The Lightning Project

The ongoing saga of the PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish breeding project.

Browsing Posts published in June, 2011

Ah, this brings back memories…good old Reef Central (from which I’ve been banned since 2006 for being a “commercial seller”, which I’m not nor was at the time in question, and in fact I was following ALL the published rules; got the smackdown for what the mods called an “unwritten rule”; well more precisely for […]

So 24 hours later, not a new scratch on the smaller PNG Male, and the larger PNG female White Stripe Maroon has been tolerating her new mate. They both share the Red Bubble Tip Anemone that is in the tank (Entacmaea quadicolor). Big step forward indeed. The biggest change I noticed when observing them this […]

Today I released the “male” PNG Maroon into the Lightning Maroon’s tank once more. For most of the afternoon, NOTHING happened, because the Lightning Maroon spent the evening hiding it it’s cave, and the PNG Maroon mostly wallowed in the ORA Red Goniopora at the far opposite end of the tank. However, in the middle […]

As I turned the specimen cup over on the male PNG Maroon this afternoon, the fish struggled not to leave the protective confines of its plastic prison. It took only 5 seconds to understand why – it was immediately met with violent attacks from the Lightning Maroon Clownfish. After a minute or two of watching, […]

So last night, I worked on my pairing techniques with the normal White Striped PNG Maroons again.  I took the “female” out of the breeder box and returned her to the main tank, where the male had been recouperating from their last encounter.  All in all, I think things went remarkably better.  Still, after a […]

It’s Monday, June 21st, and the power is out as I write this.  Thankfully, Friday June 17th, I had just installed a pair of APC Battery Backups I had picked up on a gift card from Best Buy (a 5 year anniversary gift from work – thanks guys). Of course, I had looked into generators, […]

So that didn’t go well… I tried the “diversion” / “dither fish” pairing tactic with the other PNG Maroons I’ve been trying to pair up.  I initially added three small Onyx Percula culls, and then released the male PNG Maroon from his “cage”.  I was shooting video, but the battery ran out so I’m not […]

Pairing remains at a standstill for the Lightning Maroon, in large part given my desire to sit in front of the tank for an extended period and keep a watchful eye over the interactions so I can intervene if need be. Meanwhile, I’ve been digging through my circle of fish friends and trying to see […]

A long time ago, when this whole project started, I knew what I’d be in for.   Not everyone would be on board with my methods, my plans, and my decisions.  I knew there’d be criticism and disagreement. Of course, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the sharpest criticisms seem to come from those who […]

Once again, trying to pair up the Lightning Maroon.  It has been almost 2 months since I tried introducing the small proven male PNG Maroon Clown with the Lightning Clownfish back on April 11th, and a few days later it did it’s own pairing attempt overnight on the 14th.  I didn’t realize it had been […]