Several weeks ago, we had the chance to travel to the edge of the Earth, also known as Duluth to Minnesotans. We undertook the voyage through the treacherous Snowpacalypse Vortex III in order to finally lay our own eyes on the incredible achievements of Matt Pedersen with the fabled Lightning Maroon Clownfish. Although we thought we were traveling to see the original mama Lightning Maroon, nothing could prepare us for the incredible beauty of her offspring.
First of all, it is a minor miracle that Matt was able to obtain any sort of variability in his first cross of the Lightning Maroon Clownfish with a normal barred maroon clownfish from PNG, but what a score! Not only did he get a good number of wildly patterned F1 Lightnings, the patterning is wildly variable and develops in an incredible way throughout the fish’s age and growth.
It was an incredible experience to behold Lightning Maroon Clownfish at Matt’s house in all stages of development; from the foundation ‘mare’ of the broodstock, to juveniles of varying sizes, to newly metamorphosed micro fish of two clutches. The most stupendous fish in the Lightning Maroon Clownfish colony is by far the most striking fish in the group, not only for its age and size but for what this fish reveals about how Lightnings grow and develop their barring.
The ‘best’ Lightning Maroon Clownfish start out life nearly all white over their body, and as the fish grows and matures, the solid white begins to be perforated with individual dark maroon scales. As this process develops, the black spots grow in size and turn into the kind of reticulated pattern that can take your breath away. While a very few lucky individuals are already enjoying their first generation lightning maroon clownfish, please enjoy this stunning HD video of what this strain can eventually become and we wish Matt all the best as he continues working on this sensational addition to the marine aquarium world.
