clownfish stripe

[rickosteen]

ok i went to the lsf a few days ago and wanted to buy clownfish for my daughter she loves nemo so i was like can i get one of those and he asked do you have another one i said no he said its better that i have two introduced at the same time so i was like ok so i got two they were not in the same tank he had a few but they seemed to be in a few tanks i got one from two different tanks brought them home and they are i guess happy they hang near each other but not all the time ok i was reading that true percs have thinner to no black around the white while false have more around the white i was looking at my hopefully same type of pair and one has black around the white and the other doesnt could i have one false and one true they dont fight just the bigger of the two once in a while lets the smaller know who is dominate

 

[phender]

The amount of black is not always a great way to tell them apart. If the clown has a lot of black between the white stripes, then it is likely a true perc (A. percula). If the clown has only black bordering the white, then it is likely a false perc (A. ocellaris). The eyes are different, as are the head shapes, but it takes an experienced eye to tell the difference.

As long as they don't fight, it doesn't matter what you have.

The pic in your gallery is an ocellaris.
A true percula would look more like this (usually):

 

[rickosteen]

ok i thought the one in the pic was an ocelaris but my other one has no black around the white at all does that mean anything

 

[phender]

Sometimes you will see percs with no black bordering the white, but you likely have two ocellaris.
FWIW: regardless of how much black they might have, percs are usually a more yellowish orange while ocellaris tend to be a more reddish orange.

Notice on my perc how the iris of the eye is solid yellow? Compare that to the dirty orange/brown of your ocellaris' iris. That is also a distinguishing feature. My guess is the eye of your other fish is similar to the one you have posted.

 

[rickosteen]

ahhhhhhhhh ok i think i see even though i cant see the iris of your that good i see what you mean thanks for the help