Australian Black Perc/Occ.?

[Fishfreak218]

Hey,
The LFS by me just got in a shipment from australia and they had a bunch of black clowns that also came from Australia. I remember hearing some talk about them a few months ago and was wondering, what is the typical price? Is it the same as with the ORA black's? Are they perculas or Occelaris? I got two, they were all pretty large although one is larger than the other.
Thanks for your time
-Josh

 

[USC-fan]

They are perculas and i was looking at ordering some online for $45 each plus $45 shipping.

 

[criccio]

They are black variant A. ocellaris, and yes, they are the same species as ORA's.

 

[phender]

Like Chris said, they are ocellaris.
Even though they are from Australia, (where these fish are found) they are most likely captive bred in Australia. FWIW: most of the CB black ocellaris I have see from Australia are very nice quality.

 

[Fishfreak218]

thanks for your info, just wondering if they were the same since these guys werent as black as the ORA ones and didnt have the orange noes but more of a white-ish brown/black nose.

 

[USC-fan]

Oh i had it backwards. I never have understand why some places label them Black Perc....

 

[Charger21_SD]

They may not be totaly black and white because they are still a juvinelle. I believe as they get older they become more black and less orangish at the nose. I see them run around 40-45$ usualy.

 

[GSMguy]

if they are from austrailia they could be wild caught as well.

 

[Fishfreak218]

These guys are large esp. for occelaris. I cant imagine an aquaculture place raising them to this size before selling.... These guys are 2"
usually I see the normal ORA's with a tiny bit of orange on the nose still but these guys have NO orange and their black is not as black as ORA's clowns. More of a black/dark brown then a jet black. I'll have to take pictures.

 

[phender]

The black/dark brown is a stress response. In a tank full of blacks about half of them will be brown until they get their own tank.
It is not as unusual as you think for private breeders to hold on to a lot of their fish. It takes a while to grow up enough hatches to fill a large order. In the mean time the older babies can get quite large. Many smaller scale breeders also seem to be able to grow their clowns a little faster than the big hatcheries.

If these were WC fish, the price would likely be in the hundreds of dollars a piece range.

 

[GSMguy]

salty critter was selling the wild caught B&W for 50 a peice

 

[phender]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10608391#post10608391 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GSMguy
salty critter was selling the wild caught B&W for 50 a peice

I don't know anything about the Salty Critter fish, but in other cases of "wild caught" black ocellaris, there has been a miscommunication between retailer and importer and they turned out to be CB fish from Australia. I know the wholesale price for the CB Australian B&Ws is $20-$24 depending on how many they buy, so the price of the Salty Critter fish sort of lines up with that.

 

[GSMguy]

true but salty is very honest and their prices are always much lower than usuall, and the fish were the largest CB ocellaris ever.

i mean these were triple the size of an ORA or one of rods CB clowns.

i made sure they checked there was no brown on any of them not one orange face and only one misbar. i really think they were WC

 

[phender]

That one misbar is very telling. Do you know how many misbars you see in a tank of 500 WC orange ocellaris. Usually zero.

I am not saying that they deliberately misrepresented anything. I am just saying that there isn't always great communication between the parties and sometimes people hear what they want to hear.

In the end, I have no proof, only similar circumstances. But, unless I saw a paper trail of collection/export permits, my money would be on CB.

 

[LargeAngels]

I agree with phender. Very unlikely they were wild caught.

 

[tpdpercula]

It could be the B&W Ocellaris or as in my case the "Black Percs" ordered ended up being Latz. That was a pleasent surprise!

 

[rbdesigns]

Where did you order them?

 

[shred5]

Live Aquaria just had a sale on the CB black and whites for 26.00 a piece from Australia. Picked up a few but had very bad luck with their shipping twice and only ended up with one. They are sold out now... They also have pairs in their diver den for 150.00

Marine depot has some of the CB B&W from Australia right now too. Coral Dynamics has them too but not from Australia. I just ordered one from Coral Dynamics so I have a pair.


Chances of getting a wild one are very slim... I know people who have been looking for one to help with the gene pool....

Another place they come from is England...

Premium Aquatics has ora ones sometimes if you give them a call ...


Dave

 

[zemuron114]

I get black and whites from Australia all the time. They are ALWAYS captive bred. You will never find a true wild caught black Ocellaris because they are ONLY found in Darwin which it is illegal to collect fish there (i believe the Black O's are protected) There is only one guy i believe over there that collects them when they need to replenish the breeding pair.

From what i've gathered, the ones from Australia are from the original brood stock of black ocellaris. Meaning the ones from england and ORA are from captive bred specimens from australia (so 2nd or 3rd generation maybe?) The ones i get in are usually all black and are about an inch long. I have never lost one in shipping or holding. They do awesome. I hear ORAs have a very bad reputation in the past 2 years or so.

Anyway, the aussie ones are more then england or ORA, but the quality is much better. Live aquaria is selling them for 26? are you sure they were Aussie? That is extremely cheap. I wholesale them for around there (a little higher actually!) Comparing live aquaria prices isn't exactly fair.. lol they have a special deal worked out with a wholesaler...

I love black clowns!

 

[Yinepu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10615261#post10615261 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zemuron114
Live aquaria is selling them for 26? are you sure they were Aussie? That is extremely cheap. I wholesale them for around there (a little higher actually!) Comparing live aquaria prices isn't exactly fair.. lol they have a special deal worked out with a wholesaler...

I love black clowns!

They were on sale. Their regular price is somewhere in the $40.'s if I remember right.