Neptune Aquatics

First fish - pair of clowns?

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WCKDVPR

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Hi All,

Our tank is cycling well (in the tank journal thread) and we are looking to get our first fish into TTM QT. I am new at this so something relatively easy to keep. Family is keen on a pair of clowns and someday something they will host in, if possible. From reading, getting more docile fish like the clowns would be a good place to start.

Thinking percula (or version thereof) or ocellaris. Thoughts on which may be easier to keep and more likely to host in something? Iffy on an anemone as at some point I don't want it roaming over the corals we will someday acquire.

Also, best place to get clowns - Derrick is out of fish for the next 6 months, so that is not an option. Neptune has a bunch of 1" or so standard ocellaris in one of their coral tanks. AC didn't have much last week (a few single designer clowns or mostly white ones, but nothing that would look to be paired up, other than black ones). Not looking for black or mostly white, though some variant of a typical percula/ocellaris (e.g. a bit more black) would be fine.

Thoughts/advice/input would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Best regards,
Mike
 
I would make up your fish list and introduce them least aggressive to most aggressive.

AC usually has some nice clownfish. I would wait till you find what you are looking for. Depending on how picky you want to be, sometimes their clownfish have the usual captive bred deformities (pinched head, flared gill plates etc).

Neptune gets clownfish from SA quite frequently as well. And I'm sure either place will order you whatever type you want.
 
Robin @fingerwrinkles has been raising clowns for quite some time now, I know another fellow member in Alameda raises them as well but can't recall his handle right now.
If I had to make a choice, I think this time around I'd get a pair of skunk clowns but that's a different story...
 
Derrick is the one in Alameda. The Rod's lineaged onyxes below are from him.

I agree with Vincent. Come up with a fish list first and then go from there, even though clowns, other than tomatoes and maroons, are usually pretty docile fish to start a tank with.

As for host, consider other alternatives other than anemones. Euphyllias and Sarcophytons are usually pretty good replacements for 'nems. In lieu of anemones, I use Euphyllias instead. One rainbow wall hammer placed next to a branching frogspawn to form a mass of tentacles that the clowns host in.

Hammer side
onyxes_in_euphyllias_050817.jpg



onyxes_in_euphyllias_041717.jpg
 
i had the problem of my nems moving all over the tank, so i simply isolated them all on an island. occasionally they move from the island onto the main rockwork, and when that happens ice and a kitchen knife come in handy
 
Ibn said:
Derrick is the one in Alameda. The Rod's lineaged onyxes below are from him.

I agree with Vincent. Come up with a fish list first and then go from there, even though clowns, other than tomatoes and maroons, are usually pretty docile fish to start a tank with.

As for host, consider other alternatives other than anemones. Euphyllias and Sarcophytons are usually pretty good replacements for 'nems. In lieu of anemones, I use Euphyllias instead. One rainbow wall hammer placed next to a branching frogspawn to form a mass of tentacles that the clowns host in.

Hammer side
onyxes_in_euphyllias_050817.jpg



onyxes_in_euphyllias_041717.jpg
Click to expand...

That's a pretty nifty idea! Did the clowns host in those right away?


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It took mine a bit less than 19 days to start using the Euphyllias as hosts.

This is them on day 1 when I first introduced them into the tank.
rods_onyxes_070816.jpg


19 days later in the frogspawn. I think they were in the day before, but I don't have a pic of that.
onyxes_lovespawn_072716.jpg


They did lose the nice black on their shoulders as they aged and started hosting an unnatural host though.

Black shoulders
onyxes_in_euphyllias_012417.jpg


3 months later.
onyxes_in_euphyllias_041717.jpg
 
Ibn said:
It took mine a bit less than 19 days to start using the Euphyllias as hosts.

This is them on day 1 when I first introduced them into the tank.
rods_onyxes_070816.jpg


19 days later in the frogspawn. I think they were in the day before, but I don't have a pic of that.
onyxes_lovespawn_072716.jpg
Click to expand...

If only....I have had my occellaris for over a year. Those percs or occellaris you got?
 
I am also very new to this, we've only had our tank for 5 months so I guess I can provide a "newbie" perspective. We purchased 2 clownfish, one Frostbite and one Wyoming White from Neptune and have had them in our tank for almost 2 months - they are doing fantastic and are so much fun to watch, I love having them in our tank. The frostbite is significantly larger than the Wyoming and they get along great. I would highly recommended adding a pair of clowns to your tank :) I think Bay Bridge Aquarium in Oakland currently has several varieties available.
 
HeatO said:
I am also very new to this, we've only had our tank for 5 months so I guess I can provide a "newbie" perspective. We purchased 2 clownfish, one Frostbite and one Wyoming White from Neptune and have had them in our tank for almost 2 months - they are doing fantastic and are so much fun to watch, I love having them in our tank. The frostbite is significantly larger than the Wyoming and they get along great. I would highly recommended adding a pair of clowns to your tank :) I think Bay Bridge Aquarium in Oakland currently has several varieties available.
Click to expand...
Just as an FYI, the larger one would be the female and the smaller one, the male.
 
I may have already mentioned this, IME, my ocellaris took 3y before they took up residence in the frogspawn. So, it may not be immediate. Probably hit or miss.


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Couldn't use size to sex mine at all. They were ~6 months when I got them from Derrick and I've had them for about 1 year now, putting them at 1.5 years old. They're about the same size and I couldn't use the size to distinguish male from female. I just go with the more aggressive one being the female, but they don't argue much if ever. They've also started to show early signs of prespawning with some pretty heavy cleaning about a month ago. Not much has happened since then.
 
Thanks All,

Our fish list includes pretty mellow variants of these: Wrasse, Basslet, Cardinalfish, Fire fish, Anthias, and then Fire Shrimp. Maybe a blue tang at some point just for Nemo's sake.

Hi Vincent, what is SA? Sustainable aquatics....found it.

Best regards,
Mike
 
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I forgot to mention that ours are currently living in a PVC pipe - we had this with them in the quarantine tank and didn't have the heart to take it away.
We are hoping they will get interested in the nearby anemone or Euphyllia....but I'm thinking we will have to take the tube away first?!
.
IMG-20170810-WA0003.jpg
 
Found SA to be sustainable aquatics. Wow, they have some very cool looking clowns - and they don't seem outrageously priced for a pair, though not $20 like a standard ocellaris. It looks like The Coral Reef TN sells SA's entire inventory. Has anyone ordered fish from them or would they have someone like Neptune order directly from SA and then pick the fish up at Neptune?

Right now, they will have some PVC in the QT and then get to deal with bare rocks to host in in the DT :)

Thanks!
 
If you get two juveniles, you will always end up with a male female pair. As the juveniles grow, they will both transition to a male and then from there, one of them will turn female.


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