Wanted to introduce some new friends!

[Me No Nemo]

Paul and Paulette have certainly led interesting lives. Their offspring may even be one of the GSM currently residing in your tank! For over 23 years, this stalwart pair have resided at ORA and produced thousands and thousands of babies for tanks all over the world. Brian Sharpe, Livestock Production manager at ORA, says that although the pair has resided with them for 23 years, he estimates the two were approximately 2 years old when they were taken as a "wild caught pair," bringing their age to about 25 years. They are named after the ORA associate who hand carried the fish back to the facility all those years ago and is still a vital part of the team today. Up until now, they were referred to as C3, but we just couldn't let them go without names, so we thought it only proper that we name them Paul and Paulette in his honor. I jumped at the chance to provide these two with "forever homes" when ORA got in touch. But the endeavor has certainly been a team effort as Barb and Rick Henschel donated the beautiful turquoise and purple anemone for them to reside in (Paulette is close to 6" long!). But, would wild caught clowns, away from an anemone for over 20 years, take to one again? Within two hours they were happily nestled inside and now have a new buddy, a purple anemone shrimp, who seems very glad to be part of the pack! I think it's important for us to note, that like other animals we keep as pets, fish can live long and happy lives with good care, proper nutrition and the proper environment.

 

[seth16]

A-men! Marcye...tha tis a great story, i will count is as a bed time story, so goodnight!!!lol

 

[ricanboy57]

you had mentioned these the last time i was up there but wow, she is huge. and it looks like she doesn't even have perfect bars, are a lot of ORA GSM misbared?

 

[Me No Nemo]

I'll ask about that next time I talk to Brian, but my guess would be she was chosen for the deep maroon color. Paul has full bars. Maybe Craig S. can stop by and fill us in based on some of his knowledge with breeding and the chances of bars/misbars. He's pretty well read in the area of clownfish breeding...an area I'm just getting started in (and no, these weren't obtained for breeding purposes, although Brian said they are still spawning. My other maroon pair have been spawning like clockwork every 15 days for the past 3 years or so with only about 5 cycles missed in all that time.)

 

[chrisstie]

My guess is if she wasn't the size of a submarine her bars would be proportional on her

I'd love to hear what Craig has to say! From my meek and newbie understanding is its kinda like kittens or puppies- you get an animal that has a high percentage of being a particular way, or it just works out that way anyhow, then you get a small % that are just freaks but its a really small one - like the picassos I think he said have a high chance of either being full barred or misbarred and then a small small chance of the unique weird shapes of their bars (mostly like texas for some reason!) haha

 

[mflamb]

Fabulous...I saw this pair with my own eyes! Diane and I are still amazed at the size. We didn't know any clowns get that big. And beautiful color. If you're in the area, you've got to see these.

 

[waterfaller1]

They are awesome! It is so cute to see that tiny anemone shrimp dancing around in the anemone with the huge female. Paul never leaves the anemone, and it's gorgeous!