Pink Skunk Clown Breeding

[jwreffner]

Anyone out there breeding, or attempting to breed Pink Skunks? My setup to breed them is nearing completion and I thought I would ask people how the skunks are going.

[clownfish75]

Every time i try i cant get past the quarantine phase when they get amyloodinium, and it seems to be just that species and i have now upgraded the uv on the quarantine. Just keep any eye out if you do get some.

Christian

[jwreffner]

Do you QT both male and female together? How long did you QT and what medication did you use during QT?

Thanks,
Jay

[clownfish75]

Both together, i think they both croaked after about 1.5 weeks and i tried qiunine treatments for the amyloodinium, with no success.

Now i use a big UV on the QT tanks. helps heaps.

Christian

[jwreffner]

Maybe the amyloodinium is in your QT before the clowns get introduced???

[David M]

I have raised some pink skunks, not from my own pair but from eggs pulled from a friends reef tank. I was a total clownfish noob then and had only begun raising ocellaris so probably could have done better. Anyway I had maybe 50-60 until about 8 weeks, then they started dropping like flies. I lost most of them at night over a two day period & had about a dozen make it for a few more months, then more loses, I have six left at just about one year old. They are tiny, ocellaris reach this size at 4-5 months. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with them but I plan to keep them. Probably as a group until I see any signs of natural pairing. I did offer a couple back to my friend as she has since lost that pair in a tank disaster.

I have a nice mature pair of orange skunks but they have not spawned, I've had them maybe 6 months.

[jwreffner]

hmmm...I wonder why they grew so slowly for you. Do all Skunks do that?

[David M]

That's what I'd like to know ;) I suspect my inexperience didn't help, I've come a long way with nutrition & water quality since then. I probably kept them on bbs waaaaay too long and I remember using crushed flake food rather than CE to wean them. I'd like another shot just to see if they grow more quickly for me now. That's why I keep these stupid orange skunks, they are taking up valuable real estate but I just want to try at least once :rolleyes:

[jwreffner]

Word on the street (i.e. the breeding forum) that Otohime seems to be the preferred food to get them off rots and such. So when I get my setup going I'm going to try that. But then again, CE may give them a pretty pink color. My fear is that if I get the skunks, they will sit around and never spawn!

Guess I'll have to slap them around if they don't do my bidding! :lol:

[David M]

My fear is that if I get the skunks, they will sit around and never spawn!

This is why you need a LOT of tanks :D I'd say 20 to start and build up from there :cool:

[jwreffner]

Hmmm...20 tanks...yeah....then I'd have to build a dog house along with the 20 tanks so that I have some place to sleep. ;)

[ediaz]

What are you planning to do with the fish when you raise them?

[jwreffner]

Sell them to the LFS' in my area to ease the wild-caught pressures. Would you be interested? We can PM if you prefer.

Thanks,
Jay

[ediaz]

No Jay , I don't want anything that is not ocellaris, same reason you will have a very hard time triying to get rid of them, if you get good at raising them, and you will , it only takes experience, you will have far more than all your LFS will take.

I though you wanted to raise them because you liked the fish, if you are planning on selling them raise something more popular.

Ed

[jwreffner]

Thanks for the info. I guess I didn't realize everyone hated skunks ;) I do think the fish is a pretty species. I will also be doing it for fun with my daughter. You don't see hardly any aquacultured pink skunks around and that is another reason why I thought they may be a good candidate.

Do you really think they are that unwanted? Any other suggestions besides Ocellaris?

TIA,
Jay

[ediaz]

I did not say people hated them, I said you won't be able to sell them all, this happens with all species besides ocellaris, maroon gold bars sell ok but don't compare. The average LFS has plenty of ocellaris and perhaps half a dozen of any other specie that would take them a couple of weeks to sell.

They are wanted but not as ocellaris are.
Any other suggestions? yes, ocellaris:D

Ed

[jwreffner]

Hmmm...now if only I could convince my daughter to want Ocellaris!

[ediaz]

http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/nemo/

[jwreffner]

LMAO...been there...tried that!

[JHardman]

They are tough...

From a breeders perspective they are a pain. They are slow to grow and the pairs are notorious for being irregular spawners. They will spawn for a few months then for no known reason take off a year or two then wham they are spawning again.

From the hobby prespective, they are not well liked for serveral reasons. Primary being they do not look like "clownfish". Second is that they tend to be very shy and not out front.

Personally I find them very neat. They take forever to get used to a tank, but once they are, they are some of the friendliest clowns out there. They have that wonderful slinky swimming style.

[jwreffner]

Yeah, you're comments are not uncommon JHardman. Finiky breeding stock. I'm torn on what to do. Maybe I'll flip a coin ;)

Jay

[JHardman]

If you got em going, raise em. If nothing else you can sell them to the wholesalers in LA.

[jslomo420]

I'd like to tag along on this thread. I've got a 20g tank cycling and i've been leaning towards one of the skunks but all the info i get is negative. Is there any hope for these guys? Has anyone had sucess with any of the skunks?

[jwreffner]

I guess the feedback I'm getting isn't totally negative but there are some things to be aware of...

they are finiky spawners

there isn't as much demand for them in the market place

[parshmar]

They sound like a hard fish to make money on. You can find them online for $7.00 or so. I doubt you'd get more than $3.50 per fish if you could get someone to buy them like that. With their slow growth rates, i'd fear that the profit potential isn't there.

[David M]

If you have seen CAPTIVE BRED skunks online for $7 please post the link so I can buy some :D I suspect you are confusing wc fish with cb, wc pink skunks are dirt cheap.

[jwreffner]

I've never seen captive bred pinky's online :(

[jslomo420]

inlandaquatics.com has them, and compared to oc's or percs they are cheap. I think a juv pair is like 34.99. whatever clown i go with i'll probably order from them

[jwreffner]

Their staff is very nice and helpful. I just ordered some Cinnamon's last week from them. They arrived in good condition. I am having difficulty getting them to feed but otherwise they are ok.

Jay

[jslomo420]

That's great to hear. As soon as I make up my mind on what kind I'm getting I'll give them a call

[jwreffner]

Cool, I inquired about their pinky's. They have a pair that is actually spawning now. Rest assured they will fetch a heafty sum. Also, I think they are primarily feeding them New Life Spectrum foods (of which I don't have any). Make sure you have some just in case they don't like your food.

Jay