btw my corals are very brown

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.

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.