sickest clown ever

man Im not a huge clownfish guy. I dont care about all the new crazy strains like pacaso, snowflake, and what not. But these I want bad. I hope in 5 years or so can get some at an affordable cost. plus Good for blue zoo for doing the stand up thing. (im sure they had higher offers)

http://reefbuilders.com/2...omplished-fishbreeder/

It does look neat, hopefully we'll start to see some in a few years.

Umm_fish?

I got the Blue Zoo email newsletter this morning. Looks like it was Mr. Pedersen!

Oh, he did get it?! COOL! Congrats Matt!

Yup.  It swims, with a large "normal" striped Female, divided by Eggcrate, in the 20 Long that used to house a male Blue Throat Trigger.  Website dedicated to The Lightning Project is www.Lightning-Maroon-Clownfish.com

I still have some updates to put into the MBI system I need to get round to.  Almost at the 60 day mark on my Black O's!

FWIW,

Matt

Congratulations Matt!!!

Very cool to see that someone deserving received the fish and has the possibility to share it with the world....

Dave

Hah!!!  I knew it!  MWP being all sly the other night when we talked....  LOL 

Yay, Matt!  Congrats, my friend. 

Oh I know yours is wild caught - not bashing that at all - I guess I'd rather see folks try some others out (which I'm sure they are) is all.  Its a cool looking fish no doubt.  

Granted these "inbred" (My word) clowns fund the research into other species, so I appreciate that quite a bit.  I just wish some more hurdles would be broken down so we can see other things being CB. 

Not trying to be a bigger jerk than I already am

Congrats Matt!! Looking forward to seeing your progress

Arc Katana Oh I know yours is wild caught - not bashing that at all - I guess I'd rather see folks try some others out (which I'm sure they are) is all.  Its a cool looking fish no doubt.

Well, being wild caught, and with a known collection location (PNG) this was ideal maroon clown broodstock.  They'll throw out nice PNG Maroons, whether the lightning comes through or not.  That's why they're here...I value them first as PNG Maroons, then because of the possible Lightning Output.  

Arc Katana Granted these "inbred" (My word) clowns fund the research into other species, so I appreciate that quite a bit.

Better word would be "designer".  Although again, I appreciate this fish because it was naturally occuring (not to mention I've found a new appreciation for Picasso Percs in the last 6 months as I've seen more and more images of the occasional wild caught fish with that variation!).  But I can safely say the only way Picasso Percs are showing up in my tanks will be if they were free, mutations out of wild perc broodstock, or if they were themselves wild caught Picasso broodstock with a KNOWN collecting location.

I've heard a lot of people say that these fish fund research, but I think it's the easy way out for a lot of people...i.e. easy to breed clownfish vs. Harlequin Filefish or Mandarins (or something not yet done).    Easy way to make a "quick buck".  It's not that other fish can't also fund research, its' just that it's easier for many folks to go this route.  For every one person out there that is using these fish to fund research, there are at least 2 or 3 who likely aren't.  The real sad part though is that I fear a lot of people climb on these simply because of the money, not unlike many corals being propagated.

Arc Katana I just wish some more hurdles would be broken down so we can see other things being CB.

I'm in full agreement.  With the fishroom going in, my broodstock plans have included just about every clownfish species in existence, but as WC broodstock with known collection locations, at least down to an island group or country (i.e. I have 4 Kenyan Allardis that came in this week).  If the Lightning Maroon had been something that showed up in the ORA tanks or something, I wouldn't have even considered it.  And while Maroons were at the bottom of the species list in terms of priority (with A. ocellaris on the absolute bottom of the pile), when this one showed up, all WC with a location, it FIT my plans appropriately.

Of course, the LAST thing I'm going to do is follow every other breeder and just do clownfish.  Hardly the reasoning behind my plan.  I plan on ARKING them, so that if/when wild caught fish are not an option, I'll have the highest quality broodstock on hand.  The nice thing is that for the most part, clowns are happy to share their tanks with a myriad of other fish...and thus, there will be all sorts of filefish, gobies, blennies, basslets, all the cool stuff, breeding as well.  Clowns are but one portion of the overall equation.

That, and I'm really trying to nail down some extra MBI points...

Matt

Congrats to Matt indeed! I am a writer and photographer who frequently covers the trade, and I was in Papua New Guinea researching a story on SEASMART when the fish was collected in March. I just want to point out that, because of the way the SEASMART Program operates, we know not only that this is a PNG clownfish, but we know it is a PNG clownfish collected from the Fishermans Island Fishery Management Area (FMA). There are currently seven FMAs in PNG with SEASMART-trained fishers, and this FMA is the only one where this variant has been seen (one other was collected there in 2008). If you have not read the lengthy article published by Blue Zoo Aquatics (in their Resources section of the website under Feature Articles--I'm too new to post the link), you may find it interesting as it traces the fish along the entire chain of custody. The only other thing I will add is that the fisher, a fellow by the name of Steven Paul, was fairly compensated for this sustainably collected fish. Win win, no? Here's one of the pictures I snapped in PNG of this fish. Enjoy! Cheers! Ret Talbot