Saddleback Clownfish Care Guide
Amphiprion ephippium, the red saddleback anemonefish, is an eastern Indian Ocean clownfish with a red-orange body and a black saddle blotch on the flank.
Compiled by Aquairi from published sources · Published · Updated
Overview
Amphiprion ephippium, the red saddleback anemonefish, is a reef-associated damselfish of the family Pomacentridae. Adults are red-orange with a black saddle-shaped blotch on the flank and lack a white head bar; juveniles may show a head bar that fades with age. It reaches a maximum length of about 14 cm.
Taxonomy
- Family: Pomacentridae
- Genus: Amphiprion
- Scientific name: Amphiprion ephippium (Bloch, 1790)
Habitat
The species occurs in the eastern Indian Ocean, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Malaysia, and Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. It inhabits silty coastal waters and protected bays in pairs at depths of about 2 to 15 m. It associates with the anemones Entacmaea quadricolor and Heteractis crispa.
Tank requirements
- Minimum tank volume: 150 L
- Temperature: 24-26 °C (75-79 °F)
- pH: 8.1-8.4
- Carbonate hardness (dKH): 8-12
- Specific gravity: 1.024-1.026
- Lifespan: 12-13 years
Diet
Amphiprion ephippium is an omnivore, with a trophic level of 2.7. In the aquarium it accepts marine flake and pellet foods together with frozen mysis and brine shrimp, fed about twice daily.
Compatibility
This species occupies the middle water column and can be territorial, particularly around its host anemone. It can be kept with tangs, royal gramma, wrasses and cleaner shrimp, while other clownfish species and aggressive predators such as triggerfish should be avoided.
Reef compatibility
Amphiprion ephippium does not eat coral and is reef-safe. It is maintained at reef salinity of 1.024-1.026 specific gravity and carbonate hardness around 8-12 dKH. A host anemone is appreciated but not required in captivity.
Breeding
The species is a protandrous hermaphrodite forming distinct breeding pairs. It is oviparous, with the male guarding and aerating the demersal eggs. It shows high resilience, with a minimum population doubling time under 15 months.
Conservation status
IUCN Red List: Least Concern (assessed 2010).
Saddleback Clownfish (Amphiprion ephippium) Breeding Guide
Overview
Amphiprion ephippium is a demersal egg-laying anemonefish bred in captivity in the same way as other clownfish. It forms a distinct breeding pair and is a protandrous hermaphrodite, with the largest fish becoming the female and the breeding male changing sex if she is lost. FishBase records it as oviparous with distinct pairing, eggs demersal and adhering to the substrate, with the male guarding and aerating them.
Sexing
Colour does not indicate sex in this species; within an established pair the female is the larger fish and the breeding male is smaller. A single specimen is functionally male and will become female when paired with a smaller individual. Raising two juveniles together and allowing the dominant fish to mature into the female is the simplest way to obtain a compatible pair.
Conditioning
Feed the pair frequently on varied marine foods and keep water stable to support egg production. The species naturally occurs in silty coastal waters and protected bays, typically in pairs, and associates with the anemones Entacmaea quadricolor and Heteractis crispa; providing a host anemone reduces stress and encourages a settled spawning routine.
Breeding Setup
Give the pair their own territory with a flat hard surface near the host anemone, where the female will deposit eggs on a cleaned patch of rock. Maintain stable reef conditions; the record lists about 24-26 degrees Celsius and pH 8.1-8.4, and FishBase gives a wild depth of roughly 2-15 m. The pair clean and guard the nest site before spawning.
Spawning Behavior & Trigger
The female lays a clutch of conical eggs (clownfish clutches reach up to about a thousand eggs, each 3-4 mm long) which the male fertilises and then tends, cleaning, guarding and fanning the eggs with his pectoral fins. The eggs begin bright orange and darken as the embryos and their eyes develop. Settled, well-conditioned pairs spawn on a regular repeating cycle.
Egg & Fry Care
Incubation lasts six to seven days and the larvae hatch at night. The newly hatched larvae go through a pelagic stage of up to about 12 days before settling, during which they must be reared in a dedicated tank on appropriately small first foods such as rotifers, moving to larger live foods as they grow. They are far too small for adult food at hatching.
Common Challenges
As with all clownfish the larval stage is the bottleneck: the tiny pelagic larvae need clean rearing water and correctly sized live first foods or losses are severe. The species is semi-aggressive, so an unsuitable pairing can result in conflict. Moving the egg-laden rock or the freshly hatched larvae to a separate rearing tank protects them from predation in the display.