hotelbravo
Active member
Is there a list of pictures of deformities to look for in clown fry so I can properly cull?
culling clown fry
- Thread starter hotelbravo
- Start date
ThRoewer
New member
In general try to match the body shape of wild collected clownfish of the same species (or group in case of hybrids).
I would look for these:
Skull deformations
1. foreshortened snout: cull depending on severity
2. upper lip too short (caused by bad water quality): cull depending on severity and increase water quality for the next batch
3. deformities of the operculum (gill covers): cull
Spine deformations:
1. missing spines/foreshortened body: cull
2. zig-zag spine: cull
3. missing or deformed fins: cull
You need to develop an eye for what looks right and what is off.
In general try to archive the highest quality possible or your reputation and sales will suffer in the long run.
Also try to find someone nearby who has predatory fish who you can give/sell the fish to be culled as feeder fish. That way they die the way they would have died in the wild and don't die for nothing.
I would look for these:
Skull deformations
1. foreshortened snout: cull depending on severity
2. upper lip too short (caused by bad water quality): cull depending on severity and increase water quality for the next batch
3. deformities of the operculum (gill covers): cull
Spine deformations:
1. missing spines/foreshortened body: cull
2. zig-zag spine: cull
3. missing or deformed fins: cull
You need to develop an eye for what looks right and what is off.
In general try to archive the highest quality possible or your reputation and sales will suffer in the long run.
Also try to find someone nearby who has predatory fish who you can give/sell the fish to be culled as feeder fish. That way they die the way they would have died in the wild and don't die for nothing.
Ginger bay
New member
Thank you for being conscientious and even asking the question. Besides improving husbandry (clownfish rearing skills), a way to reduce defects is avoiding inbreeding brother to sister (especially when the parents were inbred or mother to son). Most breeders have no idea what generation they're in or ignore it.
Ginger bay
New member
I believe Petco clownfishes are from ORA and/or SA.
hotelbravo
Active member
I like the idea of feeding the bad fry to something instead of useless killing... it makes me wonder about setting up a tank for a frogfish...
Ginger bay
New member
That's a great idea. Or maybe a lionfish or grouper.
hotelbravo
Active member
oh heck yea. i want a panther grouper. but i feel like the wife wouldnt agree with ANOTHER tank... im in the dog house over the 90 gallon build i just completed.
geckoejon
Active member
get a wartskin frog! they are awesome, and will take care of some fry. mine ate plenty of clowns. lol they were usually pink skunks, clarkii, or trouble makers though
don't just kill and waste the fry. you could also feed them to your nems. 
hotelbravo
Active member
Frogfish are so tempting... what size tank do these guys actually need
ThRoewer
New member
I don't know about the clownfish quality from Sustainable Aquatics, the only fish I have and have seen from them are Calloplesiops altivelis and those,look fine.
But I haven't seen a single ORA clownfish that didn't have some form of deformity or degeneration (and I'm not talking about the color pattern).
They may count on the masses being ignorant to this issue but in the long run I don't think ORA is doing themselves a service with bringing this kind of garbage to the stores.
As long as this quality issue persists I would rather not have clownfish than put one of their mutants into my tank.
hotelbravo
Active member
since this post I have been trying to research on my own these deformities but have had very little luck. I really wish there was a collection of pictures somewhere identifying each deformity.
I am building my breeding tanks very soon which will be a 6 foot long tank with 8 sections in it for separating fry. I do not want to begin trying to rear the fry until I know how to spot a bad fry. while I do not agree with your dislike for designers/hybrids I agree with you hate for deformities and I only want to supply perfect clowns
can you send me on any leads to help me with my search of deformity identification.
I tried just googling "clown fish deformity guides", I tried specifically searching things like "clown fish skull deformities foreshortened snout". no luck doing this
CoralsAddiction
Active member
One of the easier ways to do it, as it's done in dog breeding, is look how closely tank raised clowns conform to the wild caught ones...a.k.a. the breed standard. We want captive bred clowns to look like their wild caught counterparts in terms of body shape, right? So what better way to do it than keeping fish that look as close to the wild caught ones as possible. In other words, a major deviation from the standard equals culling. Having my Picasso clown next to my wild caught Onyx I can catch even some of the more subtle differences between the two. We must keep in mind that it's very hard, if not impossible, to duplicate what mother nature does. Thus some minor imperfections should be accepted.
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hotelbravo
Active member
that would be awesome!
hotelbravo
Active member
not likely one person but I bet if we get a base line for each species of clown as "perfect" we can then create sub pictures of every deformity we can find by searching threw pictures provided by fellow reefers on here or maybe just google searching clowns and trying to find ones that look off.
if I knew what I was looking for I would be able to help but I am so inexperienced and uneducated in the deformity section I would probably be counter productive in completing this project
ThRoewer
New member
Just take your camera (or smartphone) with you on the next trip to the fish store and take some pictures of the clowns they have there. If they have ORA clowns: Score!
ocellaris123
Active member
do you guys consider these 2 deformed??? top one seem to have a bigger forehead. bottom one seems to have an under bite..
I've been trying to locate some nice lightning maroon clowns
Top one has pinched head, bottom one has slight pinched head and underbite. Most cb maroons i've seen seem to have deformities.
