What kind of clownfish did I see?

reef tank 2.0

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this is a little bit of a hodge podge of conversation / a rant, but my main question will come after it

As some may know, I have been away from the hobby for about 5 years. I have finally gotten back in, but won't officially be in until my tank finishes cycling. about 2 weeks away, roughly.

Coral $$ rant: 5 years ago, when I was buying corals, I always bought small frags. 1-2 heads, but never more, unless the price was an awesome deal for more than that. obviously, depending on what type of coral it was, it was priced accordingly. I remember "Sticks" were the craze, and might still be. But, during that time, I remember I bought a 1-2" frag of a toadstool. Don't remember where I bought it, but all the corals I bought were never more than $25. (I couldn't stomach dropping $40, 80, 200+ on a coral that could possibly die in a few days. not the point.... :) ), so I'm guessing the toadstool was 20-25 bucks. That coral eventually grew out to be about 10-12" before I had to frag it off and sell it. I will most likely get another when I am ready.

today, I decided to go to one of my LFS's, and get a second test done on my water parameters, to see if they were that far off from what I was seeing. I was walking around, checking things out, and came across the coral tank. Tons of coral, all seemed to look good. A lot of the basic colored zoa's. eventually, I came to a 1" piece of toadstool. I got a little excited, UNTIL I saw the price tag on this little 1" piece. holy crap!!!! They wanted $60 for this frag. I understand I have been away, inflation has become our new best friend, but dang. that hurt my head. hopefully, I can trade with local reefers when the time comes, rather than dropping $60 on a softy. we shall see. (that hurt my one feeling I had left)

I understand LFS's need to make a profit, but cmon. I saw a bucket of reef crystals there for $90. what!!?? Look at Amazon, Chewy, etc. They're not $90. whatever helps them sleep at night.

Here is the topic in question: This store had a lot of clownfish. I have my eyes on the Picassos, in general. Was looking to see if they had them. I came across one or two clownfish that had a pattern on it's side that resembled a jigsaw puzzle piece. OH MY!! I went to Live Aquaria to see if I could find the name, but found nothing. What type of clownfish would this be? I didn't get a picture as there were a lot of clowns in the tank, I would have been there forever waiting on a glamour shots photo. Could it be a random patterned clown that just looks different? Is there a specific name for it? If I was ready for fish, I would have got that in a hurry. But I don;t want to rush anything until I can take it right then and there. Sure I could put it in my QT, but who knows how long the cycle of my DT has left. I will continue to keep an eye out for them if they do in fact have a specific name.
 

littlefoxx

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Go check out cultivated reef. They specialize in clowns. You might be able to find the name on their site!
 

SudzFD

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Sounds to me you saw a snowflake clown or some other “designer” clownfish. These are tank raised selectively bread clowns that are bread for interesting patterns such as the one in the pick below. Some are orange some are black. They are all ocellaris false percula clowns.

IMG_1290.jpeg

IMG_1291.jpeg
 
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reef tank 2.0

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thanks for the feedback.
guess I have a decision to make. Stick with the "true" clowns, or go that designer route if I find the right ones.
decisions decisions.
 

VintageReefer

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70$ for reef crystals (Amazon) is actually good these days. A few months ago it was 80-90. Your LFS might have stocked up when prices were high

But yea I hear ya everything’s gone up significantly. I hate to say it but I won’t buy coral at my LFS which is actually a nice place, super clean tanks.

Green Torch, $125 a head
Dragon soul, 250 a head

Donut coral - which I admit was large - 6” but was plain and not bright or anything interesting - $800

Small cluster green (common) acans - 90

Candy cane mini colony….$250! 96DFE1C7-9A43-4FC3-9E15-2E5D9D5F771E.png

I hope you don’t need a magnetic cleaner
It hey the “tang edition” with a picture silk screened is only $150
 

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VintageReefer

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Was the clownfish like this
 

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reef tank 2.0

reef tank 2.0

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You really want your mind blown, or disgusted, check out long finned clowns.

They look like clowns got cross bread with guppies.
funny you say that. I saw a couple of those there at the store.
so many thoughts passed through my mind.
"what kind of inbred nonsense is that!"
"um, that clown has fin issues"
"um, no"

i have never seen one of those before. I didn't think to look at the price tag either
 
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reef tank 2.0

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a week later, and I decided to go back to the same fish store to possibly purchase two clowns.
Walked in and went to the tank that they were in just a week ago. a week ago, this tank had tons of clownfish, tons. this time, it had 4 :oops: . none of which were any I was interested in. I asked the sales guy, he said we sold out of them. In a week???? he said clowns are their biggest sellers and they definitely don't last long.
holy crap, I guess not.

So now I know, if I see them, I need to grab'em.
They did have a few false perculas. Although I liked that designer clown I mentioned above, I might lean towards true perculas. if I read right, the true perculas have the red/orange eyes, right?

anyone else experience this at their LFS?
 
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reef tank 2.0

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This hobby is expensive and none of us can afford it....who the heck is buying all these clownfish, and where are they keeping them? This hobby is not that popular!!!!
 

VintageReefer

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This hobby is expensive and none of us can afford it....who the heck is buying all these clownfish, and where are they keeping them? This hobby is not that popular!!!!

Sadly little kids go to pet and fish store with their parents, see Nemo, and buy them unprepared and put them in terrible conditions
 

homer1475

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Sadly little kids go to pet and fish store with their parents, see Nemo, and buy them unprepared and put them in terrible conditions
Sadly this happens more then you think. You can't blame the LFS owner. If they don't sell fish, they close their doors, because as you said, "this hobby is not that popular".
 

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