IYHO What's the best Clown Fish Species & Why?

[Mich]

I've been wanting to get a good consensus on this for a while and it seems like this forum could provide a good opportunity for this.

 

Personally, I'm most partial to Maroon Clowns (Premnas biaculeatus). Large size, strong sexual dimorphism, blood red eyes, and they have this wonderfully aggressive, territorial, cichlid esque quality that just makes them so fun to observe.

[L8 2 RISE]

Black & White clowns.... They can be kept in any tank, they look like a normal clown, just black instead of red, so when people that aren't into reefing see one they know its a clown, but it's cooler than a boring old clown... It would be a maroon clown, but those have to be kept in aggresive tanks, etc. Plus I don't like the idea of reaching into my tank and having my finger bitten off by a fish...

[lanman]

I'd say maroon clowns with yellow stripes. But I have to agree with L8 - - getting your finger bit every time you try to re-arrange a frag can be rather unpleasant.

 

bob

[dbartco]

Easy, Captive Bred. Other than that, what's your pleasure...

[treesprite]

I like perculas because compared to my tomato clown pair (diff tank) my percula is veryu sweet and perky and cute, and rather than run from him it seems the other fish like to play with him.

[jason the filter freak]

I like my maroon gold stripes: get bigger, more vibrant color, seem to be more people interactivehan the perculas that I've had experience with, but can be aggressive in some cases (mine aren't at all)

 

imho: stay away from snow cap, picassos, gucci clowns etc. just not worth the money at all, unless you have the money to blow, then it's still questionable

[dshnarw]

Allardi and Oman.

 

I like weirdos.

[dbartco]

Allardi and Oman.

 

I like weirdos.

 

 

then why not McCulloch's

 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemD...&ddid=57793

[dshnarw]

then why not McCulloch's

 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemD...&ddid=57793

 

They're nice, but I like the color on the others better. But if you buy them, I'm willing to "hold them" in my tank for you

[sen5241b]

I've been bit by a clown many times and never been hurt. The may surprise you but they won't draw blood.

[mogurnda]

I have always been fond of the plain old wild-type ocellaris nemo fish. I also really like peanut butter sandwiches.

 

Other clownfish species are cool too. As are other kinds of sandwich.

[L8 2 RISE]

I've been bit by a clown many times and never been hurt. The may surprise you but they won't draw blood.

 

what type of clowns? I know that adult maroons will 100% draw blood if they're angry... my baby fire clowns "bite"me all the time but it doesn't usually hurt, when they get older however, I will definetly be scared of them...

[Amuze]

I've been bit by a clown many times and never been hurt. The may surprise you but they won't draw blood.

 

wanna come put your hand in my tank?

[GaryL]

i liked my clarkii but they didnt have the body movement my black and white ocellaris have and a better disposition as the female clarkii was aggressive....at least in my tank

 

 

 

and i have heard stories of many types of clowns drawing blood.

Edited April 8, 2009 by GaryL

[traveller7]

Owned species in most, if not all clown complexes over the years, tough question.

 

My favorites fall into the difficult to obtain range though, A. nigripes and A. chrysogaster.

 

Nigripes is a durable "small" species once fully conditioned. It is available in a bright orange variant which tends to lose its shy nature as it matures. Nigripes is quite aggressive so it will hold its own defending its anemone and tank space. Yes, these little guys draw blood as well. Unfortunately, they tend to be horrible shippers :( Don't think any of the skunks are personality replacements for Nigripes.

 

Chrysogaster is in the Clarkii complex, get quite large, but tend to be fairly mellow. Never had any of mine become aggressive with other fish outside of other clowns. They have wiped out many decorative shrimp though ;>) They also call all sorts of anemones home, spend time watching you watching them, very nice overall. Allardi would be my more commonly available alternative to Gasters.

[traveller7]

I did have a few maroon pairs over the year and two of them are in the hands of locals somewhere, my only disappointment with them is the tendency for them to lose the stripes as they age over the years. If the females kept those beautiful stripes, they would be 10

[ctenophore]

Allardi and Oman.

 

I like weirdos.

Are A. omanensis available anywhere in the US? I heard they are illegal to export from Oman but that there are breeding pairs in captivity. I think they're really pretty and would like to get them someday.

[traveller7]

I am not aware of any confirmed Oman's in the US.

 

There are rumors of some collected from nearby waters outside the control of the Sultan. I have not seen these rumored specimens available to the US either. History of illegally collected and early captive bred MCC's would seem to indicate you'll have to go to Tokyo to buy the "Unobtainium" level specimens.

[Mich]

A lot of great feed back; I found a couple of polls on this subject on some other forum's threads.

 

http://www.rareclownfish.com/forums/f29/yo...-clownfish-147/

 

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f181/wha...est-107187.html

 

Does anyone know if wamas has a polling capability? and why does the true percula seem to rack up so many points? Do you think it's getting extra points from people with the intention of voting for occelaris?

[traveller7]

[quote name='Mich

[ctenophore]

I thought the difference between percula and ocellaris was simply the number of dorsal spines?

[traveller7]

I thought the difference between percula and ocellaris was simply the number of dorsal spines?

Physically, yes.

 

Coloration is not always a high percentage guide between available A. percula and A. ocellaris. Only at the extremes does it add value.

 

Ocellaris is more commonly imported in an orange coloration with limited dark banding, wholesale, shipping costs more then the fish itself.

 

Percula out of PNG and SI tend to to be orange and have increased black coloration, even toward levels folks call "onyx". These guys are frequently called "true" perculas.

 

You can find ocellaris with lots of black, Darwin Australian origin, and you can find percula with little black throughout their range.

 

Compare an similar color pattern percula and ocellaris and 99% of the folks wont have a clue. Then spine counting, eye rings, size, etc., come into play when making an ID.

[Mich]

Physically, yes.

 

Coloration is not always a high percentage guide between available A. percula and A. ocellaris. Only at the extremes does it add value.

 

Ocellaris is more commonly imported in an orange coloration with limited dark banding, wholesale, shipping costs more then the fish itself.

 

Percula out of PNG and SI tend to to be orange and have increased black coloration, even toward levels folks call "onyx". These guys are frequently called "true" perculas.

 

You can find ocellaris with lots of black, Darwin Australian origin, and you can find percula with little black throughout their range.

 

Compare an similar color pattern percula and ocellaris and 99% of the folks wont have a clue. Then spine counting, eye rings, size, etc., come into play when making an ID.

 

So, are you saying that people's tendency to be more partial toward A. percula tends to be based more on the aesthetic apearance of those specimens which are more commonly available in the US hobby, and not so much the aspects that make them recognizable as distinct species (which I infer is very little)? Does that really count as a species prefference? It seems like hobbyists tend to typify species based more on how they are than what they are...

 

As far as appearance alone goes; I've always liked the more ubiquitous captive occellaris pattern. However, I still dislike how it can be percieved as generic; 'the Mickey Mouse of the Sea'. Although, I find that the majority of my friends are not in the hobby, and have a tendency to be more taken with a nemo esque clown than they are with specimens of the clarkii or tomato type complexes. Probably another one-up to the maroon in my mind, is that it still has a enough of those generic clown physical characteristics that they sort of remeble big, evil, dark red occelaris. People will often check out my maroons and say, "hey! is that Nemo", but then after a moment it occurs to them that they're looking at Nemo's darkside. I really hope that if Pixar makes a sequel to the film that they design a P. biaculeatus character to play the bad guy.

[traveller7]

[quote name='Mich

[Mich]

If you poll the reefing, rare clown, less experienced clown breeding community, A. percula in a pattern toward Onyx will win every time. Such a trend has leaned toward "picasso" and "snowflake" in recent years, but Onyx still seems to command the greater demand.

 

At the end of the day, more A. ocellaris in the common color pattern are sold, imported, bred, then all the other clowns combined. If you are looking for volume, the buyers have spoken

 

I Definitely agree. I worked at Petco in college and my experiences there definately reflect this. I myself have probably been affected subconciously in some ways as well, as I can't really explain my fondness for "the pattern" .

 

I'm wondering though, if maybe these polls should have divided percula up into, onyx, picasso, and the like. Or, just made categories for the color phases themselves without being species specific. If one can breed black and white occellaris, then it stands to reason that that A. occellaris individuals with the right type of abberation could be selectively bred to yeild equal variants of the designer percula strains. It seems like A. percula is aggregating an unfair number of votes since people are voting for five clowns in one. But, then again maybe that's the appeal of the species?

 

Does anyone know if WAMAS can do polls? I'd really like to see an exclusively DC sampling on clown popularity.