a.k.a. The $30 Latz
a.k.a. The $30 Latz
Ahhhhh, the ruse is up. A friend dared me to post here to see your reactions... and I went for it, because honestly, just coming out and saying, "Hey guys, I got a hand-caught/tank-raised spawning female Latz that's been kept captive for the last 3 years for $30" makes me feel like a bit of a jerk. Okay, a lot of a jerk.
The story goes, basically, a member of the local reef club had an intensive breeding program he set up for his class but recently tore it down as he'd wasn't in it anymore/didn't have time for it. He was selling all his stock, in a post called "Clownfish Sale", which pretty-much gushed about how many Onyx/Darwin clowns he had, and at the bottom had "Latz Clown - $30", just discretely enough that I'm guessing nobody saw it/realised what it was. I got in contact with him, made sure the price was accurate knowing full-well their market value even here, and that it indeed was the infamous
Amphiprion latezonatus. Went to see it, it was nice and healthy, price was right, so I grabbed it. Apparently this is a female he'd been able to spawn quite a few times with (he had ~8 spawning females from memory), hand-collected outside of the Lord Howe Island region where there's heavy collection restriction. Also apparently raised from quite young in captivity. Eventually I want to see if I can get her a male through similar means, or try and pair her up with one of the similar "saddled" clowns (not for spawn, just company). It's also headed for my passive-stocked reef (primarily
Apogon spp.), although eventually I may set up a 'nem/softy tank for it.
It's been in my holding tank for the last 5 days, swimming around and interacting well, though still a little timid when I go near the tank for feedings. She's eating like a champ and already displaying better colouration (the tank is lit by naturally-occurring sunlight entering large west and north windows which makes it difficult to shoot). I had originally tossed up whether to get it, but now I'm glad I did in hindsight. It's a stunning fish. And that, my friends, is the story of how I came to own a $30 healthy female captive-raised Latz clown. I guess it's one of those situations where being in the right place at the right time pays off eh?
As for them being "a dime a dozen" here, not quite so much
Several reasons, first being that the area they're endemic has heavy collection restrictions, second being that there's no demand because they're not often seen, third they're expensive when they are seen, and fourth they by all accounts of most collectors here are really poor shippers. Prices still match or well exceed the ones you guys see over there, last one I saw was $600.
Once I get some better light for the holding tank and she's not so timid I'll try and get some better shots
can anybody help?
He did have a hard accent so I'm not sure. That said... irrespective of the finer details, it's indeed a Latz, it appears to be healthy, it's swimming around and seeming pretty happy, and it was unusually cheap so I cannot complain. It was actually cheaper than a juvi Pink Skunk I had a while back, and cheaper again than a Darwin I had before that.
