ORA Premium Picassos are an extremely rare and highly sought after variant of the Percula Clownfish. The Picasso variant occurs naturally in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea however it is exceptionally rare. ORA's strain of Picassos originated in 2004 from a single wild male from the Solomon Islands, which we paired with a typical Onyx female. In subsequent years we have added additional wild collected Picassos into our breeding program. Most Picasso clowns in the industry can be traced back to ORA’s breeding program.
Premium Picassos are specimens of superior quality that are hand-selected for their uniqueness. These astounding fish exhibit even greater white coverage than our regular Picassos. Our experienced graders look for premium features such as extra stripes or markings on the face and head that have been recognized as desirable patterns. They always consider the oddness and rarity of the striping, making each fish a unique specimen. Only an extremely small percentage of offspring qualify as ORA Premium Picassos.
As with our regular Picassos, ORA Premium Picassos reach a seller size of 1.5 inches at approximately 7 - 8 months of age. These juveniles have yet to develop the characteristic black in the mid-body. The black pigment will develop as the fish ages until maturity. We were hoping that our Picasso broodstock would produce thousands of Picasso offspring every year, however only a small percentage of fish from each Picasso spawn qualify to become Picassos or Premium Picassos. The majority of Picasso offspring look like ordinary Perculas.
