Solomon Percula

[ThRoewer]

Updates

Pair 2
The female is eating a bit better now, but prefers Cyclops which is a pain to feed (about once every hour). Mysis is largely ignored and she takes brine shrimp somewhat reluctantly.



Pair 3
A overly aggressive Anemone crab took a bite out of the dorsal fin of the female:

[ThRoewer]

It looks like even with S. gigantea the black may be fading a bit.
At least that's what I currently observe with my pair 3

1st May


3rd May


5th May


8th May


14th May


The last picture doesn't really show how dramatic this really is. On both the black fill of the hard dorsal fin has practically disappeared and the orange patch on the back has clearly expanded, particularly on the female.

[daveM100]

That's their natural host isn't it?

[ThRoewer]

Yes, S. gigantea and H. magnifica are the natural hosts for A. percula and the melanistic percula varieties are exclusively found in giganteas while all the percula found in magnifica have little to no black borders of the white bars and never any expanded black areas.

Though like the ones shown in the quoted post below it is possible that percula in a gigantea change color. I'm not sure why, maybe it's a seasonal thing or in my case influenced by the color of the anemone (which in my case is still pretty white)

Originally Posted by Yuri Barros

I translate this text in Japanese to Portuguese.........using the PC.........and its a little difficult to undestand...........

http://www.png-japan.co.jp/blog/

But what I understand is that..........this fish.........once predominating Orange...........change the coloration to almost Black.............and then turm some parts to Orange again..........after a year or so............

First picture.......(the fish is the same)........



Then almost entire Black.........



And after a year.......some parts turn Orange again......



Is this right.......???

This is the first time........I saw.........a documented color change in Amphiprion percula in the Wild.............

[ThRoewer]

The black is clearly retreating, even in a gigantean. It is most dramatic on the female.

This was how she looked when I put them with the gig on the 5th:



This is how she looks today, just 10 days later:

[CoralsAddiction]

Add a "stubby" true percula from SI to this list. LOL

[CoralsAddiction]

Originally Posted by CoralsAddiction

Add a "stubby" true percula from SI to this list. LOL

and a video of it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNy6uOC3uuY

[ThRoewer]

Wild or not, it's still a deformity.

[CoralsAddiction]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

Wild or not, it's still a deformity.

It is but I had never seen one before. Just sharing it with the world.

[ThRoewer]

Update:

Pair 2
I feel the female of pair 2 is over the hump - no more white stringy poo and she eats like crazy.

Pair 3
Both are still loosing black at their back area. I'm wondering if this will return over time when the anemone colors up more.

[ThRoewer]

Update

Pair 2:
Looks like these two are good now. No more stringy poo and both are eating well. But so far they haven't completely bonded yet. But I don't think it will be to long. The female is pretty big and with a bit more TLC she should be ready to lay eggs soon.



These two got lucky that I took them - the two remaining from that shipment looked like they were on their last breath when I was at AC last weekend.

Pair 3:
These guys only leave the gigantea for food and then you just see orange flashes shooting out of the anemone and right back. Otherwise they lay most of the time lazy in the anemone and do pretty much nothing. I think this is their idea of clownfish paradise
These two are the only ones where the bigger one never chases the little one - and it was like that right from the start. The small one already started cleaning some of the gravel in front of the anemone.
Must have been love at first sight or I reunited a pair that was separated during handling and shipping.



Pair 4:
These two eat like pigs and pretty much everything I throw in.
Unfortunately both got some Lymphocystis, the smaller more than the bigger one. I suspect they got it when they got beaten up in the holding facility on the Solomons as 3 or 4 of the other percula that are still at Baja Reef also have it. It's only on the body, not on the fins. I fed them some beta 1,3 glucan to boost their immune system.
These two adopted the H. malu that is now well attaché to a live rock.



The ones of that shipment that were still at Baja Reef all looked well and pretty healthy. I was pretty tempted to take another pair home but first I would need to empty out one of my FW tanks.

[Dkuhlmann]

Originally Posted by CoralsAddiction

Add a "stubby" true percula from SI to this list. LOL

I really like Stubby

[CoralsAddiction]

Originally Posted by Dkuhlmann

I really like Stubby

Isn't he cute? Haha. He reminds of Karlsson from Karlsson on the Roof cartoon (mostly popular in Europe)

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by CoralsAddiction

Isn't he cute? Haha. He reminds of Karlsson from Karlsson on the Roof cartoon (mostly popular in Europe)

Never saw the cartoons, only the TV show with real actors...

As for another pair of percs, I guess I get one more - I still have a QT available with no clowns in it

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

The black is clearly retreating, even in a gigantean. It is most dramatic on the female.

This was how she looked when I put them with the gig on the 5th:



This is how she looks today, just 10 days later:

By now the female has gotten pretty "blonde"

[ThRoewer]

Last Saturday I found this little guy:



He is at the most 1.25 inch in length but has already full coloration.
According to the store it came from Bali Aquarich via a L.A. wholesaler.
I took him despite not being wild because it has no deformations and precisely the coloration of one of my first Solomon percula pairs back in Germany (the ones in my avatar).
Another Bali Aquarich "true percula" they had, had a more typical juvenile percula coloration and was an obvious designer castoff with a white front dorsal fin. No idea if this tiny onyx is also a designer castoff or a true "true percula".

For now have him in a half gallon tank within my refugium (therefore the purple-blue light) until I get a space in my regular QTs.
No idea yet where I will put him after the QT period.

[ThRoewer]

Time for an update!

Pair #1:





This was them about 18 months ago:


They have grown a bit, but not as much as I would have expected. Both are still small and a long way from spawning.

The female developed a "blonde" spot at the base and in her hard-rayed dorsal fin while the male got all black in the front.
These two never leave their gigantea more than a body length, not even for food that is a bit higher right above the anemone.


Pair #4



The purple gigantea was the last I bought (never needed treatment) and the tan-green gig is my very first which came from LA and was my first successful Cipro treatment. That one suffered a bit from it's time in the 18" cube but is getting better now with daily feedings.

This was pair #4 13 months ago:


12 Months ago in what seemed to have been a crispa:


Their colors stayed pretty much unchanged and both have grown significantly. The female almost doubled in length an looks by now as if she is getting ready to spawn. Just in case I already offered them a ceramic shard.
The male was pretty beaten up and had the first rays of his dorsal fin clipped when I got him. By now those bones have regrown a bit, but you can still see that the front of his fin is shorter than it should be.
They are less afraid to leave the anemone(s) and have also take exploration trips to the middle of the tank.
I'm glad I convinced myself to take them - back then I was close to not take them and wait for a better pair (which never came and then the store closed).
These two are on the way to become my best pair and likely the first to spawn.

[OrionN]

I am very interested in how pair number 3 changes. Have they recover the black as the Gigantea recover?

My experience with Magnifica, one Onyx pair completely lost their back in a Magnifica, then recovered all their black in the same Magnifica after 6 months. It was pretty drastic. I have it on a thread somewhere her many years ago.

I don't know the health of the anemone have anything to do with it. I did not think the Magnifica was unhealthy anytime during this this strange color change.

[CoralsAddiction]

Originally Posted by OrionN

I am very interested in how pair number 3 changes. Have they recover the black as the Gigantea recover?

My experience with Magnifica, one Onyx pair completely lost their back in a Magnifica, then recovered all their black in the same Magnifica after 6 months. It was pretty drastic. I have it on a thread somewhere her many years ago.

I don't know the health of the anemone have anything to do with it. I did not think the Magnifica was unhealthy anytime during this this strange color change.

Check out this thread. The clowns in it lost color in BTA and regained it in a gig.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2582817

[ThRoewer]

This morning my Pair #2 spawned for the first time.



It's a rather small nest, but that's nothing unusual for a first spawn.


I added the new malu to the 100 gallon tank together with the little Bali Aquarich onyx. I placed it far from the gigantea of Pair #1 where it is also out of their sight:



At first he stayed with the malu, but once the lights went out he snuck up to the gigantea with Pair #1:



He managed to stay and hide between the tentacles until noon when I fed the anemone. Though it seems the pairs aggression against him isn't too bad right now as he is allowed to stay in the coral next to the gigantea:



Since Pair #1 never leaves their anemone for more that one or two body lengths he is fairly save and I will leave him there for now to see how this plays out. He definitely doesn't seem to be inclined to return to the malu.

Another thing that I observed was that, despite being with the malu in the QT for over a week he still got stung by it when I moved them over and he finally tried to go inside it. Though he had no issues diving straight into the gig.
It seems percula do not need to slowly acclimate to giganteas, but have to to other anemones that are not their natural hosts.

[CoralsAddiction]

Congrats on the spawn. There's a chance your pair might accept the juvi as the third wheel. I've seen it happen in captivity whith an Ocellaris breeding pair.

[ThRoewer]

He was back in the anemone this morning, but got kicked out after the lights come on.

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[ThRoewer]

I couldn't see the little one yesterday, so I checked around the underside of the anemone by lifting the sides of the anemone a bit and there he was hiding.
Today seems the same and he is nowhere to be seen. Though today I won't chase him out but rather wait and see how things play out.

I think this is very similar how posts larva clownfish sneak into already occupied anemones. The tiny ones can easily hide among the tentacles or underneath the anemone.
I also think that the size of the anemone is a key factor whether the new arrival is accepted or not.

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[ThRoewer]

Pair #2 laid their second batch of eggs on Thursday. I feel the eggs are a bit lighter in color. I probably need to feed more pellets and Calanus pods...



Time to get a rotifer culture going again.

[ThRoewer]

This was their first clutch:



(no idea why the picture disappeared from the post above)