Help Id this Clown

[Lahn Doe]

I bought this labeled as an austrailian oscellaris which I know for certain is not correct. I think it is a sebae. I tried to pair it up with my female polymnus but I don't think they are a pair. They hang out together but will sometimes fight. The sebae? has now doubled in size and is about as big as the polymnus. Can these two pair up or should I consider trading it?

 

[reefman13]

You do indeed have a Amphiprion sebae. If they have two different anemones on different sides of the tank, they should be absolutely fine. You may even be able to try two pairs; Saddle Back pair and a Sebae pair.

Good luck.

 

[phender]

I don't know. It is hard to tell from the pics, but I am thinking Vanuatu or Solomon Island A. clarkii clown.

My reasons:
1. It looks like they is a faint white band before the yellow tail. A. sebae wouldn't have that.
2. The yellow dorsal w/ faint yellow saddle is not a sebae thing.
3. The tail is a lemon yellow and more translucent than the normal orange/yellow of a sebae.
4. The body shape seems more laterally compressed in the pic, () than the sebae that is more sausage shaped ( ).
5. Your fish has a forehead above its eye. Sebaes don't have much of a forehead.
6. A sebaes head looks too big for its body.

Compare your fish to these. Forget about the color patterns and focus on numbers 4 - 6.

 

[littlefish72]

Definetly not ocellaris

very interesting what ever it is

 

[shred5]

Yea I am not sure what that is for sure. Kind of agree with phender on it not being a Sebae. Maybe it is a juvinile yet? looks like a young fish.

Anyway it is a very pretty fish.

Dave

 

[reefman13]

Here is a sebae:

Very much similar coloration.

Here is a Clarkii:

Come to think of it, I think Phender is spot on with his guess. Clarkiis can have a much darker coloration, like his ones, and they have much more of a forehead than the sebae clowns do.

 

[timrandlerv10]

raise your hand if you think phender is the man...

!

 

[blface]

I agree with Phender. Def. not a sebae looks like a Vanuatu Clark to me also.

 

[Lahn Doe]

Thanks phender for the id and others that chimed in.

Now that we know what clown I have, will they ever pair up? The clarkii was doing the shaking thing when I first got it. After a week the polymnus let him into the area with the anemones. They will sometimes sleep in the same anemone but usually in different ones. Now three months later they are the same size and fight once in a while. Any suggestions?

 

[Lahn Doe]

The dorsal? fin was the body colored brown when I first got him and it slowly turned yellowish. Is that a problem or is that normal?

 

[phender]

As the clowns are becoming more mature, they are looking to establish their own territories. I doubt that anything other than removing one of the clowns is going to solve the problem.

The black color on clarkis is very variable. I may depend on level of dominance, type of anemone, diet, water chemistry or something else. If everything else seems ok, I wouldn't worry about it.