Onyx clowns

I want a pair of onyx clowns. Anyone know of any available? I currently have a pair of false percs...soo...maybe adding another pair wouldn't be a good idea?
Suggestions.
melissa

i can get you a pair of Picasso if you are interested. My buddy in town got them for me but i want snowcassos instead now. I think the price would be very good

Any idea of cost? any picts available. Have you put more than one pair of clown in a tank together?

Andre, keep in touch. Have been going to Giants Ridge weekends on sundays to ski.
Meanwhile, I'll keep looking.
M-

he said 120 for the pair but i did see them in person and they have very neat white patterns on them. cant get pic tell next week.

They might try and kill each other. More than a pair generally isn't recommended unles it's a huge tank, clowns are territoral little buggers. You are going with the most peaceful of the clown species though, I wouldn't even think about it with any of the larger ones. I wish I was closer to Andre though, James likes those ugly picassos. What the heck is a snowcasso?

Tiff- thanks for the advice. My tank is peaceful now and I suppose if I add more, then those peaceful now will become disgruntled!.
Hmmm. I really want a pair of onyx tho!

Sell off your pair and use the money towards onyx? I really like the black and white occs, they are my favorite.

well i have a pair of false clowns and a pair of black clowns in a 90 and they do jus fine wit each other

Did you add them all at the same time or separately madman? I think it would be easier to add them all together than try with a well established pair. Are yours spawning at all Kathy? I always go for the safest routw since I have no place to put more fish if they don't get along, if you can find someone who would take a pair if it doesn't work out I would try it. Or like I said get rid of the other pair, I personally don't find clowns to be very interesting, mine always just hovered and caused problems.

I have my Blacks and Vishnu's clark's in my Frag tank and they do fine together.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1798574

Mn. reef crzy wrote:http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1798574

Holy price tag on those! What do you think about those "platinums"? James likes them but me not so much.

i like the snowcassos more but ORA is a good deal to buy from and now i see the are distributing the platinums. That pair of snowcassos is kinda pricey imo. 600 for a proven mated pair seems more right to me but i could care less about the babies just like to watch them be paired .

I'm not sure what this talk about Snowcassos is all about. Technically there is "no such thing"....in talking with the breeders who produce "Snowcassos" it is simply a grade of the Picasso mutation...much like ORA simply calls them "A" and "B" grade. Unfortunately, I despise this made up grade name for one simple reason...if someone ever produces a hybrid of A. ocellaris "Snowflake" and A. percula "Picasso", what is the logical name you might want to give the hybrid?

At any rate, stick with the Onyx Percs if you ask me...they're a more natural form, but hey I'm biased (and I breed them - just killed my first batch in a while because I used a new product that hadn't been tested for greenwater use and wasn't manufactured for that purpose...poor guinea pigs...).

These days, Rod isn't selling his Onyx directly to hobbyists as far as I know, but Fritz down in the Twin Cities has been bringing batches of Rod's Onyx from time to time. You may also be able to get Onyx from a breeder named Mitch (goes by Booyah) who's based in Chicago....and he does thins thing where he'll take exchanges / returns on his Onyx if they don't get the color you want (as you may know, Onyx take up to 2-3 years to get their full adult coloration, which is why adults cost $100 each typically).

An online source? The Diver's Den occasionally has Onyx Pairs, and they go FAST when they have them. WetThumbFrags seems to have WC Onyx now and again...

FWIW,

Matt

Oh and Melissa, I didn't see a tank size, but I'll warn you that unlike Ocellaris, Onyx Percs can be very aggressive. If your tank is small, I wouldn't try adding in the second pair of clownfish without a backup plan. You might have to have a dedicated tank for each, or possibly use a tank divider. The NICE thing about A. percula and A. ocellaris is they don't require a lot of space...my Black Ocellaris pair spawns in a 6 gallon nanocube and rarely, if ever, ventures more than a couple inches from their tile and anemone.

well matt i do know you are absolutely right but they do get sold as snow cassos and yes they get different grades, based on unique markings. I am not interested in breeding and dont care personally if it is just a color breed. I like pretty fish. If i cared to breed it would not be clowns anyway. Boring like you said everyone has done it. Names make me laugh really, i just like what i like. In all honesty i have been waiting for you to chime in and tell everyone i am an idiot.

Ha no, not an idiot at all. Overall though, I really think breeders should worry about preserving natural biodiversity and worry about creating "guppified" versions of fish when we can't get WC broodstock any longer. That said, technically, the Picasso variation is a naturally occurring (albeit very rare) mutation. But I absolutely dislike the renaming of something as something else solely for marketing purposes. I don't know if the thread / source linked above was Woodstock's fish, but Woodstock is the one breeder I know still using the name. While I don't like the name, she's at least honest enough to say that yes, it is just a grade, they're still "Picasso" percs. OTHER breeders however, have tried to rename things like Picassos and Platinums and Nakeds and claim that in fact they are NOT the same and are unique....it serves to create artificial rarity and a possibility for an overinflated price as a result, all the while confusing uninformed hobbyists and breeders alike. People do take this strong stance as to be somewhat in line with an opposed view to the naming of coral frags, but in truth, they are wholely separate scenarios and cannot be compared - frags are genetic copies, baby fish are not

you are a very knowledgeable man.

Matt, thanks for all the information. I like the blacks better as well. Whatever happened to "purebred" fish.
Melissa

Oh I forgot to add that I have a 75 gallon tank. Still too small?

seafishinmn wrote:Matt, thanks for all the information. I like the blacks better as well. Whatever happened to "purebred" fish.
Melissa

I'm not sure what you mean about "purebred" fish Melissa? If you elaborate, I might have a good answer for ya?

Matt

Oh and probably, in a 75, you could get a pair of Ocellaris and a pair of Percula to coexist, especially if they had hosts on opposite ends of the tanks and some sort of visual barrier in between. But there are certainly no guarantees...

I think what melissa ment matt was what you already said.

I really think breeders should worry about preserving natural biodiversity

and as for putting a pair of perc's and Ocellaris in a 75 together like you advided is questionable, but putting 2 pairs of Ocellaris in a 75 I've done it and know of many that have done it with never having a problem. but then again mixing any type of Damsel fish in to smaller area can be questionable? most Damsels are little demons....that's just natural behavior.
my Blacks defend there area more if I'm working in the tank around there area then if another Ocellaris go in there area..LOL.

icereefer wrote:but putting 2 pairs of Ocellaris in a 75 I've done it and know of many that have done it with never having a problem.

It generally WORKS with Ocellaris...the problem is that A. percula is a more aggressive species. So putting A. percula in with A. ocellaris, you run the risk of the Perculas causing problems for the Ocellaris more than anything else. Starting with juvies and hitting the criteria I outlined above would maximize chances for success, but as always, I suggest having a backup plan.

FWIW, I kept a single A. allardi with 3-4 A. percula in a 24 gallon tank..it worked because NONE of the fish were mature. Things change once the fish hit reproductive age and start wanting to breed...they become much more aggressive.