Black misbars already pairing?

[lancer99]

I bought the cutest two black misbars earlier this evening, and put them in my QT tank.

I've been keeping a close eye on them, and they have never been more than about 2" apart. One is about 1", the other slightly larger.

At first I thought it was distress and needing company, but now (3 hours later) they seem to be both a bit agressive towards each other, and the smaller is occasionally doing the shimmy/epileptic seizure thing.

Is it possible, now that they've been away from tankmates in the LFS, that they are already pairing up?

Thx,
-R

 

[reefman13]

Yeah. Especially with tank bred clowns. They tend to pair up faster because they are much less stressed with the transition from the ocean to a tank, where as, tank breds, have never seen an ocean in their lives.

 

[lancer99]

Wow reefman, that is great to hear, thx!

They are ORA clowns.....

I tried to give them a little privacy, but it's hard not to watch

The little one stays pretty much in the same place, but the bigger one moves farther and farther away, up to about 5"....usually it (she?) just goes back to the littler one, but once she literally pushed him, and once she seemed to suck on his fins.

This is the first time I've had more than one clown, and it's fascinating!

-R

 

[JamesJR]

clownfish in general mature very quickly and most tank bred clowns are under a year old when you get them, which is about old enough for them to pair up.

 

[lancer99]

Already posted these pics in another thread, but they are too cute not to post here too

I gave them a bit of chopped shrimp...they chowed down...then some flake food as a test...they chowed down again...TR is the way to go!

I have always been more of a "coral" guy than a "fish" guy, but these clowns are waaaay cool....

I am going to try to be patient and leave them in QT for a month, but....being as they are ORA clowns and from a stellar LFS that never has diseased fish (at least not that I've seen), would it be a really bad idea to let them loose in my 75G (no other fish, an LTA that I hope they'll like) sooner?

-R

 

[traveller7]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11804519#post11804519 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lancer99
I am going to try to be patient and leave them in QT for a month, but....being as they are ORA clowns and from a stellar LFS that never has diseased fish (at least not that I've seen), would it be a really bad idea to let them loose in my 75G (no other fish, an LTA that I hope they'll like) sooner?

Give the fish the full QT cycle and allow that LTA to settle into a predictable pattern during the QT process. All of them will be better for it.

 

[lancer99]

I knew someone would confirm what I already knew, but was trying to deny to myself

Thx traveller, will do as you advise.

-R

 

[garygb]

Beautiful ocellaris there. Maybe you should breed them when they grow up. It's a lot of trouble, but that pair would make for some highly sought after offspring.

 

[lancer99]

I will leave the breeding to ORA...these are the first fish that I've deliberately bought tank-bred, and they are superb....ORA (as well as my almost-LFS, Blue Ribbon Koi) deserve major props for putting out such a good product.

"Product?" Hell, that sounds so dismissive. I love these little guys.

-R

 

[adtravels]

nice pair I have one almost the same but with a bit less white on the middle bar, I was however a little miffed to find out that the misbarring is a result of poor water quality during grow out and not breeding skill

 

[tedr]

Adtravels, Where did you hear/read that misbars are the result of poor water quality?

 

[lancer99]

Misbars could *possibly* be the result of some chromosomal defect caused by inter-breeding, but to think they might be caused by poor water quality just shows an ignorance of basic genetics.

-R

 

[traveller7]

Bars are a product of genetics and environment(water, diet, etc), by products of "enable" vs "disable" barring.

 

[lancer99]

Okay, I don't get it...and am by no means an expert on genomes vs phenomes...are you saying that misbars would never be expressed in nature?

I love these little guys, but might love them a little less if they are some kind of inbred cripples.

-R

 

[traveller7]

Misbarring appears in nature, although uncommon. Keep in mind only a few larvae at best make it to maturity so the odds are against all of them. Factor in a slight visual difference and the odds may increase for a number of reasons.

I would not class your fish as "inbred cripples". In fact, if you provide them proper diet, had them breed, provided larvae best conditions, you would likely find misbars, holotype bars, and a mix of bars.