Clarki Allards difference

[orcafood]

What are some distinguishing characteristics to tell Allards clownfish from Clarki clownfish?
Thanks

 

[Toddrtrex]

Wish I knew. I remember a couple of years ago going back and forth what mine were. In the end it was determined that they were Clarkii's, but I don't recall what it was that made them Clarkii's. Would be best to post pictures of them.

 

[orcafood]

I dont have either, but I saw some Clarki at the fish store that looked very like the Allardi I had seen on the internet.
Anyone else know of some distinguishing characteristics of these fish?

 

[Toddrtrex]

This isn't the best picture, but here is my pair of Clarkii's. The male has faint stripes on his tail.

 

[orcafood]

I a Clarki in my lfs yesterday, but they looked like Allards clownfish. The clarki in question looked 'similar' in color to all the other clarki's but its tail was darker and had a white stripe near the top.
Does that sound like clarki or allards?

 

[philter4]

The difference is hard to tell, they are both part of an 11 species complex of closely related species. A. clarkii is very wide spred and has several color variations depending on geographic range, dominance and even reproduction. Also because of cost and range, allardi isn't often found in the american pet trade and when it is it is 3 or 4 times the cost of clarkii. There is the possability of mis labeled fish being sold at the wrong price, but I would guess it would be the other way around, a clarkii being called and sold as allardi, not the other way around. Allen and Fautin have a great book called Anemone fish and their host anemones, that details both sp and has some varifying marks, but some can only be told apart by collection location and things like # of scales and fin rays. Because of the variation among individual clarkii, if the one you were looking at was with a bunch of other clarkii clowns I would bet money it was a clarkii.

 

[orcafood]

So is there no way to tell any difference at all?
Why pay the larger price tag then?

 

[Jay03GT]

here is a pic of my Allardi. At least it is supposed to be an Allardi. I'm no expert though.

 

[Jay03GT]

I know it is a bad picture, I'll try get a better one when the lights come on later. The biggest difference I see between a Clarkki and an Allardi is the tails look different, not solid white on the Allardi, and the black on the body is more solid and covers more of the lower part of the fish.

 

[Jay03GT]

ok, I think this is a better pic.