PNG A. percula

P

Planetmacro

New member
I was very lucky to find WC A. perculas from PNG at my wholesaler who imports all fish direct from the collectors. Only three came in and I purchased two hoping to pair them. As they were the same size and one was very aggressive, I regretted not buying the third specimen but even at the wholesale price they were very expensive. After three months of separation and conditioning, I moved the 'pair' to a tank containing three H. magnificas. The 'pair' bonded within an hour and stopped showing aggression towards each other. Now, after six weeks in the anemones, one fish is notably larger than the other. The barring on these percs is remarkable although the black has faded which I attribute to association with magnifica. In any of the three carpet species I believe these fish would show much more black.
 
I first bred A. percula collected on the reefs off Biak Island in 1991. Biak is a tiny island off the north west coast of Papua New Guinea. The specimens were spectacular and had the natural coloration of what is known today in the hobby as Onyx clowns. I reared over 300 fish to an inch in length and distributed them throughout the Greater New York City area. There was no money in breeding clownfish at the time since wild caught fish were very inexpensive and there were literally no restriction on collecting reef fishes. Since then I've breed several species of clownish but never on a commercial scale. The one thing I noted back in 1991 and still see today is that captive bred clownish are all defective in one way or another, be it misbarring, misaligned jaws, misshaped heads and/or bodies and somewhat of a bulldog appearance to the face. Captive raised A. latezonatus as an example are grossly deformed fish. It is my observation that most hobbyist are not very discriminent and appear to seek the most bizarre colors, shapes and patterns that breeder can come up with through selective breeding and hybridization. All good. To each his own. But what is causing the deformities? Not inbreeding, of that I'm certain as the aberrations show up in F1 fish. No one has been able to provide a satisfactory theory.
So, now that I have the time I've decided to find the missing components to raising perfect captive raise clownfish. This is why I am locating wild caught broodstock with exceptional bars and colors. I expect that the present pair of perculas will begin spawning in a few months. I plan to keep meticulous records on the project with the goal of raising natural looking clowns indistinguishable from wild caught specimens when observed side by side. During the past 50 plus years I have bred and raised hundreds of species, mostly fresh water and a few marine and have always used wild caught fish (F0) for my projects. Rarely have I seen defective F1s and any deformed fry have been immediately culled. I will post my progress on Reef Central.
 
Now I understand why you are stoke about your new acquisition. With regarding to deformity, a good breeder would do multiple stages of culling. The only reason why we see deformed fish for sale is because some breeders are greedy.

Good luck with your project. I used to breed discus and flowerhorn. It was a lot of fun.

Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk
 
Back when I lived in the East during the 90's and 2000's, there was an LFS in N.J. that imported those Biak percula clowns pretty regularly. Nicest colors, first in class. They stopped bringing them in, but I kept a number of pairs over the years, some well beyond 10. Very hardy. I wouldn't have considered mine onyx. They never got that black dorsal fine, but always retained the orange on top and surrounding areas. Always quite nice colors. Photos are of some when I first bought them (E&B) and then years later (G&H). Not all the same pairs (didn't keep track that closely), but the color changes were always the same. Count me in for some when you are rearing. Very nice.
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Dan
 
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To me, the deformities of CB fish are terrible. I can live with the mis-barring, although I would not buy them. To each his/her own. But the deformed jaws are just unacceptable. I think the cause is the small footprint that the larvae and fry are raised in. They are constantly biting one another. It is instinct with clownfish. When I was raising some clowns, I used a wide, shallow tank. That reduced the probability that the larvae/fry would come into contact with one another. Had only a few of those deformities. If I ever tried again, I'd probably build a 4 x 8 plywood bottom tank with 6 inch acrylic sides and add a lot of "fry grass" to the bottom and floating on the top. Something to give the larvae and fry places to hide and reduce interactions. They tend to congregate at the bottom and at the surface, so why have a lot of room in between. Just thinking out loud. Good luck with your PNG percs.
 
The male from my old pair was wild caught from PNG, back around 2008/2009 when they were importing a lot of PNG fish. I bought 5 from Live Aquaria, and made 3 pairs, with my existing female. I had plans to try breeding, but that fell through.

Female of unknown origin, male from PNG.


A couple of the other PNG percs.

 
Mine back in 2004. 2 pairs in qt. I hope newcomers note the difference between wc and sad cb these days



 
Like any animal it depends on breeder.
My Donisreef picasso's were perfect, and my present picasso's as well, just gotta be patient and picky, know what to look for.



 
All the TR Percula clown fish have small to tiny pelvic fins and most,if not all, have small dorsal fins. davocean’s pair above is nice but still do not deviated from this observation.
 
Great find Planetmacro! WC vs CB side by side comparison, you can really pick out the abnormalities of CB specimens. We have to remember that the WC specimens we see are the end result of natural selection. They have won nature's lotto into adulthood since most don't make it that far. They represent the best of their kind. CB's on the other hand have the breeder's helping hand helping them along the way. Even through culling, the number of abnormal fish that make it through is quite significant than we would normally see in the ocean.
 
I honestly have not noticed or even looked for that, but I will be looking and comparing pelvic fins

I don't mean to derail OP's post, just touching base on the tb/wc issue, and I agree, we've been polluted w/ deformed clowns, back yard breeders and people that may not be aware of what to look for and just seeking cheap priced clowns.

Bulldog faces and under/overbites seem everywhere, but there are some quality breeders of nice clowns, designer or otherwise if you seek them out.

OP's are beautiful and so is the mag hosting them!
 
Nice clowns. SI-PNG Onyx clowns are my favorite but nobody seems to be importing from there at the moment. Curious how your wholesaler was able obtain some from PNG. There's a chance that yours were collected from southern part of Indonesia (at least that's where most, if not all, WC true percs are coming from currently). This opinion is based on my recent conversations with a wholesaler who used to have a collection station in SI and retailer who sells WC A. Percula clowns.
Here are some SI-PNG Onyx clowns I've owned...some passed during moving while others died due to stray voltage in the new house...sadly.
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Here is an example of an aberrant WC A. Percula from Indonesia sold by BZA this past June. It looks like one of your clowns
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This is probably closest to perfect TR percula I've ever owned. Bred by ORA and now resides in TX in H. Magnifica.
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