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

[clownfish75]

cook the bagebers out of them and it might be jan 2007, well not quite cook, but very warm.

Christian

[h2joe]

very nice looking pair.

[FishGuttz]

Gorgeous...silk black OCS.

"George and Martha"

[mwp]

Originally posted by clownfish75
cook the bagebers out of them and it might be jan 2007, well not quite cook, but very warm.

Christian

Higher temps? Currently the tank runs between 75 and 79 F, usually 77F. Not sure the Barbouri's would like an 82F tank, but maybe that would get them in the mood!!! I'd say the male is around 1 to 1.25", and the female is maybe 1.5-1.75" - they're definitely a pair as they tag teamed the odd-man-out at the shop, but aren't these guys supposed to take up to 3 years to spawn?!

Matt

[clownfish75]

3 years, pfffffff, heat heat heat.

at 75-77 your freezing the poor little buggers. If you can do it without the seahorses ie a new tank head for 86oF.

And i seriously doubt the long term survival of any seahorse at those lofty numbers.

as i said roast them.

Christian

[Atticus]

My broodstock were all at 83-84. Blacks spawned every 12 days.

[Atticus]

What color are your ponies?

[mwp]

Atticus, the barbouri's are all different. 1 male is yellowish/lavender/white. Our 2nd male is a rusty orange/green. The female is a yellow/ochre.

Matt

[mwp]

11-8-06 - a psuedo update on the happenings in the tank. I had the chance to obtain a hand-picked juvie pair of Allardi...not an everyday kind of thing so I had to jump on it. Ideally I wouldn't have done thus, but due to the current circumstances in my 4 tanks I had to place my new Allardi pair in with the Black OC pair.

My initial observations tell me this is NOT a bad thing and will probably be OK for at least a while. This may even help solidify the pair bonds, as both are relatively sticking together with their chosen mates. Who knows...heck I could even get two pairs of clownfish spawning in the same tank down the line (although that's NOT the plan). However, there is SOME interaction between the "female" Black OC and the "male" Allardi...I may have to move these yet so they don't swap mates on me!

So here's a picture that clearly demonstrates the basic normal situation in the tank this evening.



FWIW,

Matt

[Kmiec123]

WoW...Very nice pairs Matt...You really like to keep yourself busy ..Good luck with all..Carl

[mwp]

Carl, I'm gonna do everything I possible can in my small space I'm all about variety...and future planning for when I have MORE room to work with...should only be a couple years. Do it while you can, right?

Matt

[Kmiec123]

Ya..I'm not yet overwelmed with my little setup I started with, I guess I just gotta find my groove Funny how the little projects keep adding up you the man!!! Thanks again.carl

[aomont]

Yes Matt ! Variety, I think that´s THE word !
Have learned it here and am going with it soon.
Anderson.

[mwp]

The other big boon in any fish breeding is HAVING variety..i.e. if you ONLY breed one species, all eggs are in one basket (if you're trying to sell). If demand drops, you sunk. The other thing that's mentioned repeatedly in the other threads is the "getting your foot in the door" species, i.e. Ocellaris. Since I'm not working with regular ocellaris (although a $300 proven pair all the way across the country keeps calling my name) I think between Allardis, Black OCs and Onyx Percs I should always have SOMETHING that people want...and that's what's going to pay for my ongoing failures with the Mandarins The big thing right now is to get these pairs breeding ASAP. I'm torn between giving these guys the "hot soak" vs. keeping my barbouris (which I LOVE but won't breed despite top-notch conditions).

Maybe the GBGs will grow up this time 'round

Matt

[aomont]

Fingers crossed here ! You´re getting very nice clown pairs by the way !
Anderson.

[mwp]

So here's an update. The Black OC's have taken a back-seat to their Allardi counterparts...initially there was a couple days of "pair mixing" but the fish are definitely paired with their appropriate mates. The BIG news, of sorts, is that the Black OC's appear to have possibly already selected a nest site of sorts? The larger of the 2, the "female", occasionally goes to the back wall and does some "cleaning" like my percs do. I personally think these clowns are far too small to be breeding yet, but it IS a step in the right direction.

FWIW,

Matt

[mwp]

So I mentioned this in another thread (Halfblack Ocellaris thread) - I've noticed 2 interesting things that are continuing to occur. First, the female in our pair continues to clean a spot on the back wall. 2nd, the female, despite her small size, appears "RIPE" like our female Onyx Perc does before a spawn. Judging by the size of our pair, I'm in disbelief, telling myself there's virtually NO WAY these guys are anywhere close enough to breed, yet none the less the behavior and possibly the "conditioning" has already kicked in. Keep in mind this DID go on for approximately 8-9 months with our Perc pair before they actually DID spawn, but all the same, I'm admittedly surprised.

FWIW,

Matt

[keefsama2003]

good luck my blacks arent cleaning as of yet and i had them in with regular orange ocellaris and they started to really fight so i had to exile the oranges to my fuge which is 90gal and full of macro and the orange oc's are hosting the macro and i noticed this morning the black oc's getting back together as they kind of split ways after i removed the oranges.

im hoping they get their stuff strait and i see everyone saying to raise the temp and my tank is about 78 now so i have my heaters on full blast to see how high i can get the tank before going to get a 3rd.

any other suggestions from you guys out there and matt im waiting on a pair of latz also but figured i would practice with something else before hand and this pair of black oc's fell on me at a perfect time.

PS. go figure i have an 8ft tank and all the clowns wanted 1 rock so i had to banish the oranges to the sump

[mwp]

Well Keefsama, My black OC's and now the halfblack pair as well are pretty much fish that are here for fun/practice if/when I can obtain a good latezonatus pair myself Today, in watching the fish feed, I've noticed that the female Allardi is at the top of the chain, and the male is way at the bottom, so I may have to remove the Black OC pair to the 6 gallon to help with the Allardi hierarchy...FWIW I REALLY don't think the Black OC's are anywhere close to breeding yet.

Matt

[keefsama2003]

Same with mine and im kind of excited as there arent many WC black OC's around from what i hear so anything new to the gene pool is going to help a lot.

keep us all posted on the black oc's this is where my interest is also as i have heard it can take quite a while to coax them into spawning.

[mwp]

Oh, I'm pretty sure this pair is NOT wild caught. In fact, I've NEVER seen wild caught Darwin Ocellaris available...someone actually postulated that they may not actually be a wild strain as is so often reported, but simply a melantistic strain developed in Australia. Show me some photos of them in the wild, otherwise that actually doesn't seem such a far fetched idea.

Matt

[keefsama2003]

either way i have a nice pair of perfect bar / shaped black oc's no pug face or mis bars like i usually see for sale so im happy either way but they were said to have been wc i guess we will see when the time comes with the offspring.

[mwp]

but they were said to have been wc

keefsama, I think you're confusing this pair with my WC Onyx Percula pair, or maybe the Allardi Pair (which is also wild caught). Both the halfblack and black ocellaris pairs I have are captive bred.

Matt

[keefsama2003]

your i know are captive bred but the ones i have were sold to me as wild caught.

but either way i hear black oc's wether WC or CB are a pain to get spawning.