Any difference in behavior between Percula and Ocellaris?

[michellejy]

I know the Ocellaris vs Percula thing is asked about 400 times, but everything I could find while searching seemed to be about telling them apart.

I had an ocellaris for over 7 years, and I loved her. She was my first fish when I set up a new aquarium after moving. She survived 2 tank leaks and a heater malfunction that killed everything else in the tank. I was actually putting together my new 28 gallon nano for her, but the juvenile clown I tried to pair her with ended up giving her a disease that killed her. (Yes, I know about quarantine. I was afraid it would turn female in the time it was in quarantine, and I am beating myself up over this a lot.)

So now that I am starting my livestock list from scratch, I am debating between ocellaris again or perculas. I am planning on a blue spot jawfish and a black cap basslet to go in the tank too. I am open to other clownfish options, but the ocellaris and percula seemed to be the most peaceful and stay the smallest.

They will be in a 28 gallon nano cube.

 

[nemmy]

They are pretty much the same fish minus a few differences that make almost no impact. They can cross breed as well.

Some say occys are friendlier and hardier than perc but there's no concrete evidence. I say if you liked your occy in the past go for them again!

 

[addictedreefer]

They are pretty much the same fish minus a few differences that make almost no impact. They can cross breed as well.

Some say occys are friendlier and hardier than perc but there's no concrete evidence. I say if you liked your occy in the past go for them again!

+1. Very similar fish. Love them both.

 

[michellejy]

Thank you both. I am feeling so much guilt over my occy that I was thinking of getting a different type just to not feel like I was replacing her. At the same time, I loved everything about her behavior so...

 

[davocean]

Might want to look at what a natural host nem match would be and that may help you decide.
Occs seem slower to accept a non natural host from my exp and reading, but nothing is set in stone, every animal may act differently.

 

[michellejy]

Might want to look at what a natural host nem match would be and that may help you decide.
Occs seem slower to accept a non natural host from my exp and reading, but nothing is set in stone, every animal may act differently.

If I remember correctly, both of their natural hosts are anemones that would get far too big for a nano. I will double check that though. Thank you.

 

[davocean]

Yeah 28g is right there on the bubble on that one, and it would not leave room for much else

 

[ThRoewer]

They are quite a bit different in behavior.
I found percula to be more shy and less adventurous than ocellaris when they have an anemone or suitable surrogate. My ocellaris would go on tank exploration tours while my current percula hardly ever lose contact with their anemones.

BTW: it is a stupid myth that a single clownfish male will turn into a female when kept alone for too long. This is totally bogus as actual field and lab experiments have shown (Fricke in the 60s or 70s on A. bicinctus).
Without a submissive partner a single male clownfish can not make that transition as it is socially controlled, especially if he is alone in a QT with no other fish.

 

[michellejy]

They are quite a bit different in behavior.
I found percula to be more shy and less adventurous than ocellaris when they have an anemone or suitable surrogate. My ocellaris would go on tank exploration tours while my current percula hardly ever lose contact with their anemones.

BTW: it is a stupid myth that a single clownfish male will turn into a female when kept alone for too long. This is totally bogus as actual field and lab experiments have shown (Fricke in the 60s or 70s on A. bicinctus).
Without a submissive partner a single male clownfish can not make that transition as it is socially controlled, especially if he is alone in a QT with no other fish.

Interesting. I had a tomato clown who lost his mate, and he visibly grew in the course of a month, despite being several years old. The same thing happened when the female of my ocellaris pair died. The male grew a full inch in a short period of time. I assumed they had transitioned to female during their time alone, based upon the size change at their age.

 

[ThRoewer]

I don't know what happened in those cases as they were adults that lost their partner. Sometimes, if the female is no longer suppressing the male it can grow larger, but that doesn't necessarily mean it also changed sex.

And with juveniles I wouldn't worry at all.

 

[ThRoewer]

Here is a link to the article:
Social Control of Sex: Field Experiments with the Anemonefish Amphiprion bicinctus

Abstract

From the underwater station Neritica, situated in 11 m depth off the shore of the Heinz-Steinitz-Marine-Laboratory in Eilat, Israel, experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of food restriction, social status, body size and relative frequency of aggressive interactions on protandric sex change in the anemonefish A. bicinctus. Some 47 fish were tagged and observed in different conditions. Caged conditions retard, sometimes even prevent sex change in dominant males; it is suggested that this is consequent upon the ensuing food restriction, also that this mechanism operates to prevent sex change in subdominants in freeliving conditions, through the aggressive restraint of dominant males. No solitary males, caged or free, complete a sex change. Complete functional sex change occurs only in well-fed aggressively dominant males at least 100 mm in body length in the presence of a social partner. The study shows that social stimuli are vital for the initiation of sex change in these males.

 

[michellejy]

Thank you for sharing that.