Solomon Islands percula clowns

[Cheese Griller]

I’ve always wanted a pair of wild Pericles, and with my new biocube setup I figured it would be the perfect time to acquire a pair. I work remotely far away from any lfs, but was at the corporate headquarters last week. It’s a 6 hour drive, but I know of a few really solid Lfs in the area, one of which regularly has wild percs. Brought my battery powered air pump and a 5 gal bucket in case they had some when I was in town. Luckily, they had two left.

They only hold fish for 24 hours, so I had to wait for the day before I was headed home to reserve them. Fortunately they hadn’t sold by then, so all that was left was to drive them back!

I filled the 5 gal bucket with 2 gallons of saltwater, hooked up the air pump and started the drive. As luck would have it, I encountered the worst traffic I have ever seen on that route, which turned a six hour drive to eight. Luckily, the fish were total troopers and were successfully drip acclimated and added to the tank when I got home in the early hours of the morning.

For the first morning they hung out by the heater, scoping out their new home. They would leave briefly to explore, or to absolutely crush some pellets I put in to make sure they were still eating. To my delight they seem to love the pellets, although even 3mm pellets seem a little too large for the smaller fish.

Today is day two and they are much bolder, they already respond to me opening the lid to feed them, and have set up shop near the rock work on the bottom right of the tank. The larger fish flashed once on the gills yesterday, so they are undergoing a precautionary prazi treatment. (Hence the airstone). Overall, they seem to be doing quite well, and I look forward to watching them grow as the centerpieces of this tank!

 

[Tahoe61]

They are stunning. Such great coloration and defined black lines. I have sworn I will never get another pair of clowns, but I would be hard pressed to pass those up.

 

[kevgib67]

I’ve always wanted a pair of wild Pericles, and with my new biocube setup I figured it would be the perfect time to acquire a pair. I work remotely far away from any lfs, but was at the corporate headquarters last week. It’s a 6 hour drive, but I know of a few really solid Lfs in the area, one of which regularly has wild percs. Brought my battery powered air pump and a 5 gal bucket in case they had some when I was in town. Luckily, they had two left.

They only hold fish for 24 hours, so I had to wait for the day before I was headed home to reserve them. Fortunately they hadn’t sold by then, so all that was left was to drive them back!

I filled the 5 gal bucket with 2 gallons of saltwater, hooked up the air pump and started the drive. As luck would have it, I encountered the worst traffic I have ever seen on that route, which turned a six hour drive to eight. Luckily, the fish were total troopers and were successfully drip acclimated and added to the tank when I got home in the early hours of the morning.

For the first morning they hung out by the heater, scoping out their new home. They would leave briefly to explore, or to absolutely crush some pellets I put in to make sure they were still eating. To my delight they seem to love the pellets, although even 3mm pellets seem a little too large for the smaller fish.

Today is day two and they are much bolder, they already respond to me opening the lid to feed them, and have set up shop near the rock work on the bottom right of the tank. The larger fish flashed once on the gills yesterday, so they are undergoing a precautionary prazi treatment. (Hence the airstone). Overall, they seem to be doing quite well, and I look forward to watching them grow as the centerpieces of this tank!

I can see why you wanted the wild caught ones, stunning!

 

[Reefing102]

Haven’t seen wilds in a long time here. It’s amazing just looking at the pictures, the quality difference in genetics from captive raised.

 

[Cheese Griller]

They are stunning. Such great coloration and defined black lines. I have sworn I will never get another pair of clowns, but I would be hard pressed to pass those up.

Thank you!! Hopefully the continue to thrive. And yeah I was dead set on doing a Caribbean biotope for this tank until I remember the wild percs.

 

[Cheese Griller]

I can see why you wanted the wild caught ones, stunning!

Thank you!

 

[Cheese Griller]

Haven’t seen wilds in a long time here. It’s amazing just looking at the pictures, the quality difference in genetics from captive raised.

I was originally planning on getting some of the c-quest line onyx Pericles, but I couldn’t find any pictures of them grown out and the stock pictures were less than stellar. It really is such a bummer that the CB ones are so structurally different. They had a few CB percs in the tanks next to these, and the difference was super noticeable.

 

[Ironwill723]

I’ve always wanted a pair of wild Pericles, and with my new biocube setup I figured it would be the perfect time to acquire a pair. I work remotely far away from any lfs, but was at the corporate headquarters last week. It’s a 6 hour drive, but I know of a few really solid Lfs in the area, one of which regularly has wild percs. Brought my battery powered air pump and a 5 gal bucket in case they had some when I was in town. Luckily, they had two left.

They only hold fish for 24 hours, so I had to wait for the day before I was headed home to reserve them. Fortunately they hadn’t sold by then, so all that was left was to drive them back!

I filled the 5 gal bucket with 2 gallons of saltwater, hooked up the air pump and started the drive. As luck would have it, I encountered the worst traffic I have ever seen on that route, which turned a six hour drive to eight. Luckily, the fish were total troopers and were successfully drip acclimated and added to the tank when I got home in the early hours of the morning.

For the first morning they hung out by the heater, scoping out their new home. They would leave briefly to explore, or to absolutely crush some pellets I put in to make sure they were still eating. To my delight they seem to love the pellets, although even 3mm pellets seem a little too large for the smaller fish.

Today is day two and they are much bolder, they already respond to me opening the lid to feed them, and have set up shop near the rock work on the bottom right of the tank. The larger fish flashed once on the gills yesterday, so they are undergoing a precautionary prazi treatment. (Hence the airstone). Overall, they seem to be doing quite well, and I look forward to watching them grow as the centerpieces of this tank!

Mind sharing the name of the shop you picked them up from?

 

[Cheese Griller]

Mind sharing the name of the shop you picked them up from?

Marine warehouse in Tampa FL!

 

[Ironwill723]

Marine warehouse in Tampa FL!

Thanks! I'll have to check them out. Beautiful clowns.

 

[Cheese Griller]

Thanks! I'll have to check them out. Beautiful clowns.

Thank you!! And you absolutely should- they have very reasonable prices for very high quality livestock. Staff is great too!

 

[angelsandtangs]

Marine warehouse in Tampa FL!

Very nice family owned store .. I have a few fish from them .. they always pack my fish for a 8 hour round trip without any issues

 

[Ironwill723]

Wish I lived closer. I only get down that way once every few years.

 

[Cheese Griller]

Very nice family owned store .. I have a few fish from them .. they always pack my fish for a 8 hour round trip without any issues

Yep, they even gave me some extra water to help it hold temp for longer since I had such a long trip. One of my top 3 stores in the Tampa Bay Area.

 

[Cheese Griller]

Update on the clowns- they’ve settled in very nicely and continue to eat very well. I’ll be able to remove the air stone on Sunday since they will be done with their prazi then, I haven’t noticed any additional flashing which is a relief.

Since my tank is far too young for an anemone, I’m going to gradually add a collection of softies to see if they will host anything. They’ve ignored a rhodactis mushroom that I added last week, I’ll hopefully have better results with a toadstool I’ll be picking up tomorrow. My last few tanks have been mixed reefs, but I have had such an enjoyable time just being able to relax and watch this tank without worrying about more difficult corals.

 

[jamie1210]

Update on the clowns- they’ve settled in very nicely and continue to eat very well. I’ll be able to remove the air stone on Sunday since they will be done with their prazi then, I haven’t noticed any additional flashing which is a relief.

Since my tank is far too young for an anemone, I’m going to gradually add a collection of softies to see if they will host anything. They’ve ignored a rhodactis mushroom that I added last week, I’ll hopefully have better results with a toadstool I’ll be picking up tomorrow. My last few tanks have been mixed reefs, but I have had such an enjoyable time just being able to relax and watch this tank without worrying about more difficult corals.

they are beautiful! congratulations on finishing QT!

 

[Cheese Griller]

they are beautiful! congratulations on finishing QT!

Thank you!!

 

[D-Nak]

I'm a huge fan of SI and PNG clownfish, particularly since the black part of the clownish is--for lack of a better description--very black. Most onyx clownfish come for these regions as well.

 

[Cheese Griller]

I'm a huge fan of SI and PNG clownfish, particularly since the black part of the clownish is--for lack of a better description--very black. Most onyx clownfish come for these regions as well.

agreed, I'm excited to watch this pair mature and hopefully get some more black on them!

 

[D-Nak]

agreed, I'm excited to watch this pair mature and hopefully get some more black on them!

I suspect that you'll see black develop between the first and second stripe, but maybe not between the second and third stripe. In my experience, when the black fades into the orange (like we see between the first and second stripe) then there is a higher likelihood of the black filling in, but when it is a more abrupt change (like we see between the second and third stripe) then it may not fill in at all.