Long Fin Clownfish

LbulletM · Jan 30, 2017

Anybody here have one? Experiences?

melypr1985 · Jan 30, 2017

We had a pair at the store for a while. Ended up selling them to service customer who had them promptly stolen when they switched service companies from us to another company. - or so they said

Anyway, they were pretty neat. Different. Nothing of note that is different from any other clownfish aside from the length of the fins.

meir · Jan 31, 2017

I think this breed is completely wrong on so many levels

LbulletM · Jan 31, 2017

melypr1985 said:
We had a pair at the store for a while. Ended up selling them to service customer who had them promptly stolen when they switched service companies from us to another company. - or so they said Anyway, they were pretty neat. Different. Nothing of note that is different from any other clownfish aside from the length of the fins.

Hahaha guess they shouldn't have switched service companies!

meir said:
I think this breed is completely wrong on so many levels

Elaborate?

meir · Jan 31, 2017

LbulletM said:
Hahaha guess they shouldn't have switched service companies!

Elaborate?

I just don't think adding parts to a fish is ok I mean breeding color morphs is one thing but changing the actual make up of a fish is wrong

LbulletM · Feb 1, 2017

meir said:
I just don't think adding parts to a fish is ok I mean breeding color morphs is one thing but changing the actual make up of a fish is wrong

I can respect that. I feel the same way about the stubbys. They're literally breeding fish that are missing vertebrae. In my opinion, as long as the trait doesn't impede their life, it's not an issue. I haven't heard anything negative about the long fins in that regard to the clowns. To me, if it's not affecting the fish, it may as well just be another color morph. After all, color morphs are just as much a genetic mutation as the long fins.

1.0reef · Feb 2, 2017

LbulletM said:
I haven't heard anything negative about the long fins in that regard to the clowns. To me, if it's not affecting the fish, it may as well just be another color morph. After all, color morphs are just as much a genetic mutation as the long fins.

Unlike color mutations it technically could change the way they live, as an example, elephant fin Bettas which have enlarged pectoral fins have extreme difficulty swimming. It's also been observed that various variants of species with longer fins are more prone to being bullied by tankmates due to the vulnerable and delicate finnage.
They look cool I suppose, but I wouldn't get one, not only because I'd rather clownfish don't have these variations that change physical characteristics other than their pattern. But they'll probably become incredibly cheap sooner or later.

LbulletM · Feb 2, 2017

1.0reef said:
Unlike color mutations it technically could change the way they live, as an example, elephant fin Bettas which have enlarged pectoral fins have extreme difficulty swimming. It's also been observed that various variants of species with longer fins are more prone to being bullied by tankmates due to the vulnerable and delicate finnage.
They look cool I suppose, but I wouldn't get one, not only because I'd rather clownfish don't have these variations that change physical characteristics other than their pattern. But they'll probably become incredibly cheap sooner or later.

Well that's what I started this thread in an attempt to figure out. It "technically" could change the way they live, but there hasn't been any evidence that I've been able to find. I definitely would be more concerned about potential bullying, though. I wonder if the longer fins will have much effect since they're more rigid than something like a betta or goldfish. Will be interesting to see if they become less rigid and more flowy as the breed progresses.

It seems like someone came out when they first appeared and said "this is bad for fish. fish no swim good because other large fin fish no swim good. fish bad." and everyone jumped on the train.

Trying to find info on them is near impossible. I think I've probably read every article and forum post across the internet and found next to nothing except the "good vs bad" opinions (a lot of threads start with "good" and beautiful and then someone says it could be bad for them and they quickly change to "bad") and the usual press releases and coverage of the new breed being created and bred (only about a 10% per brood occurrence of the long fin morph).

None of that was supposed to come out passive aggressively if it did on a forum. Looking for genial, constructive conversation here.

Full disclosure: I did buy one last Saturday. Not as long finned as some other specimens, but still definitely a long fin. Was "only" $100.

Here's an excerpt from my tank thread:

Now the fun part! My new addition.

Long fin clown! I know it's a contentious issue with some people in the community, but I thought she (or at least will be she) was gorgeous! She's not tooooo long finned, and I think she looks pretty good compared to some of them where all of the fins are freakishly long. She seems to be swimming fine and I don't think the long tail causes any issues. Acclimated over a couple hours last night and she ate like a champ today(!) after buying some Omega mini pellets, the 1mm NLS were too large. I want to find a black snowflake/phantom/blacker ice to pair her with. I'll be finding a very small one to make sure at least one is the male in case the longfin has already changed. May have to order, we'll see.

When I was setting up my tank, I said I would never spend this much on a fish. Woops.