looking for an allardi clown or whatever this is.

[robthorn]

my girlfriend says this guy needs a little friend. this one is still juvenile and the same size would be great but will take anything healthy with the same bright markings.
please let me know if anyone see's one of these
thank you,
roberthttp://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/robthorn/DSCN1851.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/robthorn/DSCN1863.jpg
this guy is really fast and I didn't take time to fiddle with the camera. sorry so blurry

[robthorn]

any stores that have one feel free to pm me please

[markandkristen]

thats a sebae isnt it just got some locally in lakeland

[robthorn]

no it's not a sebea I don't think at least it has the clarki body. much taller but hey who knows. who has them in lakeland I will call them and possibly drive there if they would send me a pic. would be a huge waste of time to get there and not be the right fish.
thank you for the info by the way,
robert

[jwpiii]

Have you tried emailing the images to John at FAOIS to see if he had or could identify for you?

[robthorn]

I am almost possitive it's an allardi and he isn't that hip on clown species because sometimes they are so difficult. I have talked to him about clowns before. he may know for sure and I was going to send them today to him and a few other shops . I wanted to see if I could get a line on one through here because alot of the shops you can call and it's right in front of them and they tell you on the phone they don't have it. most of them don't want to waiste time with a customer on the phone they expect you to drive when they probably don't have what you want. I can't make it to every store nor do I want to looking for one fish. I am at the not wanting to buy anything more for the tank but this one fish but as you know as soon as you walk in you will find something else to add. this is not a hobby it's a sickness and I am very very ill.

[jwpiii]

They say the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem!!! The only thing I'm ready to admit is that I now have a new 540g sitting in my garage awaiting installation, but it's not a problem for me!!!!

I need to pick a few things up today after I complete a water change so I will be happy to look at the selection of clowns for you. If I see anything promising I'll let you know.

John

[robthorn]

thank you I would appreciate that. 540? yeah you got bigger problems than I do.
what kind of lighting are you going with?

[ichthyman]

Not hip or know the futility of the request?

If you want a positive ID all you have to do is; find out exactly where the fish was collected, anesthetize the specimen, get a copy of a dichotomous key to the Amphiprion genera and have at it. In cases where the defining characteristics are very subtle, identification attempts based solely on gross morphological or chromatic observations is purely conjecture. With that said, it appears to be a juvenile belonging to the Clarkii complex. The white-tipped caudal fin suggests Allardi but the continuous width of head and body bars is atypical for this species. Maybe it’s a hybrid? Once the animal reaches maturity it should be easier to identify. If you can find a copy, The Anemonefishes. Their Classification and Biology, 2nd Ed. by Gerald Allen. 1974 TFH Publications, NJ. I use to have this and several other out of print books but lost them during a move. BTW, that is a darn nice looking fish. Good luck with the search.

[robthorn]

thanks for the compliment. finding where it was collected might be easy from your store but not where I bought it. they may know but may not. I have had it for months so I figure they won't know. the sad thing is the awesome female that was his mate was lying on it's side gasping it's last breaths when we saw this one. killing the fish or grabbing it and holding it down counting bones is also not an option. I would rather keep the one than put it through that. I am guessing it may be from africa because something an employee at the store said one other time i was in there. the truth is I really don't care if it's a dog face puffer by name I just want a matching mate of the opposite sex or even at a no real sex point in it's life. I just ordered the book thank you
no harm intended in the not hip I just mean I have talked to you about different species and you and myself can't remember them all. thats what books are for

[Warnberg]

Rob, I do not believe you have an Allard's Clown, reason I say that is because Allard's Clowns do not have a tail stripe... yours looks to me like a Mauritian Clown (A. Chrysogaster): overall black or dark coloration with a bright nose and breast and a wide tail band.

But is also looks very much like a saddleback clown by the pictures I am looking at.

[robthorn]

the chrysogaster is the only other one I believed it might be but I can't find any real evidence it is truely either. reason I don't think it is chrysogaster is I am not sure they are being collected coming only from a small geographical area. if they are collecting it wouldn't be many and how did the store I got it from end up with it. who knows at this point. I was on rareclownfish.com and a couple people there have the same fish and are calling them allardi. I ordered the book john mentioned earlier and will hopefully be able to identify it better that way without pulling it from the tank and knocking it out. I don't think they are rare at all just not many people have bought them in the past and had a real demand for them so why collect them. it's just lately people are grasping at ways to have the it thing and say I have something rare. I want the fish because my girlfriend loves it and I think it's cool and her happiness is my first priority. so I will search until I find it affordable.
thanks for the input.

[oceana]

[i] I want the fish because my girlfriend loves it and I think it's cool and her happiness is my first priority. [/B]

:love2: awww. blah!! haha J/K

[robthorn]

watch your mouth keith she will come after you. ;)

[Warnberg]

Rob, I must say that is one of the coolest looking clowns I have seen... where did you get him again?

[robthorn]

no offense but I will let everyone know after I find the mate. sorry but everyone will be going in there looking for them because they are in my oppinion pretty cool and still cheap.

[stellablu]

Why don't you go back to where you got him for the mate?

[robthorn]

kim I have been back for 3 months or so and they keep telling me they will be in tuesday. well I found out yesterday it was a smack talking employee. the owner does all the ordering and gets what he wants only. another employee there I talked to is going to try to talk to the owner for me. since the owner isn't there very often it is hard to talk to him personally. I hear right now is just a bad time for clownfish for some reason they don't ship well or get collected much or something around this time for whatever reason. who knows but when I find a healthy one at a reasonable price I will buy it. I found I can't rely on some stores so I have to look everywhere I can and it will pop up . sometimes it's not even the stores fault but maybe collectors or another market getting them first. I can be patient sometimes.
robert

[BlitzK]

I think I saw one of these at Exotic Aquatics a while back...

[stellablu]

If you can find out the exact name of the fish I'll do some searching around on the east coast for you. That's one of the worst things ever, being led on by a LFS employee who doesn't know the answer to something but feel the need to tell you something else just to feel helpful or appear knowledgeable.

[robthorn]

thanks blitz they don't have any now at least they say they don't.
I hear that kim we are dealing with cabinets in this same reason right now.
I think the most commonly used name is an amphiprion allardi. it is what the store told me it was shipped as so I would think it's a safe guess and alot of people are calling it an allardi possibly including myself. I'm just not into knocking it out and chancing losing this one just to find out. nor do I have the drugs to do it if I wanted to.
thanks for any help.
robert

[CaptainDave]

that guy looks a whole lot like my Allardis when they were juveniles....I think you're right. I'm not an expert by any means, though.

[robthorn]

hey dave thanks you wouldn't have any babies would you?

[CaptainDave]

I wish. my male died a while ago, and I haven't gotten around to finding another mate for the female just yet.

[robthorn]

not being wierd but if you decide you don't want her anymore I'll take her. ;)

[robthorn]

ok last night I got a call from the original store I purchased the other one from. they just got the fish in I was looking for but this time it came in as a true sebae. go figure. funny thing is they really had another one that was a true sebae. the original sales person remembered bagging my first one and called me to tell me it looked just like the one he bagged before. I can't believe he actually remembered but I got there and he was right it was pretty much exact.
I took it right from the shipping bag home. well actually I wanted to start acclimating it as soon as possible so I brought a small container of my tank water with me and a small bucket and at every light I poured a little of my water in with it. when I got home I lowered the salinity to about 1.005 and added some formalin for a dip and after about half an hour he wasn't looking good so I started adding tank water to the bucket. he started looking better after about 15 more minutes so I continued to bring the salinity up close to my tank water and dropped him in the tank. hoping for the best here . about 30 minutes later I saw him going after stuff floating by so I fed the tank and he ate aggressively which is at least a good sign for one day. the old clown was friendly at first then had to show who was boss good thing it's a 7 ft tank the new fish is about an inch long so he had plenty of places to go.
thanks everyone for suggestions and keeping there eye out for me. the store was EXOTIC AQUATICS by the way.
robert

[BlitzK]

[i]
thanks everyone for suggestions and keeping there eye out for me. the store was EXOTIC AQUATICS by the way.
robert [/B]

So do I win the prize for the correct guess?

[robthorn]

under normal circumstances i would say sure but I just got home and the fish is a for sure goner. i pulled it out and put it in qt but I am almost positive it's dead. brook really turns fast. last night it was clean today a white haze almost. guess we will have to find a place for a full size qt tank after all. sucks you can't just get clean fish. then all the meds companies would be out of business. i will let you know the t.o.d. /time of death.

[cschweitzer]

rareclownfish.com

The absolute online bible of clownfishing. Great forum filled with expert analysis, help, and answers. Many of them are breeding or can lead you in the right direction. just mention I sent you. My screen name is the same for both sites.May find someone with a lonely allardi they are willing to part with; or maybe a baby from their breeding.

By the way, if you know anything about species of clownfish, you can see the only known McCollouch's clownfish in captivity, thanks to the one and only Mr.Blue of Australia. Went to Lord Howe and collected them himself. Needed serious permits to do so...Maybe someday they will be available to us.

[robthorn]

yeah I am banned from there because admin has way too big of an ego. he has my pictures listed there as his own of my fish breeding. and of my bangaii babies. I have also found alot of there info to be bogus. I looked there first and that is why I am banned. someone in pm offered to sell me some fish and they weren't getting there cut so I am banned. I know someone else purchased the site now but if that admin guy is still there I want nothing to do with them. besides I have a pair of latezonatus at home.there have also been other reports of mccullouchs in captivity. mr.blue and ricordeaking have been cool with me but that other guy needs to go.
thanks for the heads up,
robert

[PelagicMagic]

its a long shot but it could be a chrysopterus with a white tip tail

[robthorn]

I got the book that john was talking about that defines clownfish from actual in ocean studies and it is according to the book an allardi. thanks for the info. I am totally done trying to get any at the moment I have gotten 4 and all have died. the last 2 didn't have a single mark on them or anything. in the afternoon they were fine and eating then dead that evening they did start gasping just before death though. I am sure it's me or shipping or collection . you know I will never figure out the real reason.