Clown Fish True or False ?

[lionfish323]

Ok, i hope someone can help me out with this! How can you tell the difference between a True Percula and a False Percula?

 

[Yinger]

true percs have a more definitive black line between the orange and white. Ocellaris barely has the line and sometimes no line at all.

 

[NicoleC]

The amount of black isn't a good test usually because it also depends on the age of the fish and individual variation. Regular orange A. perculas *usually* have more black and thinker black than A. ocellaris, but it isn't definitive.

Without killing the fish and examining the skeleton, the best visual method is looking at the ring around the eye. In A. ocellaris, it's muddy and typically greyish-orange. In A. percula, it's clear and usually bright orange.

 

[Charles99]

Yinger is correct.

i also hear that there is a difference in the # of spines in the dorsal fin. haha.. like someone can actually count them with the fish moving all over the tank.

 

[NicoleC]

"Muddy" eye ring on A. ocellaris:

Looking for good non-flash A. Percula eye pic.

 

[NicoleC]

Several clear eye ring photos of A. percula on this page:
http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/A/Amphiprion_percula.asp

 

[Yinger]

usually its pretty easy to spot the difference between an ocellaris and a percula at an LFS isn't it? I always just look the stripes and its worked pretty much at all LFS. I guess its for those that are a little harder to distinguish.

 

[NicoleC]

Sometimes it's obvious after you get the knack, but for learning to ID the eye is the giveaway. Mature ocellaris often have deep, thick black (like my male above), while juvenile perculas develop their black late and slow. The eye ring is there as soon as they get their orange coloration and even before the black lines develop.

 

[laverda]

Nicole that is a much easier way to tell them apart!

 

[phatphisher]

NicoleC = hardcore reefer's way to indentify percs

Yinger = average joe's way.

either way i think works.

 

[jeffrey_ropp]

NicoleC - Thanks for offering this up!

Your method is the best I've seen yet. For a given individual, the more commonly used attributes tend to fail as key differentiators.

From Joyce Wilkerson's book, even the number of spines will vary within a given species.

Coloration seems to be somewhat useful too. Most A. ocellaris seem lighter in general to me.

Thanks again Nicole!

 

[NicoleC]

Thanks to John Hardman (jhardman on RC) -- his awesome clownfish posts taught me this method and once you get to actually see the difference, it all suddenly makes sense!