The White Stripe maroon clownfish is the white-barred maroon, and the cheapest maroon on any price list. It is easy to keep but aggressive, and it suits a reef tank.
Did you know
Gold stripe maroons ship as white striped juveniles and only change later. That is why keepers keep asking whether their White Stripe maroon clownfish will follow.
Caring for the White Stripe maroon clownfish
Keep one White Stripe maroon clownfish per tank, in at least 40 gal (150 L). It is reef safe and hardy. Hold the water at 75 to 82°F (24 to 28°C), with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. It is easy to feed and takes prepared, frozen and live foods.
Of the two natural forms it is the pushier one, so plan its tank mates around that. It is genuinely aggressive and one of the most territorial fish in the hobby. A mature female can dominate a tank, harass or kill other clownfish, and bully smaller or peaceful tank mates. Make her the last fish added in most cases, and never keep her with another clownfish that is not her mate.
A pair is a large, dominant female and a male that stays a fraction of her size. No other clownfish shows a bigger size gap between the sexes. Breeding it takes a little experience.
Good to know
The White Stripe maroon clownfish belongs to the damselfish family Pomacentridae. The 2021 damselfish revision moved every maroon out of Premnas into Amphiprion. Older labels reading Premnas biaculeatus describe the same fish.
In the wild
In the wild, maroon clownfish live on reefs and in lagoons of the Indo-West Pacific, almost always with the bubble-tip anemone.
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.
What does a White Stripe maroon clownfish eat?
A White Stripe maroon clownfish is easy to feed. It takes prepared, frozen and live foods.
How big does a White Stripe maroon clownfish get?
An adult White Stripe maroon clownfish reaches about 6.7 in (17 cm).
How can you tell a male White Stripe maroon clownfish from a female?
Males stay much smaller than females. A pair is a large, dominant female and a much smaller male.
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)