Black / Darwin OC Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris "Darwin") Breeding Log!

[mwp]

OK, how's this for presumptuous...I'll start the breeding log the day the pair of fish is put into their new home! Worked OH SO WELL with the Flame Angels.

Anyway, my success with the Onyx Percs has fueled my fire for more clowns. Other than protecting their nest, our pair of Percs are very chilled out tankmates...any new fish gets "greeted" by Mama who promptly shreds at least one fin or knocks off a few scales, and everyone knows who's boss from then on. Knowing that the clowns definitely do not need to be kept by themselves to breed successfully, and having not 1 but 3 24 gallon tanks at my disposal, they're all destined to have some clownfish in them sooner or later.

While I have access to Allardii, probably #3 or 4 on the list, Latezonatus is #1 and WILL be added into the breeding projects when I finally located good stock (which, considering how often "ANY" stock is available, might be a long time). I toyed with pairing up an Allardii pair and placing them in the cardinalfish tank, but with an ongoing ICH problem now is NOT the time.

However, for the last few weeks I've been eyeing a pair of "Black" Occelaris clownfish at one of my favorite slightly out of the way local fish shops (Fish Planet in Deerfield). After selling a bunch of custom-built fly rods last week, I generated some fun money. Gift certificates paid for my recent purchase of the two Clownfish Bibles (Hoff and Wilkerson).

Don't know precisely why, but when it comes right down to it, Renee always liked Black OC's....for a while a pair was possibly going to be the residents of her 6 gallon "mushroom reef" (which originally started out with a mini volitans lionfish of all things, Scooter or Muhfasa were the names). Bottom line - I knew this was a pair of fish I could add to the program if I timed it right (following several custom rod sales). But where to put them?

Well, I've read and seen many setups where regular Occelaris can coexist with Seahorses. And I gotta say, our Seahorse/Mandarin tank consisting of our #1 pair of Mandarins, 2m/2f Barbouri's, and a breeding pair of Rusty Gobies is actually our most boring tank, and it's the first one everyone sees.

You can obviously figure out how I rationalized the purchase of a perfectly barred and already bonded pair of tank raised Black OC's for $79 Absolute worst case scenario, if the breeding program needs me to make room for some Latezonatus, I know I won't have any problems finding interested parties for this pair of fish!!!

So I'd like you all to welcome our latest addition...and welcome any name suggestions for our new Clowns (sorry, haven't algae scraped in a few days)





And thus starts the log:

11-1-06 - Added 1 bonded pair of TR Black Occelaris to the "Seahorse Tank".

Anticipated first spawning date - is January of 2008 too much to ask???

Matt