Cocoa Clownfish

[thecoralreef]

Most may not know but I have a breeding pair of clowns, the mother an Ocellaris and the father a White Striped Maroon. I been rearing the fry since about October and finally have some ready. I don't collect very many from each clutch. I've actually got to collecting every other clutch as it would be to many after a couple months. Apparently there is word going around that some people have been buying these Cocoa clowns and have them in their tanks. This could be nothing further from the truth. As far as my research has gone I am the only person with a breeding pair like this at the moment and I haven't sold a single fish to date. If you know of anyone selling a cocoa clownfish cross like this, it isn't from mine and is probably not what he's telling you. I have contacted one store and I am waiting to hear back from him. Once I know where this first batch of clowns is going I will post in hear. As of right now I am not selling any to the public or places without store fronts. If you have any questions your more than welcome to ask.
Mike

If your wanting to see the thread on this pair the link is below :

http://www.fragexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2692

Some of the first posts with pics are not updated. If you go into my gallery you should see all the pics I've posted. I've recently gotten the pair on video cleaning the egg site and laying their eggs up close.

[jtremblay]

And I still want a pair ;)

If possible, would it be possible to set up a tank in the store that isn't in any way connected to the other tanks? It'd be a shame to get a couple of these guys home and then either quarantine them or hope they didn't get ich (or something else) after being mixed in with wild fish.

Jason

[Dman]

Mike,
ORA not got anything like this on the go?
AND
There's a quarantine system setup at EMarine for captive breds, just a thought.
Dman
:spin:

[jtremblay]

Mike,
ORA not got anything like this on the go?


These guys (http://www.proaquatix.com/speciesdetail.asp?GROUPID=200&ID=46) have the flip side (male / female species reversed).

[thecoralreef]

Last I talked with ORA they didn't have anything like this. The only other place that I know of that has done this is a company called Proaquatix. Here is there website : http://www.proaquatix.com/ . The last time I talk with them, about 6 months ago, the facility they had this particular pair in was in Florida. When they had the huricane last year they moved everything to there Mexico facility. I think he said that one of the 2 died in travel or shortly after so they are no longer rearing cocoa clowns. That may have changed since then but I think that's what the case was. When I talked to him he said they only reared about 170 fish from the cross pair in total. The pair I have is the opposite of what they had. There pair was a maroon female and a male ocellaris. Mine is female ocellaris and male maroon. If you check out their site you will see they have another cross breed of clown called a white tipped clown. I think it's a cross between a sebae and a skunk.

As for a separate system for the juvenile in a store, it would be up to the store what system they want to keep them in. It shouldn't make a difference unless there systems are very unclean and if that's the case you don't want to be buying fish from them anyway. Captive breed fish are going to be more hardy then wild caught fish but either way there will not be lots of these fish around, at present the first batch going out will only be around 10 - 15 fish. I'm not keeping the total amount of fish that hatch and my success rate now is about 80% after day 2 and 95% after they reach metamorphisis. At present I have a total of about 300 fish. I am taking out the biggest ones to sell. They are about 1 1/4 " long now. I will post when I know what store they will be going to. I'm pretty sure it will be one of the London stores as I am from the London area.

[thecoralreef]

Sorry, someone asked for my gallery link, here it is :

http://fragexchange.com/photopost/member.php?uid=1194

Mike

[thecoralreef]

I dropped the first fish I've sold of these cocoa clowns off to a store in the London area called Strictly Salt. Steve and Doug at Strictly Salt are the first guys to have these clowns of mine, and probably the only store in Canada and the U.S. to have any of these types of clowns at all. I dropped them off to them early this afternoon so they should still have some. I do have more available at the moment so if they sell out I can bring them more.
Mike

[jtremblay]

Hiya' boss,

Make sure to drop a line here if you find a store in the GTA for your clowns. I still want a pair, but I'm not sure if I'm up for a trip to London for a chance to pick up a couple. I wouldn't want to come home empty-handed after the trip ;)

Jason

[thecoralreef]

If you call them :cheers: I'm sure they would hold them for you. They had just got a shipment of redsea fish in yesterday and a nice shipment of corals in today so they have a nice selection of fish and corals at the moment.
Mike

[dario]

you should probably patent protect the animals your breeding--just a thought!

[thecoralreef]

Patent the fish, not sure about that but once these little guys reproduce we will have a new genus. Amphipron and Premnas cross breed for now but if they actually reproduce then there is a whole new hybreed. Sorry I didn't get to this sooner but I've been busy. I dropped off a bunch of cocoa clowns to Reef Raft on Thursday of this week so for those looking to get some he's the only guy in the Toronto area that has any, and probably only one of 2 stores that have them in Canada and the U.S. for that matter. Anyway, just thought I would let everyone know that they are there for now, don't know how long they will last.
Mike

[vaporize]

Mike, you still producing these?

[jtremblay]

Mike, you still producing these?
I have no idea if he is or not, but I still have two :)

And the female's getting BIG :D

[vaporize]

I have no idea if he is or not, but I still have two :)

And the female's getting BIG :D

hi Jason, let's see some pics :D

cheers

[jtremblay]

Here's one from a while back. They're just, errr, bigger now.

[thecoralreef]

Parents still going strong laying every 13 days like clock work. I took the summer off from raising fry but I'm back producing these little guys again.

[Chrismo]

Nice! Interesting stuff.

So have any of the offspring reproduced? Is it a new breed?
Do they tend to be more like Maroons in size and aggressiveness?

I wander what happens if the smaller male Maroon outgrows the female. Or has this happened alreeady?

Chris

[thecoralreef]

The oldest ones from the first clutch of eggs are just 2 years old now so they are just getting to the age where they are capable of spawning, but nothing as of yet. From what I can tell they seem to be more like the maroon in temperment. I haven't seen a cheek spine on any of the offspring either. I have kept 3 pairs myself to raise in separate tanks. The males tend to be about 1/2 to 2/3'rds the size of the female.