ID my clown, please :)

AC-WEB

New member
I have a mated pair of clowns (with eggs in the pic). I know they are true percs, but I see a lot of black on them and was wondering if they would be considered Onyx or some other type. I've had the female for about 2+ years and the male for 1+ years.

Thanks!
 

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beautiful pair of clowns. great markings.
they could be considered onyx. they do have more black than most reg percs. but most people want onyx with atleast their dorsal fin totally black. i would consider them onyx. some wouldnt.
congrats on them laying. you considering raising the eggs?
 
beautiful pair of clowns. great markings.
they could be considered onyx. they do have more black than most reg percs. but most people want onyx with atleast their dorsal fin totally black. i would consider them onyx. some wouldnt.
congrats on them laying. you considering raising the eggs?

Thanks for the kind words. While they are laying, I am not currently looking at raising any of the fry. It's a tremendous amount of work, and i barely have time to keep up with the husbandry of my tank! :)
 
While they are very pretty, I would not call them onyx. Most folks that I know would only consider them onyx if they have black completely bridging all the white stripes. On yours the the black does not connect the 2nd and 3rd stripes. Some people take it a step further and wouldn't call them onyx unless they have (in addition to the compete black bridges) a black dorsal fin.
What complicates things a little further is that even the most complete onyx clowns may lose much of their black if housed with certain anemones and then gain it back if the anemone is changed.

This would be an onyx to all but the purest of onyx keepers (who say that the only clowns that can be truly called onyx must have C-Quest lineage because they first came up with the name)
picture.php
 
To add to what phender mentioned... in my opinion, these do have the potential to be Onyx clowns. A couple of questions for you. 1) Did you purchase these as Onyx clowns, or Solomon Island clowns? If you purchased them from the reputable dealer, they may know the lineage. 2) Do you notice the black filling in, or has it stopped? The reason I ask is because the black could feasibly fill in between the second and third stripes, and then I would consider them Onyx.

I am personally not tied to the C-Quest lineage for an Onyx to be an Onyx --as long as it's got the large percentage of black between all stripes I would consider it to be an Onyx. I've seen quite a few wild percs from the Solomon Islands that have a lot of black, including the dorsal fins, and I would call them wild Onyx clowns. This is similar to how I see zoas/palys that come in as wild colonies but look like "named" zoas/palys. Darth Mauls and Radiant Tangerines come to mind.

Regardless, I think you've got a beautiful pair of clowns, and if they've stopped changing, you may have stumbled across something some folks -- myself included -- may find to be more attractive than your standard Onyx clown.
 
Thanks for all of the great info. While my hunch was that these were not Onyx, they did have much more black that other percs that i had seen, which is why i decides to toss the question in this forum. I was also wondering if this type of perc had another type of name. My female's black has developed more and more, but i think it has reached its end. I bought these fish from fellow reefers and not my lfs.
 
Thanks for all of the great info. While my hunch was that these were not Onyx, they did have much more black that other percs that i had seen, which is why i decides to toss the question in this forum. I was also wondering if this type of perc had another type of name. My female's black has developed more and more, but i think it has reached its end. I bought these fish from fellow reefers and not my lfs.

I would call these Solomon Island percula, since many caught from this area have more black than your standard perc.

I stumbled across this while doing a search:
http://www.lonelyplanetimages.com/locations/pacific/solomon_islands/12621

preview.jpg
 
Those are gorgeous. I find them more attractive than "onyx"! I love the spot on the dorsal, without it seems like a much more bland perc.
 
Nice clowns, but I agree with most people here. They're just not black enough to be called Onyx. Either way, they're beautiful fish.
 
Another trick I figured out from a fellow reefer about what is onyx and what is a perc.

Percs like true percs and picasso's and others will loose their black hue in a bubble tip. Onyx won't.
I tried it and it worked for me. I have a rods onyx and a c-quest pair of jet black onyx's. ( basically the same clowns)
I had them in bubble tips for a few months and neither onyx lost any black at all. I seen dark Picasso and percs loose all their black and then taken from the bta, colored up.

I know it worked for my 2 pairs in rbta's. Anyone else have onyx in bta's and not loosing. Black?


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Another trick I figured out from a fellow reefer about what is onyx and what is a perc.

Percs like true percs and picasso's and others will loose their black hue in a bubble tip. Onyx won't.
I tried it and it worked for me. I have a rods onyx and a c-quest pair of jet black onyx's. ( basically the same clowns)
I had them in bubble tips for a few months and neither onyx lost any black at all. I seen dark Picasso and percs loose all their black and then taken from the bta, colored up.

I know it worked for my 2 pairs in rbta's. Anyone else have onyx in bta's and not loosing. Black?

Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

This is interesting, but also confusing to me. I thought Onyx clowns were simply Solomon Island percs that were bred to have the most black as possible, the most desirable ones having the black dorsal fin. In other words, Onyx clowns are simply a color morph or a true perc. Maybe it's the way you've written your post, but it seems to imply that Onyx clowns aren't percs.
 
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