How are clownfish graded?

[jerseyhokie]

Did a quick search on clownfish grading. got a ton of hits mostly on picasso clowns with a specie specific explanation. Can all clownfish be graded and if so what are the grades and what characteristics are asscoiated with the cut offs. Are they all specie specific?

 

[elegance coral]

The only real grading is with Picasso and Snowflake clowns. I guess you could call "misbar" a type of grading?????? There probably should be an industry standard to grade all captive bred clowns. Maybe a point system. Skull formation gets so many points. Muscle mass, body proportions, color, pattern....... they could all be worth X number of points. The problem is that we would never get people to agree if a particular fish should get 3 points for skull formation or 4. Unfortunately I don't think we will ever have a reliable way to grade clowns.

 

[bues0022]

EC - go ahead and make one, but make it simple so there's no fussing. Maybe some type of binary system? There can't be a sliding scale for a deformed head - either 1 or 0. extra vertebrae, 1 or 0. You could have different body parts have a different value. You just couldn't have a scale like 5 pts for no deformation, 4 for slight, 3 for moderate, 2 for moderate/severe, 1 for severe, and 0 for missing or gross deformation. That's where you end up with problems. I think if you put some time and thought into making it objective and not subjective you could be on to something.

Just thought of something - the grading scale has to be based off of something, so I'm assuming that basis would be a "perfect" fish. Any asymmetries that sometimes makes a clown aesthetically pleasing could actually lower the scale. Think of how a big buck is scaled. Perfect=high score, but if it has a drop-time, scoring goes down even though it looks really cool IMO.

 

[jerseyhokie]

So saying grade B clowns has little meaning except to the grader? Why even use the system then?

 

[bues0022]

It's not quite as bleak as EC sounded. The only clownfish that are graded would be a picasso or a snowflake clown. You will not find a "grade B" maroon clownfish, unless the store is maybe trying to drum up sales by creating a false sense of quality. The grading essentially has to do with the connectivity of the white bars. More connectivity=higher grading="smaller" letter. Some people have slightly different ideas on what differentiates a grade A from grade B. It would be easy if clowns came out like cookie cutters, but since it's a big gray scale the exact threshold between the letters gets a bit fuzzy. Despite a "better" grading, some dislike grade A's and prefer B's. All grading aside, get what you find cool looking, and can afford. If spending $150 for an odd-patterned picasso clown seems crazy to you, then don't. If you like it enough to spend the money, the go for it.