Aandtsociety clown fish collecting trip in late april

[Saltliquid]

Another great trip and an equally beautiful day.

This time a few clowns were the order of the day.

Firstly the (perideraion) pink clowns, we call them skunk clowns, were not originally noticed as there colours blend in so well with in the large bubble anemones that they prefer to inhabit, so they were the last ones noticed,they were in around 35 feet.

The brown clowns were from a group of around 12 all up, as they don’t seem to mind living in large communities, so just a few akindynos were taken,they were in around 18 feet deep.

Down a little deeper in 38 feet of water was a young couple of latezonatus clowns, luckily not to bright for latz,as they can be classed as a hard clown fish to catch in that they will run from there anemone to allude capture and you only have so long on a breath to catch them once you have lined them up.

Luckily they normally use the same ways to avoid you, which can make it easy for capture with some practise.

The large bubble anemones were 24 to 30 inches across and had a few pairs of porcelain crabs living at their bases, but they were not wanted so they were left, still nice to see them though.

One unusual bubble was,what seemed like a combo of the maroon clown bubble,orange/red,in colour,we see a few of these and the very pretty green bubble variety as well.

This one had orange bubbles and very bright green tips with red lines running up and down each bubble,you could see it as far away as the water was clear enough to see,that one will be remembered,hopefully it will be still there next time to see and find who has made it there new home for us to either look at or catch.

Trying to pin down most of the clubbies to get some pics of collected species is very hard,this is all i could get from them.

The latz went to Kits tank,shes quarantining them for a while before they go into the big tank.
They have such a lovely nature the latz,there is rarely a single problem with them in a comunity tank.

One of the akindynus and the little olivaceous from another trip went to another clubbies tank.

The pinks went to Shanes tank and on and on.

 

[Mikes_aquatics]

where did u go to get the clowns? just wondering

 

[Saltliquid]

clowns

clowns

we collect in moreton bay marine park and the gold coast and sundhine coast.

This a link to our water sports section,just click on the two regs threads,they say what we can and can't do.
http://southeastqueenslanda.aforumf...ium-species-collecting-and-local-sea-life-f5/

These clowns are found in most areas around here.

The most common is the akindynos and than the latezonatus.

I haven't put this video out there yet,but check it out,i won't say where this is any one could easily get them if they knew,but it is a dump of a spot and there are still heaps around there.

 

[criccio]

Great pics of the latz. Is there a certain time of the year when collecting them becomes to difficult?

 

[Saltliquid]

clowns

clowns

There are a few annoying attributes to the latezonatus, the first is they require reasonably hard water and also cool stable temps.
They virtually begin to die at 26 and up degrees temp,that’s why we rarely find them in water shallower than 40 feet, we do know a few spots, but it is not common for them to be in that shallow of depth.
When we catch these, especially in winter they tend to get bent quite easily, there swim bladder as with most marine specie is not able to be expelled quickly in the cold conditions.
They are a very smart amphiprion, when you try to catch one you find that out quickly as they will leave there anemone in the blink of an eye.
When I used to collect with some commercial guys we would target these in mostly 60 to 100 feet of water and hang them off the side of the boat in 15 to 20ish deep for ages to decompress them.
If you do not deco them correctly they will live no worries, but they get a bubble behind there eye or eyes and it will look like pop eye and the eye more and more will extend so far the nerve cord will stretch until the nerve dies and they gradually lose that eye.
I have had them live quite well with one eye; I could never flush a lat, they have so much intelligence I would feel to guilty.
They have one annoying habit they like to jump out of the tank and get fluffy on the carpet and dry out.
These fish are probably one of the best to keep in an aquarium for every reason, they are not aggressive, they will eat all foods and do not mind if there is no anemone, in fact most of the ones I have had do not use it if even if one is present.
We know two guys that breed them with some success, but they are for the endemic over seas market.
One of the guys used to breed his in something similar to bath tubs in the ground in near natural sunlight with the algae going made in there, why that works I have no idea, the PH as the algae begins its nightly ritual most drop and they detest soft water??.
When you are on scuba you can sit there even with the bubbles produced and they will eventually totally except that you are there, as long as you are not above them, they will come and check you out, I have had the feed from my hand on some Cunjivoe.
There is a spot in about 110 feet of water a dive operator that knows these waters far better than any one showed us once and very few people know of this little reef and they are like flies there, we might go there once a year to have a look, shame my camera only works to 40 feet.

Hands down the best of all amphiprions for me.

 

[criccio]

What great insight liquidg. I have kept latz for many years (check my gallery), and one of the prevailing problems the few hobbiests that used to keep them had was that they would go blind, for no known reason. It sounds like you may have just supplied an explanation for this. As for jumping, tell me about it, I hear mine splashing every night. They are a great clown species to keep, mine actually eat right from my fingers.

Have you ever had a chance to see A. mccullochi, and ever beyond the protected waters of Lord Howe?

 

[Saltliquid]

yes

yes

Not many,i have caught three in my thirty years collecting,but there are spots where they can be found out here.

They won't see them in the shops here,the wholesaler in hong kong used to get all of the ones i had someting to do with back than.

(He would be always calling the guys about conspicts,lats,pineapples as such,i haven't seen a conspict for 4 years now,we are due for another big year soon i hope,it would be good to see some in the clubbies tanks.)Nice natured fish!

The europe market gets the small amount found here normally.
It is a shame the ballina is not allowed to be collected,a pro fisherman we know found a community of them in only 80 feet if water,i think they are an ugly fish though!

There used to be a pair of those clowns i would see for a long time after i did not have any thing to do with the commercial side of things years ago.

I haven,t been out there for near on ten years now and they were always there,the last time there was a youngster in the anemone cluster as well.

The chances of someome finding them is near to none,good breeders for the area.

 

[yardboy]

Re: Aandtsociety clown fish collecting trip in late april

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15187263#post15187263 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by liquidg
....Firstly the (perideraion) pink clowns, we call them skunk clowns, were not originally noticed as there colours blend in so well with in the large bubble anemones that they prefer to inhabit, so they were the last ones noticed,they were in around 35 feet.....

I find this interesting because in another place (Moalboal Philippines), the pink skunk clowns were in exclusive residence of sebae anemones (Heractis crispa). I wondered at the time if things were different in different places.
By the same token, yet another place (Siquijor Island, Phils) bubbletips were the exclusive residence of tomato clowns. I saw dozens if not hundreds of BTA's, red and green, and all with tomatos in residence.

 

[yardboy]

Re: Aandtsociety clown fish collecting trip in late april

At least I think they were tomatos

 

[Saltliquid]

Re: Re: Aandtsociety clown fish collecting trip in late april

Re: Re: Aandtsociety clown fish collecting trip in late april

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15238116#post15238116 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yardboy
At least I think they were tomatos

Nice pics,the clowns there are the frenatus variety,you see the name tomatoe clown or melanopus used quite often as a description for any of the red ones these days.

I like the frenatus clowns,they tend to hold there colour normally for a long time.

Its like the ocelaris or perculas,over here they will put on a tank in the shop,true percula and it is the combination of the black ocelaris and standard.

The actual percula is easy to recognise!

Since they found the first community of the black ocelaris in a carpet anemone on the sand up north,back when i had only been marine keeping for a few years,they have mixed with the orange ocelaris since than.

The only true way to tell whats what is to check on the amount of bones in the dorsal fins.

All clowns seem to prefer the bubble(bubble tip) anemones from what we see,i suppose it is because the radianthus(common anemone)has a weak sting and shorter tips and doesn't offer them a lot of protection from predators!

You see a few clowns in carpets,the predators don't like those nasties.

 

[criccio]

Since they found the first community of the black ocelaris in a carpet anemone on the sand up north,back when i had only been marine keeping for a few years,they have mixed with the orange ocelaris since than.

Are you saying someone let orange ocellaris go at Darwin?