KC Aquaculture

M

modder man

Member
A few of you likely saw my "Considering a Breeding Setup" thread. Well I have decided to move forward on the adventure. I have my rack partially assembled and operational at the moment, though it does still need quite a bit of work.

Equipment
  • half finished rack
  • 2 45 gallon displays diveded into 3 chambers
  • 100 gallon rubbermaid sump with 250lbs live rock
  • 2 mag 9 returns
  • 600 watts of heaters
  • MRC MR-2 skimmer with Blueline HD-55 Pump (this skimmer is beastly)
  • custom GU10 experiment light fixtures

To Do List

  1. Finish building microcontroller power strip
  2. enclose and insulate rack
  3. skimmer extension tube
  4. build light fixtures
  5. Divide chambers down smaller?
  6. Maybe second sump?

I am still unsure if I am going to run it all as one system or not. My original thought was that with over-sized filtration it should be possible but I am unsure. I am also not sure if I can really divide a 12x18x12 chamber down much smaller.


With out further delay here are my first three fish
I think I have an lone Perc female and a Occellaris Black Ice Pair, if I am wrong please correct me.


DSC_0430_zps12bf1c5f.jpg


DSC_0428_zps1fa652cd.jpg


DSC_0417_zps5c3d267c.jpg


DSC_0419_zps7c39d254.jpg


DSC_0420_zps7caab83a.jpg
 
Yep I knew it, she died unfortunately. By the time I got her it was to late to save her. I was just hoping I could get her to pull through. Finding big clowns like her is so hard, kinda depressing she was right there but now gone.
 
No one has any thoughts on these fish. I am trying to decide if these are decent pairs or if i should keep looking and where to look.
 
I think that as someone who is investing thousands of dollars into a breeding business you need to learn very quickly what the undesirable traits are. Almost all of those fish you posted should have been culled/euthanized. None of those fish are even in the ballpark of being potential broodstock. You should return them and insist that they are destroyed.

Not trying to give you a hard time... but right now I see you walking down the path of creating the fish equivalent of a puppy mill.

Take a time out, and do some research into what a healthy clownfish should look like. There are plenty of resources right here on RC. Best of luck.
 
That is exactly why I posted these Pictures I thought the fish looked bad and wanted second opinions before I did something about it. I dont trust what I know of the traits yet. Is the OCC Black Ice pair not even any good? I thought those two fish looked pretty good. My Black Ice is now paired up with the darker or lone OCC.
 
modder man said:
That is exactly why I posted these Pictures I thought the fish looked bad and wanted second opinions before I did something about it. I dont trust what I know of the traits yet. Is the OCC Black Ice pair not even any good? I thought those two fish looked pretty good. My Black Ice is now paired up with the darker or lone OCC.
Click to expand...

You did the right thing by posting if you didn't know.

That black ice occy female has one of the worst pinched heads I've ever seen on any inbred fish. It looks like it goes beyond a pinched head and actually has a spinal curvature that is causing the head to angle upward. In addition, the dorsal looks doesn't look right for an occy and her pelvic fins look completely underdeveloped. The platinums (assuming they are plats in the pic, hard to see) look like they haven't eaten in days. Gills might be flared but I think it's more a function of the fish being emaciated.
 
Man if that big occy has a pinched head every fish I have ever had has a pinched head...I am not sure I see that on her. I guess I can kinda see what you are talking about with the pelvic fins on her tho.

BTW thanks for you time in pointing these things out to me. I really appreciate it.
 
modder man said:
Man if that big occy has a pinched head every fish I have ever had has a pinched head...I am not sure I see that on her. I guess I can kinda see what you are talking about with the pelvic fins on her tho.

BTW thanks for you time in pointing these things out to me. I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

My friend Chelsey wrote an article about many of the deformities that aren't being culled in Reef Hobbyist Magazine.

http://www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com/archives/vol_5/issue18/pages/24.htm

That pinched head isn't natural. It's a result of multiple generations of inbreeding.
 
Thanks for the article.

I guess I can see it on her, its just quite a bit more subtle than on that black phantom. I don't even know where to begin to look for quality fish then. I am scared to look, I am afraid these problems will keep coming up. Like that article said it is the responsibly of the breeder to cull and apparently they don't. These fish came from what I was told is a reputable breeder. Makes me very leary of shelling out the money people want for these designer clowns, I may just keep getting this kind of junk.
 
Do you guys think the seller should take the fish back if I eat all shipping expenses or Am I on my own here? I am trying to figure out how to best handle this. I did have pictures and I did choose to buy them so I am not blaming him...I could not see the defects in the pictures. At the same time these were sold to me as breeding pairs by a breeder so I figured I could trust that I was going to get decent fish and that I wouldn't have to worry about defects like this. Let me know what you guys think.
 
Actually I will argue the fact that pinched heads, deformities and so on are strictly inbreeding. I have actually tested that and have proven false in 4 different species. You can have totally different parents and with poor water quality hight temperatures and lack of flow in accordance with nutrition you will get every deformity you can think of. It's not like humans where retardation happens because of bob having sex with his sister. Bottom line is if your fish has a pinched head or underbite etc has minimal impact genetically to their offspring. If that's the case every cquest onyx that cquest ever sold would have been named corky lol. Keep your water good and pay attention and you'll have babies that look good. You will get some With pinched heads and so on it's normal it happens
 
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