Baby Clownfish with "swollen" gills

[schleppey]

Hello again. Yesterday my LFS got in some orange storms for me. The owner and I are on good terms so he said I could come pick the best 2 of the 4. There was a clear cut "better" patterned 2 so my decision was easy.

I thought I noticed one of my guys breathing a little heavy in the bag it was hard to tell. After I put them in my tank I realized there is actually something going on with one of my fish. Basically his gills are flared or swollen a little bit and pushed out looking.

Theres no meat to be seen and these came straight from sustainable aquatics so I dont think it was some onset sickness. The internet had mostly anecdotal responses. Things like larval stage water quality issues, or that it was a straight up injury. I texted the LFS owner who has bred clowns and told him whatsup, he asked for some pictures. He agreed something is up and didnt care if I wanted to swap him out. I dont really want to swap him out though because I like this guys pattern and personally think some character is fun in a fish.

The question I have is for the people who have been around a bunch of clowns. I do hope to breed these clowns someday, and need to know if this is a genetic defect or not. I dont want a bunch of defect babies in my future. Basically, I need to know if this guys gills are a genetic defect that could pass to future babies.

 

[Billldg]

I am not a fish expert, but it may be ammonia burn. I would do a freshwater dip in methyl blue which helps with ammonia burns and such. @HotRocks , @4FordFamily , @Big G , any suggestions?

 

[4FordFamily]

I cannot tell anything from the photos.

Was he not this way when you picked him up?

If not, it’s likely an injury. Ammonia would leave them reddish generally.

 

[schleppey]

I cannot tell anything from the photos.

Was he not this way when you picked him up?

If not, it’s likely an injury. Ammonia would leave them reddish generally.

Yea sorry my internet has been out so I am unfortunately doing this from my phone. If you look closely you can see in the pic of the 2 clowns that the bottom one has a big lower jawline if you will, and the top one is regular. It was like that in the bag it came in from sustainable aquatics but I thought he was just breathing heavy or the bag was contorting it. After he got in my tank I realized he actually was messed up and the internet has no conclusive answers for me.

I dont want to pass on this genetic trait because I know people wont like it. But if this guy just is a standalone victim I will gladly take him in as my own. Let me try and get some better pictures.

 

[schleppey]

his gills are almost convex at the ends, not flush

 

[4FordFamily]

I see it, but it wasn’t like that when you bought him, surely...?

 

[jsvand5]

Most likely just flared gills. Extremely common in captive bred clowns since most breeders don’t cull like they should. Probably environmental from the rearing tank and not genetic but I don’t know if that has ever been proven. If it were me I would definitely not accept a fish with a defect for a premium price.

 

[schleppey]

Most likely just flared gills. Extremely common in captive bred clowns since most breeders don’t cull like they should. Probably environmental from the rearing tank and not genetic but I don’t know if that has ever been proven. If it were me I would definitely not accept a fish with a defect for a premium price.

thanks for some solid info, and I agree it feels a little bit like a ripoff here since the fish is essentially deformed. The problem is the store only ordered 2 other storms and their pattern is not nearly as cool as these guys. I will probably end up exchanging this guy for one but it does not feel like a fair trade. Also I cant really fault the LFS because he did more than enough to help me out here. Long story short sustainable aquatics are the ones shipping out defective fish, be wary.

 

[schleppey]

I see it, but it wasn’t like that when you bought him, surely...?

So I arrived at the LFS at the same exact time as the shipment of fish arrived from sustainable aquatics. To spare them from acclimating twice I just took them home in the bag they came in. He was alone in a bag and was fairly small so it was kinda tough to tell, I only did a few rough once overs. I honestly wasnt expecting anything weird from a captive bred clown(big mistake) and 100% noticed it at the store but thought I just caught him taking a big breath or something. I never knew fish could look like this until I started researching after he was already in my tank.

 

[D-Nak]

Sounds like you already answered your own question about breeding it. You never want to breed a fish with any defects.

 

[ReefRondo]

I had a pair of black panda clowns with this issue and it was horrible. They both died within a few weeks. I complained and get a new pair sent of a different species and they were perfect. As above these poor things should not be getting sold or bred.