Breeding Journal, Species: [Amphiprion ocellaris]

General
Species:  Amphiprion ocellaris (darwin variant female, naked male)
Social Structure:  mated pair
Size of Individuals: female - 3.5", male 2"
Age of Individuals:  unknown
Date added to Tank:  1/22/11

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  15g
Substrate Details:  bare bottom
Filtration Details:  sponge filter, CPR skimmer
Water Changes:  2gallons every two weeks (so far)
Water Temperature:  81°F
Lighting:  Standard aquarium flourescant
Lighting Cycle:  14 hr on/10 hr off
Other Tank Inhabitants:  none

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 pellet, IO Omnivore Diet Marine Chips (flake), frozen foods (mysis, bloodworms, mashed krill, squid)
Feeding Schedule: 2-3 daily feedings of pellet or flake, one daily feeding of frozen

Spawning Details
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Hatch Details
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Larval Tank Details
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Larval Feeding Details
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Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: 
Days after Hatch: 
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Description of Fry: 

Grow-Out Tank Details
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Additional Information

Miscellaneous Information: 
The pair were bought from the LFS, who obtained them from a local breeder as an previously established spawning pair.  I have been trying to get contact information for the breeder to get possibly lineage information as well as previous diet.  The LFS stated that the pair would spawn every full moon.

This is my second pair of clowns (the first have not started spawning), but the first broodstock pair I got explicitly for the purpose of breeding.  I am partially concerned about the naked male though.  He has an underbite, and looks a bit like a bulldog.  The LFS said that it was a common trait with line breeding, but I take his advice with a grain of salt.
 
My webcam is terrible at making out details, but my iphone doesn't have a fast enough shutter speed to get better than a blur of the fish.

 
You can partially see the underbite here and I wanted to get other people's opinions. I don't want to pass that trait on if I end up successfully raising fry, but I also don't want to have to excessively cull when I'm just starting out and trying to just get fry to live long enough to reach marketable size.
 
I'm not adverse to pairing the darwin female up with a new male, but I imagine that'll be starting back from square one with the female spawning.

Hello. Glad to follow your journal.
 
Question on the underbite to other breeders reading...does that happen alot? 
 
And also...what are you planning on obtaining with this pair> meaning what would the offspring be called?  (still learning the ins/outs of clownfish breeding... is there a name for this type of paired breeding already... or will you be coming up with a name for your babies?)
 
Also- curious to know... if the female will be stronger in the mix and the babies will look more like her?
 
Good luck Will follow to read / learn

Michelle  
 

Thanks, Michelle.  I'm just getting started, so it's nice to have knowledgeable people looking over my shoulder at this point.
 
ORA does have what they call "Midnights" that are black nakeds.  I'll probably call mine "fish." 
 
That's not really what I'm shooting for though.  I'm not ready to start a business of it just yet, but I want to learn the process.  Mostly, I was interested in getting a breeding pair that wasn't standard ocellaris.  Even though I was hesitant about the underbite, I went ahead and got this pair since I figured I could see what turns up in a couple of spawns and if it ends up not being desirable then I could pair the female up with another aussie darwin.
 
I haven't found any research that shows if genetic traits are more prevalent from the female or the male.  Which likely means it's dependant on the strength of the gene and not the gene donor.  I believe the black coloration is a pretty strong gene with darwins.  The naked variant is probably a recessive gene, so I am not counting on that trait continuing in the offspring.

Yes, this site has alot of informative helpers I am happy as well to be on here.
 
Will be following - as interested to see what unfolds with the mix....
I am going to keep an eye on one of the babies of my picassos... as I am not sure if it is an 'underbite' or just a strong jaw? Not really sure how to tell, lol....doesn't look like a bulldogs' underbite so it may not be anything at all.... but curious if that trait will pop up in your offspring.
 
More curious to see how the colors pop out.... keep the videos coming very curious haha

Michelle  
 

I got to talk very briefly with Matt Pedersen about this pair when he came down to give a presentation at Next Wave.  My original concern was about the male's underbite, but Matt was more focused on the pairing of a black and white with a "naked" ocellaris, and wanting to focus on preserving wild genetic lines over designer strains.  He said one thing though that really settled it for me, "you'll just have to see what the offspring look like."
 
Well, I've seen the offspring this pair were producing before I got them, and I realized that I didn't much care for their coloration.  Instead of all black, or broader black markings, the overall orange of the offspring are more brown.
 
So, with that realization, I've decided to split this pair up.  The male will likely be sold to someone in the local club, and I've already got a couple of local stores lined up to notify me if they get any Australian black and white juvies.
 
This pair is done.  I'll start a new breeding journal once I am able to get the black and white female to accept a new mate (or if my ocellaris in my reef tank surprise me with eggs).

Did you get any pics of the offspring? I makes sense that the pair would produce a more "muddied" coloration. Good luck establishing the new pair.  

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Here's a picture of one of the offspring:
 

 
Even if they continued to darken up as they age, it would still not get completely black.  On the other side, even if a "naked" morph came out of it, I don't think it would be all that attractive.
 
Thanks for the encouragement.  I've never tried establishing a pair from one mature clown before, but I anticipate it being easier than from two juveniles.

Thanks for posting the pics! It helps to illustrate what you were describing. 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

I should have asked earlier... was that coloration typical of all of the offspring from that pairing? I agree with Matt regarding species specific protocols but I'd love to know what is going on at a genetic level, especially when it comes to clowns. Take a look at what my Picasso pair produces in each batch. It's fascinating.  

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

This is the only one of the offspring I've seen from this pair, but the breeder that sold them had several other similar pairs (darwins with nakeds) and they all had some degree of dirty coloration.  I would say it's a better than even chance that's pretty typical of mixing those two specific color traits.
 
I'm sure that with several generations of interbreeding, you could likely get the color to even out and produce what ORA is calling their "Caramel Ocellaris" or the Midnights if you're lucky.  The steps to get there though I don't particularly enjoy the look of.
 
I've followed your results with your Picassos and Platinums with interest, and those remain pretty attractive even in the in-between stages.  Platinum traits continue to get reinforced as they are paired up with other platinums or high grade picassos, and I'm pretty sure it's going to result in achieving an all white clown at some point.