and it wants the same tank, water and food as the species.
Will a White Stripe maroon clownfish turn gold?
No. White bars are the wild pattern across most of the species' range and they stay white for life. The gold-barred maroons come from Sumatra and the Andaman Islands, so a keeper hoping for gold has bought the wrong form.
Is the White Stripe maroon a wild fish or a bred line?
A wild pattern. It is the plain maroon most shops sell without a varietal name, and captive-bred stock descends from that wild form rather than from a selection program. Of the two natural forms it is the pushier one, which is worth planning around when you choose tank mates.
What size tank does a White Stripe maroon clownfish need?
A White Stripe maroon clownfish needs at least 40 gal (150 L). It spends most of its time in the middle.
How big does a White Stripe maroon clownfish get?
An adult White Stripe maroon clownfish reaches about 6.7 in (17 cm).
5.9 in (15 cm)55 gal (210 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
5.5 in (14 cm)55 gal (210 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
6.7 in (17 cm)55 gal (210 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
5.9 in (15 cm)30 gal (115 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
3.5 in (9 cm)29 gal (110 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
3.5 in (9 cm)29 gal (110 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)