Be sure to check out our latest coral, Green Planet.  Check out the details on the Product Page.

Be sure to check out our latest coral, the Ant Insignis.  Check out the details on the Product Page.

ORA’s team of biologists have been spawning and rearing Amphiprion rubrocinctus for approximately 15 years.  Or at least we thought. . . These fish we affectionately call “Rubies” appear similar to the common Tomato Clownfish (Amphiprion frenatus), except they have a taller body profile and maintain a fairly uniform orange-red coloration throughout their lifetime.

Like all of ORA’s original broodstock, our Ruby pairs came from Aqualife Research Corporation in Walkers Cay, Bahamas.  We received them sometime in 1996-1997 when the facility was shutting down.  The complete history of our Ruby pairs could not be determined with absolute certainty but we do know they were collected from the wild and had been at Aqualife since 1993.

In 1972 Gerald Allen grouped reddish-orange colored clownfish from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa with Amphiprion rubrocinctus (Allen, 1972).  A subsequent publication by Allen in 1980 determined that the distribution of A. rubrocinctus was limited to Western Australia and that these South Pacific Island fish were color variants of Amphiprion melanopus, the Cinnamon Clown (Allen, 1980).  The misidentification was already well entrenched in the aquarium hobby however, and these fish were still referred to as A. rubrocinctus and sold under the common names Australian, Fiji Tomato or Ruby Clownfish.

Nearly 20 years later Gerald Allen, Joshua Drew and Les Kaufman described these fish as a distinct species, Amphiprion barberi (2008). They concluded that A. barberi are found in Fiji and western Polynesia while A. rubrocinctus are found off northwestern Australia, with the two species’ populations being geographically separated between the distributions of A. melanopus (Allen et al., 2008 ).

The aquarium hobby, including ORA, has been slow to catch up with the name change.  Just to be certain, we decided to contact Joshua Drew, one of the authors of the paper describing A. barberi, and made plans to have some of our “Ruby” clownfish sent off for genetic analysis.  Joshua was eager to help with identifying our clownfish and he reported to us that the species we have is indeed A. barberi.

Whatever you have been calling them, Ruby, Australian, or Fiji Tomato clownfish have been a staple in the trade for decades but it turns out they have all been misidentified.  It is possible that the real A. rubrocinctus has never even been in the US aquarium trade before!

So if you have one of our “Ruby” clowns swimming in your tank, take note that its taxonomic identity is in fact A. barberi.

References:

Allen, Gerald R., The Anemonefishes, their classification and biology.  Neptune City:  Tropical Fish Hobbyist Publications, 1972.  Print.

Allen, Gerald R., Anemonefishes of the World. Mentor:  Aquarium Systems, 1980. Print.

Allen, Gerald R., Joshua Drew, and Les Kaufman. “Amphiprion Barberi, a New Species of Anemonefish (Pomacentridae) from Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.” Aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology 14.3 (2008): 105-14. Print.

Barberi Paper

]]> http://www.orafarm.com/blog/2013/04/03/name-change/feed/ 2 http://www.orafarm.com/blog/2013/03/01/new-ora-coral-mint-pavona/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-ora-coral-mint-pavona http://www.orafarm.com/blog/2013/03/01/new-ora-coral-mint-pavona/#comments Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:06:18 +0000 ORA http://www.orafarm.com/?p=2991

We’ve added another coral to our list this week!  Head over to the Product Page to learn more about the ORA Mint Pavona.  

Be sure to check out our newest fish, the Black Cardinal (Apogonichthyoides melas).  If you are stopping by the Global Pet Expo in Orlando this week you can stop by and see some in our display tanks.  Product Page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8wXWQZhPEM

It is rare to find an entire genera of reef fishes extremely well-suited to live in an aquarium, but Devilfish (Assessor spp.) make great aquarium residents for several reasons.  Their maximum length of 3 to 4” makes them suitable for most sizes of aquariums.  They aren’t overly aggressive with other species or conspecifics and can be kept singly or in groups.  Assessors frequently exhibit a unique and rather humorous upside-down swimming behavior.  Finally they are easy to keep since they easily adapt to various commercial and prepared diets.

Here at ORA we have been raising Yellow Assessors (Assessor flavissimus) and Blue Assessors (A. macneilli) for nearly a decade.  With the help of our friend Koji Wada at Blue Harbor in Japan we recently acquired a new species to the US  trade, A. randalli.

At first glance, a Randall’s assessor could be confused with a Blue Assessor, however Randall’s assessors are more likely to exhibit upside-down swimming behavior and their color scheme is more elaborate.  The majority of their body is blue with the interior of each scale containing a rusty red dot.  The head region is green-blue and their fins contain rays of green, red and orange. These subtle colors are best observed when keeping a small group of them in a reef tank with other boisterous but unaggressive species.

We recently had our first small batch of Randall’s assessors go through metamorphosis and now we are working on building up numbers of this unique fish.  Fortunately Randalls assessors are nest spawners, similar to Yellow Assessors rather than mouth brooders like the Blue Assessor.  This leads to large nest sizes and we expect this will lead to steady availability with the first fish reaching the market in early 2013.  We are excited to share some short video clips of some of our eldest F1 individuals.  They begin to look and act like miniature assessors shortly after metamorphosis.

Thanks to Kevin Kohen for letting us use his Randall’s Assessor photo.

Maroon Clownfish, Premnas biaculeatus, are most commonly encountered in two varieties – the Gold Stripe and the White Stripe.  ORA has been breeding Maroon clowns for 16 years and during that time most of our efforts have focused on Gold Stripe Maroons from Sumatra because they are considered to be the most attractive and desirable variety.  In recent years there has been increasing interest in fish with unusual pattern variations, the most notable being the Lightning Maroon.  Despite the interest imports have been rare and until recently success with their captive breeding was limited.

Our first Jigsaw White Stripe – 2005

ORA acquired their first wild Maroon clown with unusual markings in July of 2004.  The fish originated in the Solomon Islands and was shipped to us along with our first wild Picasso Percula Clownfish, the very fish that became the foundation of all Picassos that we produce to this day.  At the time, the name “Jigsaw” was the popular name used to describe Maroons with aberrant patterns.  Our experience in breeding Jigsaws was much different than with breeding Picassos and unlike Matt Pedersen with his Lightning Maroon, we didn’t see uniquely patterned offspring from our fish.   After several batches of normal White Stripes we focused our efforts on Picassos, Snowflakes and the other designer clownfish we were working with at the time.  That Jigsaw is still in broodstock and he’s been spawning reliably for 7 years now!

There is some degree of pattern variation within spawns from every species of fish we raise.  With Gold Stripe Maroons, many offspring end up with incomplete bars, or “misbarred”, but we frequently encounter fish with small amounts of extra white on their flanks too.  These fish have usually been sold right along with the regular barred Gold Stripes.  Not long ago our broodstock department starting holding back some of the most unusual patterned fish.  Even though our Jigsaw White Stripe hadn’t produced extra white offspring we wanted to see if the pattern would pass down to offspring of these Gold Stripe Maroons.

ORA Premium Goldflake Maroon

To our surprise, spawns from these select fish did result in increased numbers of uniquely barred offspring. What was once seemingly random had become a reproducible event.  We needed to come up with a name.   We couldn’t call the fish Jigsaws, because these were Gold Stripes and the pattern was quite a bit different from our wild caught White Stripe.   Internally at ORA our staff affectionately called them Funky Maroons but never intended on selling them as such.  Within the hobby it seems that Goldflake has become the accepted name for other Gold Stripes with this pattern variation.   Rather than come up with an alternate name that would confuse hobbyists we have decided to adopt it.  Each Goldflake will have a unique pattern and, depending on the degree of white on the fish, these fish will be graded as regulars or premiums.  Some of the premium fish have white that covers nearly half of their bodies.   These fish will look absolutely spectacular when the white turns to gold as they mature.   While the standard Goldflake will be readily available from ORA, the Premium Goldflakes are still exceptionally rare, perhaps one in 20,000 fish making their availability VERY limited.

Juvenile. Approx. 4 months

Our efforts to intensify the amount of aberrant pattern on the Goldflakes through selective breeding have produced an added bonus – something entirely original –  a nearly all white Gold Stripe Maroon clownfish much like the Platinum Percula.  These fish are very new and we only have a few spawns in the production pipeline but it appears that our pairs will produce them reliably unlike the Premium Goldflake.  They are still too young for their white pattern to turn gold but they will be stunning once it begins.  In time, as we watch them develop, we will try and come up with a name for them.  Suggestions are welcome!

Goldflake Maroons are available from ORA now.  Most fish will have extensions on the middle bar or spots.  24K Solid Gold fish will be available in coming years.  You can visit the ORA Goldflake Maroon product page here.

** UPDATE **  We wanted to clarify something.  The “Jigsaw” Whitestripe had no part in the Goldflake breeding program nor did any other fish aside from pure Gold Stripe Maroons.

Check out all of our new ORA themed Aquaculture license plates!    These colorful specialty plates are available exclusively to Florida vehicle owners.    The Aquaculture plate, designed by renowned marine wildlife artist and conservationist Guy Harvey, is one of the 120 different license plate designs available in the Sunshine State.  Each plate raises funds for a particular group or cause.   In the case of the Aquaculture plate the funds support the Harbor Branch-FAU Aquaculture and Stock Enhancement Program.  As a private company, ORA does not receive any proceeds from the sale of the plate.

More information from Harbor Branch – FAU

The Florida Aquaculture plate costs an additional $30 per year ($25 annual tax-deductible donation and $5 annual state fee.) In addition to the annual fee, you will pay a one-time plate charge of $28 for your new plate, unless it’s time to replace your license plate.

 

License plate revenue supports the Harbor Branch-FAU Aquaculture and Stock Enhancement Program in four primary areas: fish aquaculture, molluscan aquaculture, aquatic animal health, and education. Much of the work is directed toward improving the productivity, efficiency, and sustainability of aquaculture.

 

Project goals include advancing the efficiency of fish aquaculture systems, optimizing culture of the Florida apple snail to restore populations to enhance survival of the endangered Florida snail kite, examining alternate clam species to diversify the product base of Florida shellfish farmers, and characterizing elevated levels of copper and zinc in queen conch in the Florida Keys. Aquaculture license plate funds also support the Program’s Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory, which investigates health and disease issues of aquaculture species, including how ecological changes impact health, reproduction, and recruitment.

In about a week, the crew over at Reefs.com will be releasing a coral identification database for their already established Reefs Mobile App. We’re delighted to be the first line of corals featured in the Reefs App Coral Database!  All of ORA’s coral photos and descriptions will now be available in the palm of your hand for on the go identification.  Hopefully this handy app will help answer some of your ORA Coral questions when there’s no computer within reach. Head over to their site to lean more about it!