Why??? There are so many beautifull wild-colored fish. Why bother breeding these hybrids? I know I'll never want one.

@Frode, because now they don't have to catch these in the wild… and they are not asking you to buy it anywasy!

WHY? as sruiz stated, these are NOT wild caught. Besides the inherent benefits of being captive raised such as less risk of diseases or wild pathogens, the overall mortality rate of wild caught clownfish is pretty high.
Considering they're one of the flagship species of the Marine hobby and regarded to be “hearty,” wild clowns (especially wild perculas, maroons, saddles) can be exceptionally hard to acclimate to captive conditions, and thus suffer many losses in the hobby. This is especially true for beginner hobbyists who often add clowns as one of their first fish and are not prepared to deal with some of the maladies that can affect wild clowns such as Brooklynella.

Besides that, there is no guarantee we will be able to collect or import these wild animals in the future.

Thats one reason why most of the clownfish I sell in my store come from ORA. Every now and then I see some exceptionally nice wild clowns that I pick up, (Some of the Percs from the Solomon Islands give the some of the onyx and other designer clowns a run for their money).

Why bother with hybrids? To many they may not be that crazy, but when you have seen what seems like millions of identical 3 stripe “nemos,” a little variation is nice. I am pretty excited about this clown as I really love the variations in the stripes.

However what I feel is the main case to keep releasing “designer” fish is to pay for the experimentation and development of new species for the hobby, with Mandarins being a perfect example. I for one never thought TR mandarins would be a reality so soon.

It often takes at least 1-2 years or more to perfect the breeding and rearing of new species, and sometimes all that effort can be lost if the species turns out unsuitable for commercial production; if they don't eat prepared foods, grow too slowly, spawn irregularly, or whatevever the case may be.

Costs quickly stack up, and fish like these or Snowflakes can help offset those costs of production and help continue to bring new species to market.

For those reasons, I will continue to offer captive raised alternatives to my customers whenever possible, even if that means they do cost more initially.

Sorry guys, you misunderstood me. I am all for breeding fish. I have my own home breed clown fish! I just don't like it that people need to select and breed their 'own' races of fish. My question is: Why is just the wild colour not good enough?

Why do people breed dogs, cats, cattle, sheep, chickens, doves, koi, discus, rats, horses, pythons, tulips, roses, etc. instead of sticking with “just the wild color”? Why don't people buy truly “common corals”, the yellow-brown ones you can see everywhere on actual reefs? Moreover, why do people pay top dollar for naturally aberrant fish and other animals/plants?

Are all these people stupid for not settling with the wild type? No. Many people are interested in unique animal colors, and selective breeding is a good way to achieve that. Selective breeding also helps to perpetuate such colors that could quickly die out in the wild due to poor camouflage. Besides, you are breeding your own clowns not based on whether in natural selection terms they would have been a made a good pair (note that clowns often form harems in the wild) but because they happened to be available for you. In this way, your methods are not very different from ORA or other breeders.

IMO, the true potential danger of selective breeding is not appearance (at least for captive livestock) but one of decreased genetic diversity and inbreeding problems. One can even see it in some captive bred clowns with facial deformities. There always has to be a balance between preserving some genetic traits and maintaining overall genetic health and diversity.

Lak, you got a point there.
It's not that I wanted to offend anyone. Certainly no fish loving breerders at ORA!
Guess I was a bit fed up with the fact us humans never being satisfied with what they got. But maybe that´s my own problem

btw my corals are very brown

isn’t the real question: when and where can I get these now? =)

isn't the real question: when and where can I get these now? =)

Keep nature natural!

Keep nature natural!

[...] New ORA Black Ice Semi-Snowflake Clownfish Reply With Quote   + Reply to [...]

Frode, also you may be interested to know that the original snowflake clowns were produced by a normal pair of ocelaris, so this snowflake pattern is a naturally occuring thing, just a result of genetics my friend