How easy are Black Ocellaris to breed?

[AAA88]

My breeding setup is ready. I was looking the Black Ocellaris. Are they as easy to breed as a regular Ocellaris? Has anyone breed them? where can i get pure black?

thanks

[JHardman]

Originally posted by AAA88
My breeding setup is ready. I was looking the Black Ocellaris. Are they as easy to breed as a regular Ocellaris?
No they are much more difficult to get to spawn.

Originally posted by AAA88
Has anyone breed them?
They are commercially breed around the world by the big boys and the small breeder too. There are a couple of people on RC that have spawning pairs.

Originally posted by AAA88
where can i get pure black?

thanks
They are all by definition "pure black". The majority of black A. ocellaris will turn from orange when "hatched" to completely black by age two years. The majority of the fish will be black by age 9-12 months with only the face and maybe the fin hearts still orange.

So you can get them from just about any retailer. I would recommend that you look to ORA stock, as theirs seems to have fewer problems than other major hatcheries.

[AAA88]

Are they still easy? I want to try to breed either Black ocellaris, or true percula. Of these 2 what is easier?
Thanks for your help, I cant find to much info on the balck ocellaris.

[JHardman]

Originally posted by AAA88
Are they still easy? I want to try to breed either Black ocellaris, or true percula. Of these 2 what is easier?
Thanks for your help, I cant find to much info on the balck ocellaris.

IME/IMO they are tough spawners. There are several species that I would rank as easier. A. percula is most definitely easier than black A. ocellaris.

To give you an idea...

1) I have had A. ocellaris spawning in a QT tank.

2) I have a pair of A. percula that are cleaning their pot in a QT tank at the (3) weeks time. The female is gravid... Looks like I might get another QT spawn. They have (3) weeks left in QT, lots of time to do the deed. ;)

3) I have (2) mature pairs of black A. ocellaris, (1) pair was sold to me as a spawning pair. I have my doubts that they were actually spawning, but they were bought from a very reliable source, so I guess I have to believe they were indeed spawning prior to my purchase. I have had them going on (1) year. They constantly clean their nest site, the females have got gravid more than once only to reabsorb the ripening eggs. I have thrown just about every trick in my book at them, and still no spawns.

4) I have had GSMs spawn in about (2) months of getting them. One pair was purchased as a spawning pair, the other was a purchase from a fellow reefer that needed to sell off her tank that had never spawned before.

[richardb42]

I also have a pair of black ocelaris I got as very small juveniles. They are starting to scrub but I don't expect any action for another 6 months... the percs, however, are rock steady.

[oama]

Easy to Breed? Difficult.
Easy to Raise the Fry? Moderate.
Sellable Product? Harder than most, as this variant tends to have a higher degree of deformities and only sells well when fully mature/black.

[AAA88]

Ok thanks everyone. I am going to go with the A. Percula.

[Dracaenaz]

Difficult to breed

[LLUSA]

I thought I saw that you were also considering raising the true percula clowns.

Some time back, I breed them and worked with them for about a year. Of the juveniles, I had alot that took over 9 months to complete the bands. Just something for you to think about.

Ed