Breeding Clowns

[herpchat]

OK I did a google search "Breeding Clownfish" and was appauled by what I saw.

I read the first article then the second (it was the same as the first), then the third (same as first), then the fourth (exact same wording) and then the fifth and sixth yet the wording was the exact same with virtually no difference. Each article had a different persons name on it.

Now I am not a mathmatician but I know if I give the students a topic to write about they will never use the exact same phrases unless they cheated.

You can do the same thing by putting that phrase into google and seeing what I mean.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Oh, definitely. It's a horrible habit that much of our students and anectdotal scientists have. No citations. Plagerism. And so on. This is why prior knowledge of credibility is so important when researching online. Gerald, it's obvious that you realize that something is wrong here. I'm not saying you don't know. But there are many people that google something, read the first link, and call it gospel.

 

[herpchat]

Not a chance of me doing that.

Yes I like google best but when I am researching I compare multiple sites, on a typical species lookup I will compare 10 sites and that will determine if I need to dig deeper.

My concern was that my clownfish pair the larger one started turning black and was acting funny and is now cleaning things. I thought this behavior odd and my friend told me they were preparing to breed.

Tis why I did the google search to see.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

The cleaning of things is about right, but the color change isn't necessarily an indicator here. What species are these? A. ocellaris?

 

[herpchat]

Yup, they are ocellaris.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Approximately how old are they? They just might be coming out of a juvenile form and into adulthood

 

[herpchat]

I have no clue how old they are. I bought them from my local petshop at 1.25 inches and they are growing.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Sounds like you got them when they were juveniles. Most likely the color is changing to their adult form. For example, Amphiprion ocellaris var Black are all born orange and as they grow, they will eventually turn completely black. Of course, this isn't a Black and White issue (Ha! I crack myself up!) There could be a chance that your clownfish are just going to be partially black.

Also, were they 1.25" from tip of mouth to base of tail, or 1.25" from tip of mouth to end of Caudal Fin? Are you positive that they are A. ocellaris? Usually at that age if they are going to have black in adult form, they should have far more of it. A. percula will tend to get a fair amount of black in them at about that size. I'm not trying to doubt you. It could be either or at the moment. Do you have a clear picture of them with their Doral Spines in good focus? I guess you could count them yourself. A. percula has 9-10 spines while A. ocellaris has 10-11. There are also other features, but that is the most predominant.

 

[herpchat]

OK here goes;

I bought them as "True Percula Clowns" A. occelaris (yeah the person that makes the tags was a moron. They look like occelaris to me. The darker one is elongating while the other one retains the stocky body. While elongating it swims funny, sort of like a tail dragger (swim bladder problem). I have tried taking pics but I have not got a good one yet.