What Fancy Clown fish are found in the Ocean?
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Main
Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Description: Posts that don't fit in any of the other categories.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=83150
Printed Date: May 13 2025 at 6:42am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: What Fancy Clown fish are found in the Ocean?
Posted By: larseb
Subject: What Fancy Clown fish are found in the Ocean?
Date Posted: September 12 2017 at 8:11pm
| I did a quick google search and didn't find much of an answer. Does anyone know if there are and what types of fancy clown fish naturally occur in the ocean? |
Replies:
Posted By: Reefboy4life
Date Posted: September 12 2017 at 8:48pm
|
Very interesting question, I would like to know as well! ------------- 90 gallon mixed reef |
Posted By: Marcoss
Date Posted: September 12 2017 at 9:20pm
|
I read after seeing your post. It appears the common clownfish is a Amphiprion Ocellaris, what we normally see as orange. I suspect in the wild that one can turn more dark/black and bred with another, giving birth to different looking clowns. I think the research would need to be done on the ORA/Proaquatix/Sustainable Aquatics/Etc. level. I would be curious to see what they started with. I think that most original breeders found some funky ones in the wild and then started to breed them until they got what they wanted. Just selectively- like breeding dogs. ------------- RedSea Max S400 - 90G Rimless Frag Tanks x2 - 185 Lookdown Bin |
Posted By: larseb
Date Posted: September 12 2017 at 9:29pm
| Interesting, I feel like I have read and heard that a lighting maroon was found in the ocean and brought into captivity. Then a breeder was able to expose the gene more fully after a couple of generations. I am curious if this was similar with other fancy clownfish. Maybe Ill do a little more digging. I always assumed that most of the fish were "man made", but I realized I never really asked if they were or not. |
Posted By: Marcoss
Date Posted: September 12 2017 at 9:44pm
|
Maybe they did! I was only saying what I quickly researched. I have no idea though and honestly never thought of it. I'm curious now. You've sparked my curiosity. ------------- RedSea Max S400 - 90G Rimless Frag Tanks x2 - 185 Lookdown Bin |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: September 13 2017 at 12:12am
|
I'll take a stab at this. In the wild there are many marine fish with color markings outside the norm. For example, do a google image search of "white yellow tang". Fascinating color morphs can be seen. 10 years ago, a LFS here in St. George had a Yellow Tang with white markings. It was in their ~400 gal display tank for quite a few years. Unfortunately, that store was sold and has since folded. I agree with Marcos. There is no doubt that interesting color morphs of many types of Clownfish have been collected over the years, but not until the development of reliable large scale breeding could anything be done with those rare morphs. In the wild, less than 1% of clownfish eggs reach adult. That's a lot of color morphs that went unseen. On the other hand, with captive bred clownfish survivability near 95% these days, the breeders get to play with selectively breeding a lot of different color morphs. With regard to Lightning Maroon Clownfish here is the https://www.bluezooaquatics.com/resources.asp?show=416" rel="nofollow - story of the wild Lightning Maroon collected off Papua New Guinea in 2010 . (There was one collected in 2008 but that's a shorter story with a sad ending.) Also see pics here: https://reefbuilders.com/2010/03/30/lightning-maroon-clownfish-from-blue-zoo-aquatics-will-be-entrusted-to-an-accomplished-fishbreeder/" rel="nofollow - https://reefbuilders.com/2010/03/30/lightning-maroon-clownfish-from-blue-zoo-aquatics-will-be-entrusted-to-an-accomplished-fishbreeder/ Since then I believe there have been several dozen generations and some of the Lightning Maroon offered today are even sweeter than the original. Did you know that out of each batch from a pair of Lightning Maroon Clownfish, only about 20%(?) of offspring have the lightning markings. The rest all look like normal Maroon Clownfish. I believe the reason is genetic. Shaun Sabey is our local breeder/expert. Maybe he will chime in here. Aloha, Mark  P.S. One more link, from 2012, for all clownfish aficionados where breeder Matt Pederson clarifies a few things: http://www.lightning-maroon-clownfish.com/?p=1602" rel="nofollow - http://www.lightning-maroon-clownfish.com/?p=1602 ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
|
Posted By: Hogie
Date Posted: September 13 2017 at 10:52am
|
Sustainable Aquatics has a poster that shows what wild caught clowns/percs they start with and then what type they breed with each other to get the different morphs. Do a search for SA Clownfish Poster. |
Posted By: knowen87
Date Posted: September 13 2017 at 11:38am
|
Piccasos came from a wild caught true perc from the solomon islands I beleve. Here is a picture of ORA's original wild caught picasso the Picasso percula clownfish. Originating from a single wild caught fish in 2004, ORA began working to replicate the bizarre and swirled stripe patterns and bring them into commercial production
 |
Posted By: knowen87
Date Posted: September 13 2017 at 11:40am
| I dont think that there is a place in the world that you can see designer clowns as the dominant pattern of clownfish. I am pretty sure most of them are a rare/random color variation that someone was able to breed into mass production. |