The black lightning clownfish is a very interesting new strain of domestic clownfish which really got our attention at the LFS last weekend. We’ve been saying ‘lightning clownfish’ for so many years now, it is second nature to say ‘Lightning Maroon Clownfish’, but this eye-catching new strain is actually a development of a black ocellaris clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris.
While touring the Mile High fish stores in the Denver area, we made our way to Liquid Kingdom in Broomfield Colorado. This store was jam packed with loads of different clownfish strains from many different breeders. But the one clownfish that really got our attention is the black lightning clownfish from Alpha Aquaculture.
We’ve seen just about every strain of clownfish in the world, from dominos to snowflakes to black ice to nebulas and galaxies, platinums, titaniums, blizzards, tornadoes and just about every kind of natural phenomenon you can name a clownfish after; including the true Lightning Maroon Clownfish. Normally a clownfish specialist is on hand to assist us in defining the small differences between the slightly different strains but the Black Lightning got our attention from across the fish store.
Like the OG Lightning Maroon Clown, the Black Lightning is defined by a central ‘bar’ which has developed into a branching white patch that does impart a slight dendritic pattern like actual lightning. At present the Black Lightning’s namesake branching white spot only covers a dime-sized area on the side of the body, but we can already foresee a refinement of this particular trait into a ‘super lightning’ where the branching pattern covers more and more of the fish’s body.
What we also particularly liked about our first encounter with the black lightning clownfish is the overall quality of the fish in general. The fins were all full and straight, the face was well-proportioned and appropriately formed, the body color is generously black and the fish just didn’t look like it was the result of a genetic inbreeding experiment.
And the price was very reasonable too at a very fair $149 which if we didn’t already have a nice pair of designer clownfish at home, would have been strongly considered. The black lightning clownfish is the coolest new strain of clownfish that the captive breeders have come up with in a while and we are just as excited to see how this strain will be worked on and further developed in the future.
