Inland Aquatics 'SI Black' or 'Onyx' Clown Pics?

[DeathWish302]

Anyone have any pics for Inland Aquatics 'SI Black' or 'Onyx' percs? Any experience with these clowns would be appreciated as I'm trying to decide the best broodstock between Booyah, IA & Rod's. I've heard some rumors about Rod's and Booyah's Onyx clowns ahve deformities and would really prefer perfect body strcuture over 'perfect' coloration.

Thanks

 

[kerusso316]

Any time you bread Onyx (Bills fish)you are going to get deformities.The LINE of fish has been around for 25 generations now.There are an extreamly large amount of perfect fish.I do not kill my fish.I separate the perfect from the (not so perfect).I feel like if I raised them, I should not kill them.This is a practice that is VERY popular with people who dont want to spend alot for Onyx.By the way, a few Inland Aquatics spawners can from the same fish as Rods and Booyahs.Most of there spawners are Rods babies.So you will see the same amount of deformities.I would suggest you look for broodstock on a (Fish by Fish) basis,instead of breeder by breeder. One way to lesson the affect of line breading is to find a UP line female (1997) and a downline male (2008)..While keeping in the same line.I hope this helps.Mitch

 

[DeathWish302]

Thanks Mitch! It sounding more and more like the Onyx gene pool is quite small when considering commercial broodstock. No problem with keeping every fish, I'm not a culling type myself unless it affects quality of life. I'm just looking for the best fish to begin a breeding program with. I'm not looking to make tons of $$$ (I'll sell every fish for $10 if I have to). I just enjoy the challenge of breeding and know good parental genes of different families is the best start to a viable program. Maybe I'll venture up to Rod's this fall when I'm home (NE Indiana) and see what he has for older juvies that aren't 1/4"-1/2" and the form of the fish is more apparent. These mail-order tiny juvies are not for me when picking my soon to be parents.

 

[DeathWish302]

Hey Mitch-

I've been doing a little more homework (I don't know how you deal with idiots from other nano reef sites-christosclowns). I've sent you a PM to further our discussion.

Thanks!

 

[ezhoops]

DeathWish,
I agree with Mitch and I am have a similar situation when trying to get a quality pair. As stated above most clowns in general are overbreed and paired off. The large companies do this alot. To me its very obivious when LA sells a pair of picasso's and they look almost identical (gee I wonder if they had the same parents :worried But for the most part the typical reefer is more concerned with looks and not breeding and so it doesn't matter to them.
It should also be noted that if you chose to purchase from IA keep in mind that their breeders have been bred long and hard and may stop when moved and may not begin again. They usually only sells breeding pairs that they've got their money's worth out of.

I've chosen to match up a pair from Juv's and singly. That is pretty much the best bet of getting a different line. But again with the gene pool being so limited their still is a good chance of having a sibling or at least same parent pair.

Eric

 

[Christo'sClowns]

Mitch is absolutely right i thought different at one point i was always under the assupmtion that it came from bad water quality and not genetics but mitch did prove to me that was not correct. I have raised them in great water and still you do get those deformities so like Mitch said I owuld definetly just look at the fish themselves and hand pick the ones you would like to use for broodstock. Mitch has beautiful fish i myself was interested a while ago in some juvies for potential offspring. Inland aquatics has basically the same lineage fish some are extremely black i would say super onyx but they tend to be very expensive good luck