Hawaiian CB Latz (A. Latezonatus)

[Zumaboy]

This is my 1st posting on this wonderful forum. Please let me know if there is another site on this forum I should move this article to thanks .

photos above; Juvenile Latz (A. Latezonatus) just months old.

Latz have been bred in captivity in Australia and elsewhere. Results have not been without serious flaws - incomplete middle bands, or totally missing middle bands being common.

Until these problems are resolved its unlikely that quality captive bred Latz will see themselves in your home aquarium anytime soon. Wild caught Latz have their issues too. Originating from the sub-tropical waters of Australia, these Latz live where water temperatures are between 63 and 77 degrees F (17-25 degrees C), depending on season. This imposes additional financial burden on the hobbyist who would have to set up special tanks for the cooler water temperature needs of these Latz.

Furthermore, wild caught Latz do not travel in shipping very well.

I recently spoke with Aquarium Biologist Karen Brittain at the University Hawaii, and Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on these issues. Karen is best know for being only the second person in the world to have successfully spawned and raise saltwater angelfish in captivity. Karen tells me that she enjoys the challenge of breeding rare clownfish, especially ones that have difficulty adjusting to captivity, ones that ship poorly, and those that are very challenging to spawn in captivity,they are however generally hardier and fair better once bred and raised in captivity. Most of all, she emphasises that CB help reduce the number of fish collected from the wild.

I am happy to report that Karen had done it! She has successfully spawned and raised Latz in captivity without any of the flaws noted earlier. Karen's captive bred Latz are identical to their wild caught counterparts you can't tell the difference.

Equally important - Karen's Latz thrive in 78-82 degree F water temperatures.

Her associate Chris tells me they do not use chilliers in Hawaii. 25-28C is amazing, as that means no special tanks or expenses are needed. This is good news. It brings the regular marine aquarist closer to owning A, Latezonatus. and also Latz that can be introduced into their main display tanks with other tropical marine critters.

Final question: What about the still relatively high cost of Latz?

Karen wishes to make her fish available to as many hobbyists as possible. For this purpose, she has found a like-minded person in California to make this happen. The online saltwater fish store iBluewater will bring her CB Latz to the masses at a reasonable price.

Photos below; Juvenile Latz (A.Latezonatus) aka Wide Band Anemonefish)

Photos courtesy: Chris Wachi/iBluewater

[yikai]

excellent.

thank you very much for posting here.

congratulations on Karen and i've heard much about her with regards to Genicanthus personatus! If you could pass the message on to her, a couple of my friends and i are extremely impressed by her work. good job.

we do have some local breeders here but breeding mostly percula clowns, gobies and some dottybacks.

I do hope one day to see the full barred captive latezonatus clown in Singapore, as all we've gotten so far are mis-barred ones.

[Digiman]

Welcome.

Interesting tat your first post is a clownfish, and a rare one in this hobby.

There are many clownfish experts here, one of them being fuel.

If u are interested in clownfish and breeding, u should contact some of our local breeders here, one of them being fuel.

They will hav a lot to share with u!

[Zumaboy]

excellent.

thank you very much for posting here.

congratulations on Karen and i've heard much about her with regards to Genicanthus personatus! If you could pass the message on to her, a couple of my friends and i are extremely impressed by her work. good job.

we do have some local breeders here but breeding mostly percula clowns, gobies and some dottybacks.

I do hope one day to see the full barred captive latezonatus clown in Singapore, as all we've gotten so far are mis-barred ones.

Thank you for your kind words. I will let Karen know when I speak with her tomorrow. I'm told the online store iBluewater has shipped to Singapore and Hong Kong.

On an off topic I was recently in your Super clean and beautiful country. I was on a dive trip in Oman documenting A.Omanensis. and stopped over for a week. I

will be sure to also post that article on this forum.

[yikai]

Thank you for your kind words. I will let Karen know when I speak with her tomorrow. I'm told the online store iBluewater has shipped to Singapore and Hong Kong.

On an off topic I was recently in your Super clean and beautiful country. I was on a dive trip in Oman documenting A.Omanensis. and stopped over for a week. I

will be sure to also post that article on this forum.

YOU HAVE OMANENSIS AND MADAGASCAR CLOWN!?!?

omg u have to show me pics.

do you have fuscocaudatus as well?

[yikai]

Thank you for your kind words. I will let Karen know when I speak with her tomorrow. I'm told the online store iBluewater has shipped to Singapore and Hong Kong.

On an off topic I was recently in your Super clean and beautiful country. I was on a dive trip in Oman documenting A.Omanensis. and stopped over for a week. I

will be sure to also post that article on this forum.

thanks!

Singapore is indeed clean because the penalty for littering is pretty high!

Yes please do tell Karen. I am a big fan of hers and obtaining G. personatus is not only a world wide phenomenon, but breeding it and raising the fry, that's legendary!

So you have 26 out of the 29 clowns known? I am not really a big fan of clowns but i love the oman, fuscocaudatus, latifasciatus and latezonatus.

you have oman and latifasciatus right? It would be fantastic if you could post some photos.

as for fuscocaudatus, the tail is simply marvelous! it would be really awesome if you have that too!

[Zumaboy]

Welcome.

Interesting tat your first post is a clownfish, and a rare one in this hobby.

There are many clownfish experts here, one of them being fuel.

If u are interested in clownfish and breeding, u should contact some of our local breeders here, one of them being fuel.

They will hav a lot to share with u!

Thank you for the welcome. I will be sure to get in touch with Fuel. I have a large collection of rare Clownfish which includes Madagascars,Latz,Omans etc.

I'm sure Fuel and I will have a lot in common.

[FuEl]

Thank you for the welcome. I will be sure to get in touch with Fuel. I have a large collection of rare Clownfish which includes Madagascars,Latz,Omans etc.

I'm sure Fuel and I will have a lot in common.

Yes will love to get to know you more. I have 2 adult pairs of Chrysogasters that are doing anything but breeding. I need to breed the rarer clowns. Breeding black ocellaris & perculas are getting awfully boring.

[Digiman]

Thank you for the welcome. I will be sure to get in touch with Fuel. I have a large collection of rare Clownfish which includes Madagascars,Latz,Omans etc.

I'm sure Fuel and I will have a lot in common.

Wow with that huge collection of rare clownfishes u hav to share pics with us in this forum.

Or is there another forum where we can see pics of your collection?

I'm not a huge fan of clowns, but some of your clowns are super rare and unobtainable in the trade! Are u into breeding them?

Cos clownfish are the easist to breed from wat i know and it'll be great if u can share your knowledge of these rare clowns with our local clownfish breeder fuel and hopefully one day these rare clowns will be made available in the trade.

[Zumaboy]

thanks!

Singapore is indeed clean because the penalty for littering is pretty high!

Yes please do tell Karen. I am a big fan of hers and obtaining G. personatus is not only a world wide phenomenon, but breeding it and raising the fry, that's legendary!

So you have 26 out of the 29 clowns known? I am not really a big fan of clowns but i love the oman, fuscocaudatus, latifasciatus and latezonatus.

you have oman and latifasciatus right? It would be fantastic if you could post some photos.

as for fuscocaudatus, the tail is simply marvelous! it would be really awesome if you have that too!

I will be more than happy to share pics of Omanensis and Latifasciatus... I'm working on an Omanensis article in it are many pics of Omans. I shall post it here in a few days.

[yikai]

Wow with that huge collection of rare clownfishes u hav to share pics with us in this forum.

Or is there another forum where we can see pics of your collection?

I'm not a huge fan of clowns, but some of your clowns are super rare and unobtainable in the trade! Are u into breeding them?

Cos clownfish are the easist to breed from wat i know and it'll be great if u can share your knowledge of these rare clowns with our local clownfish breeder fuel and hopefully one day these rare clowns will be made available in the trade.

all this while it's alwas been percula percula percula. From ORA and from many other sources.

finally someone with something much rarer and ground breaking.

like digiman i am not a big fan of clowns but the rarity and subtle beauty of oman clown have always captivated me!

[FuEl]

Cos clownfish are the easist to breed from wat i know and it'll be great if u can share your knowledge of these rare clowns with our local clownfish breeder fuel and hopefully one day these rare clowns will be made available in the trade.

Correction, not all clownfish are easy to breed. Clarkii complex clowns can be frustrating to get breeding. You can literally wait for years.

Not to mention some species are such a challenge to keep alive, much less to get breeding. Chrysopterus for instance. I can't even remember how many I've killed.

[Zumaboy]

YOU HAVE OMANENSIS AND MADAGASCAR CLOWN!?!?

omg u have to show me pics.

do you have fuscocaudatus as well?

fuscocaudatus will be number 27 when I head for the Seychelles in April

[FuEl]

fuscocaudatus will be number 27 when I head for the Seychelles in April

So envious! What happens when you've collected all 29 species? Perhaps you can start collecting all the geographical variants of Amphiprion clarkii?

[Zumaboy]

Yes will love to get to know you more. I have 2 adult pairs of Chrysogasters that are doing anything but breeding. I need to breed the rarer clowns. Breeding black ocellaris & perculas are getting awfully boring.

Please to meet you. What water temperatures are your chrysos kept in, what photo period and what foods do you feed them?

[yikai]

fuscocaudatus will be number 27 when I head for the Seychelles in April

i wish you all the best in obtaining Fuscocaudatus. It is my favourite clown!

While you're there, try getting Paracheilinus hemitaeniatus. If labrids interest you as much as clowns.

[FuEl]

Please to meet you. What water temperatures are your chrysos kept in, what photo period and what foods do you feed them?

I keep them 25.8-27 degrees celcius. I believe the cool water did help with these fish. Photoperiod is 14L:10D. I feed them pellets, blended seafood, frozen polychaete worms, gutloaded live adult brine shrimp. They are just not breeding. I'm not using an anemone for them though, I don't think it's compulsory? They have lots of small anemones to sleep in though (aiptasia).

[Zumaboy]

So envious! What happens when you've collected all 29 species? Perhaps you can start collecting all the geographical variants of Amphiprion clarkii?

There is a guy in Canada who has all the 16 or more variations of A. Clarkii

[Zumaboy]

Yes will love to get to know you more. I have 2 adult pairs of Chrysogasters that are doing anything but breeding. I need to breed the rarer clowns. Breeding black ocellaris & perculas are getting awfully boring.

I'll be more than happy to give you advice on breeding etc.

[Digiman]

I'm curious, what are the two other clownfishes u dont have now apart from fuscocaudatus?

[FuEl]

I'm curious, what are the two other clownfishes u dont have now apart from fuscocaudatus?

Some I would guess.

Amphiprion chagosensis

Amphiprion tricinctus

Did I get it right?

[Digiman]

Some I would guess.

Amphiprion chagosensis

Amphiprion tricinctus

Did I get it right?

Tricinctus is not too hard to obtain. Maybe Mccullochi?

[yikai]

Tricinctus is not too hard to obtain. Maybe Mccullochi?

mccullochi would be an obvious guess but now with captive bred mccullochi, i don't think so?

perhaps zumaboy has already obtained it.

but who knows. i'm curious about the 2 clowns he lacks too.

[FuEl]

Tricinctus is not too hard to obtain. Maybe Mccullochi?

Not too hard to obtain but harder to keep alive, just like chrysopterus. I lost my tricinctus within 24 hours. Mccullochi now is being bred in U.S and Australia so should'nt have much issues obtaining the fish I would think.

[Zumaboy]

I keep them 25.8-27 degrees celcius. I believe the cool water did help with these fish. Photoperiod is 14L:10D. I feed them pellets, blended seafood, frozen polychaete worms, gutloaded live adult brine shrimp. They are just not breeding. I'm not using an anemone for them though, I don't think it's compulsory? They have lots of small anemones to sleep in though (aiptasia).

in order for clownfish to breed ie. not take years

a) your water tempt should be between 82 n 84F I believe that would be 28-29C

photo period 12 n 12 tropical hours are roughly 12 n 12

c) feed them no less than 5 times daily, but keep an eye on water quality.

d) water quality ammonia=0 nitrite=0 nitrate below 5ppm