True Perculas

Lorna

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Mar 3, 2005
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#21
Okay I hate to quote or refer to another forum, but here you go, this is an extensive forum on clownfish

Reef Central Online Community - Sexing Clownfishes

sexing in particular.

BTW, the reason I used the wikipedia site was that it was more in lay terms that more people would easily understand.....Besides, I knew that the information posted on that site was accurate otherwise I wouldn't have quoted it here.......

As to the accuracy of wikipedia, well don't believe everything you hear and only some of the things you read and sometime even question that which you see........but if you see/read/hear it in many reliable sources then maybe you can believe some of it......
 

Joe Fish

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Apr 21, 2006
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#22
Thanks, that pretty good info. So I guess if I want to pair them up again I will have to get the large one out of the LFS tank. Also, isn't suprina flake food? Or can you get it as flake food also? Would it be better to get a 2nd one right away? Or should I wait a little bit?
 

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CAPSLOCK

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Jul 19, 2004
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#23
No, you would always want to get one of the smaller ones in the tank. Even if you end up with both males in your tank, one will just change and then they'll pair up. But, if you get a big one (female) and yours has already started to change, they can't reverse so they'll fight.

They (all clowns) are protandrous hermaphrodites, which means that they are born male and then turn female later on... this is opposed to fish like anthias that are born female and turn male (protogynous hermaphrodites). Clowns are really weird in their little system, less dominant males will not grow up to the same size as the more dominant ones. When the dominant female dies, the largest male changes sexes and each other male grows a little bit.

Simultaneous hermaphrodites are animals with both male and female parts at the same time... clownfish can't do that. Not even all simultaneous hermaphrodite species can self-fertilize, some still require a mate (but then both get pregnant... double the offspring).

Why is there difficulty in feeding perculas if they are tank bred? Mine will eat anything and everything, right from my fingers... that's yet another reason why tank bred fish are hardier.
 

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Lorna

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#24
Capslock is right, most tank bred are already used to the food that we feed them....hence they eat better right from the start. Besides, if you buy captive bred you reduce the stress to the wild stock of animals.....A concientious aquariust should buy captive bred when ever possible to relieve the pressure on wild stocks.......everyone should do their part.
 

Joe Fish

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#25
I will ask the LFS before I get another one. I'm going to go down there today to see about froze foods.

Ok, I got some froze food and I put some brine shrimp in the water. My two firefish and shrimp went nuts. It didn't look like the clown went after any of them. I got the clown on Sunday, should it be eating yet? I did notice he looked a little scruffy I think the other one I had were fighting with each other. Could that mean they were both female already? Would a wild perc and a tank bread perc live peacefully?
 

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KahluaZzZ

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Jun 12, 2004
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#26
from wetwebmedia :
It is very easy to believe that fish can thrive on brine shrimp (widely regarded as the marine equivalent of gold fish flakes), and unfortunately it is an all too common misconception that many others and I fell into believing when we first joined the hobby. There is nothing really wrong with feeding brine shrimp, as long as it is not the only food being offered and is only a small part of your fishes diet. I mean, c’mon, how would you like to eat tuna fish sandwiches every day for the rest of your life, when you could be indulging in delicious mysis shrimp or delectable squid? The benefits of a nutritious, varied diet are too great to neglect and the consequences of poor nutrition can have serious repercussions.
 

JWright

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#27
JNevaril said:
ehhhhh wickipedia isn't too trustworty, being that anybody can write an article on there......
wikipedia is, generally speaking, _more_ accurate than most sources of information for that very reason.

As another example, open source software (where everyone has access to the code and can make changes to it), it generally less buggy because there are more eyes to spot the mistakes and fix them. The same priciples apply here.
 

Lorna

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#28
I had two tank bred true percs or so I was told. One died as a result of being beaten up by my school of blue/green Chromis. I then got a large female (or so I was told) wild caught ocellaris.......the two got along famously then suddenly after about a month the large clown came down with what I thought was ich or brook??? still not sure but after treating it for two weeks she finally died. About a month or so later I bought what I was told was a juvenille true captive bred ocellaris. Since the intro the newest addition is now twice the size of the very original true perc? which I now doubt is a perc at all......these two do the shimmy shake at each other and dance around but as far as mating.....who knows.....the original one hosts my frogspawn and the newer one hosts my candycane. They swim around together and there is no aggression whatsoever.....who knows....I have heard of two different species co-existing so it is possible. Maybe you did have two females and that was the issue.....they will fight so it could have been that. I still think you should try the frozen mysis......
 

Joe Fish

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#29
I do have frozen mysis. I thought I would try the brine first. I went to the other LFS which is much nicer. I got a true perc for 20 bucks and made sure it was the smallest one they had. I just need to figure out what to do with my sand sifting star fish.
 

Joe Fish

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#31
If I had a means of shipping it I probably would. I don't think there is any way for me to keep it alive. I'm going to try to target feed the thing somehow. Maybe with a turkey baster since I don't think I have any syringes to use.
 

aresgod

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Jan 14, 2004
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#34
it is still a know fact that clowns, anthias, and various other fish are hermaphroditic(sp?) so just think about what would have happened to nemo...yes thats right, his dad would turn into a female, then he and nemo would mate...far from disney right? or is it......?
 

OCCFan023

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Jul 29, 2004
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#38
aresgod said:
it is still a know fact that clowns, anthias, and various other fish are hermaphroditic(sp?) so just think about what would have happened to nemo...yes thats right, his dad would turn into a female, then he and nemo would mate...far from disney right? or is it......?






yea I know your pain on expensive fish, my lfs does the same thing..