Black perculas?

[cuda6872]

Has anybody seen any black percs before? I thought I seen some a lil over a year ago, but none since then. I wouldn't mind having one if I could find one. Also, would they spawn with normal colored percs?

[Greenwater]

I have seen black percs in Coralville, Iowa at an LFS called "Sea of Marvels". The owner told me that he would sell them for around $500 if I was interested. They were really cool looking, but I am not sure that I am ready for that type of investment.
IMO the black percs would mate with any other percs, just like a Goldstripe maroon will mate with a whitestripe one.

[panther g]

ffexpress (http://www.ffexpress.com) has them for 39 dollars in the rare and exotic section of you can get a pair from inlandaquatics (http://www.inlandaquatics.com) for 149 dollars.

[bcjm]

There are at least 4 different kind of species in this trade are called "black percula", A. percula, A. ocellaris (Darwin), A. ephippium and A. clarkii. Which one are you talking about?

[Greenwater]

Before ordering, I would ask to see a picture of any of the "black" clowns from the listed websites as many times they range from larger-than-usual black borders on the stripes to mostly black but with orange faces.

[cuda6872]

I was refering to the real & false perculas. Mainly the false cause I already have one.

[eco-tropic]

The retail/wholesale name of "black percula" is, in 99.9% of cases, Amphiprion polymnus or a geographical variant of the saddleback clownfish. Make certain you make a positive ID on the fish you are planning to purchase. A. polymnus is not a good candidate to be crossbred with Amphiprion ocellaris, or the "false perc". Although crosses are possible you sound like someone that wants to try their hand with breeding clownfish. I wouldn't advise buying a single Darwin, or "black ocellaris" and mating it with a standard ocellaris. Take my advice when I say that you might have a difficult time selling cross bred clownfish. Particularly if their bars and coloring are missing or in the wrong places. If you have a percula or an ocellaris and want to breed them try staying with like for like. You'll have a much better chance for success in the long run.

$500.00 for a pair of "black percs" is a rip-off! Unless your retailer has a legitimate pair of the Darwin Island variant of Amphiprion ocellaris he's selling you swamp land!

[firechild]

Unless your retailer has a legitimate pair of the Darwin Island variant of Amphiprion ocellaris he's selling you swamp land!

Could you please enlighten us as to where Darwin Island is? :D

Even in Australia, black variants of A. ocellaris are hard to come by and expensive when found. I am currently on the lookout for a pair but have so far been unsuccessful. :(

[eco-tropic]

For all intents and purposes Darwin is not an Island. It is a city on the mainland. These fish are exclusive to a few Islands and sea mounts off the coast of Darwin in the Timor Sea. From what I've been told by a couple of biologists in the area they are most commonly found between Bathurst Island and Melville Island in the Clarence Strait. There is a reserve directly off the coast of Darwin called "Casuarina Coastal Reserve". Within Beagle Gulf, inside this reserve there is a small Island. This is the place where this variant was first identified. After a little research over the past couple of months I have discovered that only adult pairs are protected by the Endemic Species Protection Act. My guess is that juveniles are fair game because they are lighter then their adult counterparts.

[viking30]

Firechild,
You could try Cairns Marine Aquarium, in cairns they often have black ocellaris. They always (everytime i've been in) have captive bred small ones. Their number is (07) 40581711.
Cheers,
Viking.

[firechild]

Thanks Viking,
I'll be up that way in July so I might see what I can come up with then.

[ZippyBoy]

See this thread.....

http://www.reefcentral.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47478

[Laura D]

Originally posted by Greenwater
I have seen black percs in Coralville, Iowa at an LFS called "Sea of Marvels". The owner told me that he would sell them for around $500 if I was interested. They were really cool looking, but I am not sure that I am ready for that type of investment.
IMO the black percs would mate with any other percs, just like a Goldstripe maroon will mate with a whitestripe one.


FYI everyone, I was at Sea of Marvels the other day, and the black percs have spawned. The owner is getting ready to raise the babies, he has rotifers going and what not. I don't know him well enough to know if he can do it, but he seems to know what he is doing.

They are solid black, with stripes of course, but not a touch of orange.

[Greenwater]

Thanks for the update Laura.
The owner does know what he is doing. He has raised some of the larvae to adult stage and sold them in the Chicago area.
At least that is what he says. :)
I suppose it is time to give him a call and see when he will have some juveniles that he is looking to sell.

[rlp]

There is a "rare black Ocellaris" for sale on the selling forum.

[LPSman]

Hi All,

I picked these up today,I'd welcome your thougths on if they are the "real deal" ?

http://www.btinternet.com/~reefland/black_perc1.jpg

http://www.btinternet.com/~reefland/black_perc2.jpg

cheers
marc

[Laura D]

Hey, funny this thread came back up. I was just going to post that I was at Sea of Marvels today, and the black percs hatched. The parents look just like what you have LPS man, solid jet black, with the perfect white "perc" stripes. Mom is full of eggs agian too. They are sooo cute!!

If anyone in Eastern Iowa is looking for these guys, of course they won't be big enough for a while, but you may want to give him a call. (319)351-3969

Puleeze tell him Laura from Cedar Rapids told you.:D

[LPSman]

Hi,

I forgot to ask, does anyone have links to an site with more info on this variety ?

I did a few searches but didnt get much joy:rolleyes:

cheers
marc

[DizziDezi2]

I am also looking for a pair of black clownfish. The LFS has some TINY ones (they are adults) and they refuse to sell them. They are black, TINY, have white stripes and not a touch of orange. Beautiful.

[Qwiv]

FYI, there are no black Percula's. They don't exist. You can get black false percs from ORA. Check the ORA website. Everyone buying true black percs are getting ripped off!

[AquaReeferMan]

I agree with eco-tropic and Qwiv. There are no black perculas. There are black Ocellaris. The most black you will see on a perc is from an onyx. Like stated above 99% of the time you see something labeled black percula it is a black Amphiprion polymnus.

[AquaReeferMan]

When I worked at my LFS we would order both black percs and black Ocs. The "black percs" were always saddlebacks. I see them being sold on the internet as black percs all the time.

[RokleM]

"Black perc's" at my LFS, likely Black Ocellaris from ORA. They've been in my tank a few months. Pretty peppy and in with high flow, so it's difficult to get good pictures of them.

http://mad-skillz.com/aquarium/11.08.2006-7.jpg

http://mad-skillz.com/aquarium/11.08.2006-8.jpg

[C_alex]

The mis-bar look really cool, I hope he will stay that way.

[Conceyted]

yep those are ora black ocellaris. they will end up losing their orange tip noses for the most part. I ordered two small clowns from LiveAquaria.com over a year ago. They paired and did awesome in the 20 long. I moved them over to my 90g sps tank where they swam freely and loved every minute. Then one day a new freshly qt'ed tang somehow brought along ich to the main display. Well after a while I realized what I thought was ich was actualy velvet. I had 3 fish die in a week. The male black clown was, unfortunately, one of the fish that passed. The female (now about 3.5") survived and is doing well. I had been looking for a black clown to pair her up with again and it finally looks like Ora is releasing some more. Jaime called liveaquaria and asked them about black clowns and if they could get us a definite mail to which they responded they could not guarantee a sex and that they only had black percula. A few days later black ocellaris clowns appeared on their site. Obviously the CSR we talked to at liveaquaria had no idea the difference between the ocelaris and percula. He was just spouting off the title which says "Black Percula Clownfish". Needless to say we ordered a new tiny clown to pair him up with our larger female. He comes in tomorrow! Hope all goes well.

[keefsama2003]

I was somehow lucky to get a pair of wild caught black/white ocellaris from bluezoo back in sept. they are awesome. the female is almost all black and the male is starting to go all black also. im hoping they spawn but i know that could be a few months more if not years as my understanding is these variant of clowns are pretty hard to get spawning.

either way they have great personalities and are awesome fish.

[Conceyted]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8598657#post8598657 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by keefsama2003
I was somehow lucky to get a pair of wild caught black/white ocellaris from bluezoo back in sept. they are awesome. the female is almost all black and the male is starting to go all black also. im hoping they spawn but i know that could be a few months more if not years as my understanding is these variant of clowns are pretty hard to get spawning.

either way they have great personalities and are awesome fish. Yea my Tank Raised female is completely black. She started almost 1/3 orange and ended up with not a single spec of orange on her. :)

[coraladdict]

Chech my gallery ,I got a couple 3 weeks ago.

[phender]

opps, meant to edit and reposted instead.
*See below*

[phender]

FWIW:The black ocellaris from LiveAquaria are not from ORA. LiveAquaria sends most of their fish from a wholesaler in Los Angeles that gets its CB clowns (including the black ocellaris) from the Tropic Marine Hatchery in England.
In most cases the people at LiveAquaria never see any of the fish that are sent to you and rely on the wholesaler to choose the fish for you.

Some people setting up breeding pairs of black ocellaris get one from ORA and one from LA in the hopes that they are getting different genetic material.

[JRaquatics]

Exotic Aquatics in Hammond Indiana just got a couple black ocellaris. They look good too.

[JRaquatics]

Sorry, Exotic Aquatics is located in Highland Indiana. I know they ship too.

[FloridaFinFan]

Black Onyx True Percula Clownfish is the name of the Fish..Let me see if I can find a Pic....