Captive Care, Collection and Breeding of Mccullochi Clowns

[mrblue]

Thought it would be fitting to title this thread with the same name I used for my very first thread about Mcc's. I suppose that thread was the question, and this one the answer.

Heres a few pics for starters and I will try and get to the story soon, that is if people are interested...









Hope these pics are a little better then my last effort .

[Colby]

I am so envious it is probably not healthy for me....

Good job. The juvies really do raise the question of which group they should be in....adults look like Tomatoes, but the young look like Clarkii complex fish...

[damer]

looks good.

are there two lots of eggs on that tile?

[FuEl]

Wonderful job! Did'nt know the juveniles looked so different.

[mrblue]

There are two lots of eggs on the tile, Damien. It's the second time they have laid a double nest. I was a little surprised they did it this time as they have been on a limited diet lately.

Colby, as I said before, from what I have seen I would guess these guys are more related to latz or akindynos then melanopus. Apart from the colour they all look almost identical as juvies and all three have a rather extended juvenile periods but it is hard to get past the tomatoey appearance as adults. I would be interesting to see what a genetic test would say. Maybe they are an offshoot of two of the three complex's. I have been told by collectors that they have seen both akindynos x latz and latz x melanopus pairs in the wild.

[mrblue]

My little horde of Mcc's.

[DrHsu]

Looking good...looking good.....

I see some incomplete bars. Are they coming in, or going out?

[mrblue]

I've noticed this with some of the earlier ones and I think they are maybe miss-bars. They seem to develope to a point but don't recede. The only change in the bands I have seen is a slight recession of the head band (you can sort of see it in the first juv pics) from the top and the tail band/stripe starts white then changes to yellow and now with the oldest is going white again.

[mrblue]

I should have said that some of those fish in the latest pic could still be developing their stripes, though a few a probably still 'miss-bars'. They have not long metamorphosed and a few stragglers have only just made it through the change.

[sebae09]

your my hero, but the question is are you going to be selling any? if so how much? they are my favorate clowns and i would die for a pair..

[mrblue]

Sebae09, I will be selling them. I would rather not go into price. I have an idea what the initial price, wholesale would be, but that is to the Tokyo and Hong Kong markets. I wouldn't have a clue what a retail U.S price would be.

Ryan.

[criccio]

How awesome is that, the larger ones kind of resemble miniature adult tricinctus, very nice.

[mrblue]

Good to see you have made it over Chris. I never thought of that but they do kind of look like tricinctus. I've been trying to think if there is another clown that looks exactly like that at that age.

[Jens Kallmeyer]

Sebae09, I will be selling them. I would rather not go into price. I have an idea what the initial price, wholesale would be, but that is to the Tokyo and Hong Kong markets. I wouldn't have a clue what a retail U.S price would be.

Ryan.

Hi Ryan

Congratulations, you are my hero. But please...don't sell them all to Asia, let us poor Europeans have a few of your little gems as well.
I can organize a shipment to Europe, there is a retailer/wholeseller that would kill for a few of those, he already does many imports from Australia, sohe knows how to handle the legal aspect. Just talked to him on the phone, he asked me: how many, how much, when, where do I have to send the pickup?
Would you be interested? You can also contact me via email (kallm (at) gmx.de)

Cheers

Jens

[DrHsu]

Sebae09, I will be selling them. I would rather not go into price. I have an idea what the initial price, wholesale would be, but that is to the Tokyo and Hong Kong markets. I wouldn't have a clue what a retail U.S price would be.

Ryan.

Hi Ryan

Congratulations, you are my hero. But please...don't sell them all to Asia, let us poor Europeans have a few of your little gems as well.
I can organize a shipment to Europe, there is a retailer/wholeseller that would kill for a few of those, he already does many imports from Australia, sohe knows how to handle the legal aspect. Just talked to him on the phone, he asked me: how many, how much, when, where do I have to send the pickup?
Would you be interested? You can also contact me via email (kallm (at) gmx.de)

Cheers

Jens

Jens,

I believe shipments from Australia to Europe do a stopover here in Singapore?

.....j/k - just messing around with you

[mpedersen]

FWIW, I think there are a few breeders in the US that could really do well at establishing the species in culture here...so please do try to get some coming to the US

Another "please do" - when you do decide to sell them, could you make a post in the marketplace?

Really nice looking babies.

Matt

[Peter Schmiedel]

Li,

I would take care the the "Asian Connection" is supplied too

[mrblue]

[Hi Ryan

Congratulations, you are my hero. But please...don't sell them all to Asia, let us poor Europeans have a few of your little gems as well.
I can organize a shipment to Europe, there is a retailer/wholeseller that would kill for a few of those, he already does many imports from Australia, sohe knows how to handle the legal aspect. Just talked to him on the phone, he asked me: how many, how much, when, where do I have to send the pickup?
Would you be interested? You can also contact me via email (kallm (at) gmx.de)

Cheers

Jens

Hi Jens,
Don't worry, they wont all be going to Asia . I was planning to send some to Europe, I already have some wholesalers chomping at the bit from your area. I will send you an e-mail with some details for this wholesaler.

Ryan.

[mrblue]

FWIW, I think there are a few breeders in the US that could really do well at establishing the species in culture here...so please do try to get some coming to the US

Matt

Not sure if I should be offended by this lol. I think I have done a pretty good job so far and I don't see why I can't establish quite a decent captive population myself.

As most of you are breeders, I hope you don't take offense but, to be blank... I haven't worked non-stop for 2.5yrs, and I mean, hard painful work at a huge expense, basically bankrupting myself to get to this stage to rush these fish direct to other breeders. I'm not totally nuts. I'm not sure many people would do any different.

Because of my experiences with some U.S breeders I'm had originally not planned to even send Mcc's to the U.S until that crap was cleared up so the breeding community may have to be patient.

At this stage, because of personal requests to the exporter (who will be organising most of my initial shipments) from U.S wholesalers I'm considering sending some over as more become available.

Ryan.

[DrHsu]

Bro,

I think you deserve to milk as much as you can from them in the initial rush - you deserve it.

As most of you are breeders, I hope you don't take offense but, to be blank... I haven't worked non-stop for 2.5yrs, and I mean, hard painful work at a huge expense, basically bankrupting myself to get to this stage to rush these fish direct to other breeders. I'm not totally nuts. I'm not sure many people would do any different.

Anyone in your shoes would do the same - nothing wrong with it. We'll just wait patiently!

[mrblue]

Thanks Li Chieh,
Wasn't sure if I was being a bit rough saying that. But don't worry, eventually everyone's patience will pay off. Hopefully by that time I will have F1's of at least two different parents. If I haven't already said, I do have two spawning pairs, just haven't seen a hatch from one of them yet .

Ryan.

[DrHsu]

What's the update on the number of pairs you have now? Last I remember was something like 5 pairs, right?

[mrblue]

I did have 5 , I am sad to say I did lose one pair along the journey. For no apparent reason the pair I had in the 10ft died, very strangely. One day they were cleaning a nest like mad, next day the female just starting freaking out, racing around the tank bashing into things. Nothing I did helped and she didn't make it through the night . The male just hid this whole time, and continued hiding for another day before also dieing . I never worked out what happened and still haven't done anything with the 10ft.

My little CB juvies make that loss a little easier to bear, just a little.

[mpedersen]

FWIW, I think there are a few breeders in the US that could really do well at establishing the species in culture here...so please do try to get some coming to the US

Matt

Not sure if I should be offended by this lol. I think I have done a pretty good job so far and I don't see why I can't establish quite a decent captive population myself.

Very True Ryan, Very True. I do agree, you should recoup the costs of your efforts plus a handsome profit for bringing this rare fish into the hobby...it's definitely a worthwhile effort in my book. I just have to gripe about all the fish we don't see simply because they all end up in Japanese Aquarium Shops - Americans like to spend their money too

Matt

[DrHsu]

I did have 5 , I am sad to say I did lose one pair along the journey. For no apparent reason the pair I had in the 10ft died, very strangely. One day they were cleaning a nest like mad, next day the female just starting freaking out, racing around the tank bashing into things. Nothing I did helped and she didn't make it through the night . The male just hid this whole time, and continued hiding for another day before also dieing . I never worked out what happened and still haven't done anything with the 10ft.

My little CB juvies make that loss a little easier to bear, just a little.

Sad to hear, Ryan. Although I must say 4 out of 5 is still pretty good.

As for the 10ft - I say nuke the tank with bleach! That's what I have decided to do to "tanks of death" from now on!

(As an aside, could you do a thread on your latz and the strange problems they have as you mentioned in your pm? I hope to get more soon and I want to know your quarantine procedures etc.....and I'm sure many others would also like to know)