Where to find Clowns?

[Sherri]

Anyone know of a good place to get clowns? Would like to get a pair of Percula Clowns - possibly male & female. I am aware that the larger of the two will become the female. Is it possible to order "a pair?"

Just wanting good quality, captive bred and decent price....or is that asking too much?! :shock: Or is it better to go to a store and visably pick out my own?

Thanks...Sherri :rotf:

[RedDragon]

well in Austin I told Gary to Hold me An active clown, I think they all were breed cuz all of the clowns were so small, but I dont know with is better looking at the LFS or on-line, most of the other clowns were like half an inch

[Chris]

Clowns are about the only thing PetCo is good for as far as saltwater goes.

They get theirs from ORA (http://www.orafarm.com/) so they're tank raised and pretty cheap.. about $14.99

The other local shops usually get a few clowns in as well but i've never seen anyone selling a true pair other than AQS&S.

[Sherri]

Thanks Chris. I would prefer True Percula's. So locally, what do they do?...sell Ocellaris? If I want True Perculas...would it be better to order them from Live Aquaria, for example? Or someone else?

Where is AS&S when we want them so badly?!?!?!? :cry:

Sherri :rotf:

[Chris]

Well... liveaquaria.com seems to be out of stock... you could try searching around town through the shops...

You could also try asking Ray(Triggerman) when he does another order.... if he can get em... let me know, i'd like to get a pair too 8)

[captexas]

I would be very uneasy about buying any livestock from PetCo and would never recommend anyone buy from there. Yes they do seem to have a lot of clowns there, but live animals are not exactly well taken care of there as has been documented many times in the past.

It is very difficult to find a store selling a set pair of clowns. I happened to buy a pair from Aquatek in Austin, but the larger of the two didn't live very long. After weeks of looking around S.A. trying to find a true percula, I finally found a few at Forever Pets. I have had mixed success with livestock from there and took a chance on one that was smaller than the one I already had. After awhile, they finally made friends and are inseperable now.

Many stores have clowns listed as perculas, but they are not true percs (especially true for PetCo). Alamo gets perculas in frequently and I have seen them sell some as pairs although not often. I would also suggest seeing if Tim Marvin or Ray(Triggerman) could order you a set pair or just two and see if they pair up. They will give you good quality and fair price.

Good luck, I love my clowns!
Chris

[RedDragon]

same here Petco is not too good with fish the last time I when to
Petco I asked for a blue damisal and the guy asked me if they were
salt water or freshwater fish, well I just left and every time I go by to
see what they have I tanks look bad and they had a yellow tang there
one time for 15 dollars but It was yellow-white I felt like buying it to get it away form that evil place, and the fish tanks are to small for 15 fish in them tanks look like a 15 or 20 gallon long :evil:

[Sherri]

I probably have TOO MUCH patience, so I want to go the best route. Will check with Ray and Tim to see if they have any info.

I'll let you know Chris, but probably/hopefully they will read these posts ( :read: ) and let us all know.

Sherri :rotf:

[Tim Marvin]

In my opinion ORA is the only place to get clowns! I would definately buy them from Petco, IF you could get them still in the bag! Don't take one from there tanks. Bring them home, put a couple drops of dechlorinizer in a small bucket with an airstone, and pour the clowns in, water and all. Don't handle them. Then set up a drip system, airline tubing with a knot in it, control the drip with the knot. Tighten for slow drip loosen for faster. Then drip acclimate for a few hours. After you have doubled the water volume in your bucket empty some out, and double it again. Then you can take a cup and scoop them out and put them in your tank, preferably at night. I have had VERY good survival doing it this way and buying from ORA. I usually don't loose any. The problem with most stores is: they float them, pour in a little water and dump them in the tank within a half an hour. Clowns are very sensitive and the PH change in the water causes the low PH, acidic, to burn the gills when you try to dump in the higher PH water 8.0. This makes most clowns die within a few days after getting them. You will notice them panting, actually suffocating. Drip acclimations will eliminate this problem.

[MikeP]

I have one aquacultured ORA perc I got locally from Gallery. I kept checking out the ones at Petco up near the arboretum but they apparently lost their fish person and I went to look at the tank full of false percs they had Ich everywhere and at least half looked like they had brooklynella or velvet I'm not sure which. I told the kid working there and he was kinda of clueless. Also I've looked in the one at round rock and seen 2 tomato clowns beating up and injured one, told the clerk and they just shrug.

I would like to see them stop selling live animals all together but at least marine fish to start with. I went back to look at same tank a week later and 9/10ths of the clowns were gone (dead im assuming since the other tanks were the same). Amazing how they can manage to kill a tankful of healthy fish in such a short period of time. They were kind enough to inform me that a vet comes every few weeks - yeah that helps a lot when brooklynella kills in a day or two at most.