Onyx Clown Question

[Doherty]

About how old do the clowns need to be before they begin to increase their black markings......... The reason I ask is because I aquired a pair of true percula clowns about 15 months ago, who at the time were very young...... prob about 3-4months old. These were tank raised at my favorite place CRA. When I purchased these Jeremy informed me the mother was a onyx, and there was a chance that one of them may end up being a onyx clown as well. These clowns have developed there markings/black banding nicely and their color had remained the same without change for some time now, so I figured that they were normal percula clowns. Well to make a long story short my female clown has developed increased black markings behind it's fins over the past 2 weeks, and the black is becoming more pronounced and the areas are becoming larger............. this is making me think that the female may be an onyx clown, but not sure because I would have figured these increased black marking would have developed alot sooner if that was the case.

Let me know what you guys think, I'm not home now..... I will post up pics when able.

 

[sephly]

mmm honestly i dont know if they'll become fully black if thats wat your hoping for, we got one at CRA that was completely black and white no orange it was small, and in the tank with it all the other babies had orange faces so we def. made a point to get the all black one as over the last year everyone we've spoken to has told us that some of the ones with the orange faces dont get completely black most stay with the sunburnt face look. Which if you like that, awesome. we were told some do indeed get all black but i wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket so to speak. The parents of the one we got at cra we saw (their on the other side(right side tanks) i believe and their huge awesome looking lol ) and both had orange faces if i recall correctly which is y we didn't want to "risk" it with an orange faced baby that might not turn completely black.

Anyway thats been our experience and what we've been told, at one point we almost had one shipped in from seattle lol becase we wanted the all black so bad but the one we got is doing fine so far and has remained black.

 

[Doherty]

mmm honestly i dont know if they'll become fully black if thats wat your hoping for, we got one at CRA that was completely black and white no orange it was small, and in the tank with it all the other babies had orange faces so we def. made a point to get the all black one as over the last year everyone we've spoken to has told us that some of the ones with the orange faces dont get completely black most stay with the sunburnt face look. Which if you like that, awesome. we were told some do indeed get all black but i wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket so to speak. The parents of the one we got at cra we saw (their on the other side(right side tanks) i believe and their huge awesome looking lol ) and both had orange faces if i recall correctly which is y we didn't want to "risk" it with an orange faced baby that might not turn completely black.

Anyway thats been our experience and what we've been told, at one point we almost had one shipped in from seattle lol becase we wanted the all black so bad but the one we got is doing fine so far and has remained black.

Yeah..... I don't think it will turn all black.... Just thought it was a bit unusual for it to start to darken after this fish is almost 2 yrs old. But I have never had a onyx clown....... so I don't know long it takes for them to darken.

Any other thoughts

 

[Cjtabares]

I think Sephly has a black ocellaris which is diffrent then an onyx. Black ocellaris are black and white sometimes with the orange nose, where the onyx are black and white with orange fins.

 

[STiTCH87]

Yeah Sephyl has a B&W ocellaris.

An onyx will darken as it ages, but for it being 2 years old? IDK you're right that is odd, I think... Then again IDK but that's an interesting thought because I bught 2 clown at 4-5 months old as well. But one of them was the "runt" I guess you'd say and was smaller than the other young. But it is very very dark for such a young clown IMHO. I was thinking mine may be onyx, but if it happens young or old, IDK. I guess we'll both have to wait and see what ours turn into? Lol.

 

[Doherty]

Ok here are a few pics I just took. Note the black area behind the pectoral fins. Although the areas is small..... It has increased in size since first noticing it about 2 weeks ago. All three pictures show the same side.... it has similar darkening on both sides slightly behind the pectoral fins. The last 2 pics have both my clowns..... Look at the ones in the middle of the pic.

Let me know what u think.

 

[Doherty]

Here is a link where it shows a pic of a onyx percula clown, if you are not familiar.

http://www.aquacon.com/Clownfish_saltwaterfish.html

 

[UncleJT]

Boy, when you start cross-breeding clowns, anything can happen. I don't think your female will ever develop into a true Onyx or even a B&W. However, it will likely continue to darken some more. For how long? Who knows.

I used to obsess over stuff like this and then one day said to heck with it and just sat back to enjoy the show. You have a very healthy looking pair there, I'd suggest you just do the same.

 

[STiTCH87]

I agree with those being VERY healthy looking clowns.

I wonder why both my clowns have all black eyes rather than the orange ring... Hmm...
I hope my true percs turn out as nice as yours some day. =]

 

[Doherty]

Boy, when you start cross-breeding clowns, anything can happen. I don't think your female will ever develop into a true Onyx or even a B&W. However, it will likely continue to darken some more. For how long? Who knows.

I used to obsess over stuff like this and then one day said to heck with it and just sat back to enjoy the show. You have a very healthy looking pair there, I'd suggest you just do the same.

Hey JT! How have u been? Haven't seen u around lately.

Yeah who knows...... Only time will tell, we will see.
Love these clowns...... They have been even happier since I gave them a dedicated tank with all 7 of their anemones.

I agree with those being VERY healthy looking clowns.

I wonder why both my clowns have all black eyes rather than the orange ring... Hmm...
I hope my true percs turn out as nice as yours some day. =]

Thanks!

 

[sephly]

your right,, ours is a b&w occ. i thought thats wat you meant by onyx i know some ppl use different names so i thought thats wat you meant. sorry, my bads.

:/