S. Haddoni ?

[chris&barb]

We've had our fish eating S.haddoni for about 2 years in our 180. we are setting up a separate tank just for it so we can have fish in the 180 again . i found a list of natural hosts and wanted to run this past you all and see what you thought. first is this fish list correct? any pros or cons to this list?

Polymnus http://www.edge-of-reef.com/pomacentridi/PMCAmphiprionpolymnusen.htm

Clarkii http://www.edge-of-reef.com/pomacentridi/PMCAmphiprionclarkiien.htm

Chrysopterus http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/achrysop.htm

Chrysogaster (no info)

Akindynos http://www.amonline.net.au/FISHES/fishfacts/fish/aakindynos.htm

Sabae http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/photos/blpicfishkgoodinclown.htm

Omanensis http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=11856

we would like to get juveniles and have them become a mated pair. any advice on this would be appreciated

the tank will be a 40g cube plugged into our existing system


thanks Chris

 

[tomf]

Chris - I've kept A percula clowns for years so I am biased, but if you are set on obtaining juvenile clowns I think your choices will be limited for the species you have listed. My advice is to decide which ones you really like best, look around until you find good specimens, and then enjoy watching them with your S haddoni!

 

[chris&barb]

thanks tomf

i really want to keep a fish that it would be naturally found with and was hoping i could get so personal experience on the behavior of these different fish

 

[Maxx]

Chris,
Omanensis isnt going to happen. They only come from the Sea of Oman, and the Sultan of Oman doesnt give out collention permits. There are people who cheerfully kill lots of other people to get a pair of these.

The Chyrsopterus are beautiful, but have a poor track record in captivity. Hopefully, Elmo can get his to breed, (last I heard he had a pair of juveniles) and then we can all start to get some tank bred Chrys.

Of the remaining list of clowns you have, you can base your decision on two things:

Is the anemone staying in the 180 or going to a seperate tank, and what is the availability of the clowns you want.

If the anemone is staying in the 180, I'd find a pair of the largest, meanest clowns you can get. They will keep everything else from their anemone, including you. For this I would reccomend the Saddleback/Polymnus, the Sebaes, or the Clarkii. I know Elmo is breeding the Clarkii.

Not trying to pimp Elmo, just show you where you can buy captive bred if you want.

If you're moving the anemone, I'd go with a smaller clown, either the akindyos or the percula/occellaris. The reason being that you wont be able to get your hand near the larger clowns without being attacked. Sometimes this can be painful.

I have three onyx percs I bought from Rod Buehler at www.rods-reef.com .
He's got lots of captive bred percs for sale, and whiel I was driving by Dekalb IL, recently, I stopped by his store, and saw a tank with two Haddoni's and a truly ferocious clarkii clown. Rod stated he had to wear three pairs of rubber gloves to keep from losing skin.

Nick

 

[morgan]

those australian species are availble at my lfs he breeds them hes got 9 breeding pairs of various clowns his maroon female clowns is almost 30cm big there and over 10 years old wild caught buy him, 90% of the stock i buy is caught by him hes has the most expirence and certifictes to back it up but he sure is an arragont prick about it

 

[Boomer]

Chris

Do you have access to RC ? A friend of mine over there is a breeder of clown fish and specializes in rare clown fish and is an expert on anemones in captive systems. His screen name is traveller7.

 

[Maxx]

Geez Boomer, is there anyone in this hobby you dont know????

Traveller7 had a pair of Chrysopterus, but lost the female to Brook, IIRC. Has he managed to obtain another one for breeding purposes?

Traveller7 is a good guy and very knowledgable.

Nick

 

[Boomer]

Geez Boomer, is there anyone in this hobby you dont know????

Let me think about that for awhile ................

I only know him from RC and our 1 hr phone conversation on his RO/DI system ( two of them one for the house and one for the tanks), which are big enough to run a small city :lol:. He wanted to spend $4K on a water analysis toy and I needed to talk him out of it

 

[Elmo18]

Hi there. Thanks for the kind words Nick.

Of all the ones mentioned above, I would advise "against" getting black A. polymnus pair with a S. haddoni. They are known to kill anemones as they are very rough. If you are lucky, they will be fine, but I have just heard of recently another blue Haddoni dying as a result of the pair.

Best,
Ilham

 

[Maxx]

Elmo,
you're welcome. Hard work deserves acknowledgement...raising baby clowns is hard work from what I understand.

I hadnt heard about polymnus being so rough w/ anemones. I've seen several pairs with Haddoni carpets and no-one has mentioned it. I've heard of polymnus clowns being rough with anything near the anemone though...thats almost universal from what I understand.

What are your experiances w/ polymnus clowns Elmo? That sounds kinda smart ass, buts its not meant to be so. Personally the only clowns I've ever kept were GSM's, Pink Skunks, Percs, and Occellaris clowns...so I have no experiance with the Clarkii complex clowns.

Nick