Clownfish species, variants, and classification!

[1.0reef]

Clownfish Identification

Here are some I.D. guides to similar looking variants and species.

 

Ocellaris vs Percula

Ocellaris characteristics: Perucla Char.

Colored Iris/Eye No black/brown coloration in eyeball/iris

Usually higher dorsal fin Usually has a slightly shorter less pronounced dorsal fin

10-11 Dorsal Spines 9-10 Dorsal spines

Ocellaris

vs Percula

 

Wyoming White Ocellaris vs Platinum/Blizzard Percula

 

Picasso Percula vs Da Vinci/Fancy White Ocellaris

Generally can be I.D.ed by eyes and dorsal spines.

Picasso

 

Tomato vs Melanopus/Cinnamon

Easiest to I.D. by the color of the pelvic fins, Cinnamon clownfish have solid black ones, Tomato's have orange pigmentation on them. Some variants of both species will exhibit blue colored stripes. The similar Fire clownfish has no stripes at all as adults. Tomato's are the largest species by a slim margin.

Tomato

Cinnamon

 

Clarkii vs Sebae vs Others

Clark's are quite easy to distinguish from Sebae's, they generally get somewhat higher (From belly to dorsal fin), don't exhibit the teardrop body shape of Sebae's, and also very few variants look like most Sebae's. Most Sebae's also have wider white stripes.

Clarkii

Sebae

vs Amphiprion akindynos (Has only 2 bars)

.

vs Amphiprion allardi (Two bars, unique caudal peduncle color, and bright yellow anal/pelvic fins

vs Amphiprion bicinctus (Yellow Caudal fin)

vs Amphiprion chagosensis (Very, very rare- Unusual coloration and anatomy-Thin head band)

vs Amphiprion chrysogaster (Grey-ish upper face, white edging on dorsal and caudal fin)

vs Amphiprion chrysopterus (Large size, blue bands, yellow dorsal fin)

vs Amphiprion fuscocaudatus (Grey-ish face, yellow lower fins, dark brown-black body/dorsal fins)

vs Amphiprion latifasciatus (Yellow forked caudal fin, two wide bands

vs Amphiprion omanensis (White, forked caudal fin, dark color, incredibly rare)

vs Amphiprion tricinctus (Three narrow stripes, dark caudal fin)

[1.0reef]

Finished the clarkii and percula complexes!

[Lilies & Lace]

Misbar are $50-$60 here

[1.0reef]

For ocellaris/percula? Seems a bit overpriced.

[Jaden1592]

 

Thought I'd share my lil' guy, he's a bit camera shy so this was a tough shot suprisingly!

 

[1.0reef]

Lovely WW! I like the pectoral fin coloration

[Jaden1592]

Lovely WW! I like the pectoral fin coloration

Thanks! I enjoyed looking through your post. Any idea how I can appraise my clown fish? I'm trying to understand how they're appraised I saw you rated fish pricing any idea where you got that?

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Most of the prices were based off what the average price was, however some are a bit high because many were from 2012.

Price is usually based off size, species/variant, and lineage, sometimes by deformities (I.e. culls may sell for much less)

[Jaden1592]

Most of the prices were based off what the average price was, however some are a bit high because many were from 2012.

Price is usually based off size, species/variant, and lineage, sometimes by deformities (I.e. culls may sell for much less)

Cool, thanks!

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Clownfish Identification Continued

Here's some pics showing the differences between the Orange Skunk and Skunk Clownfish, the other members of this complex will not be showed in this post due to obvious external differences. Namely the Pink Skunk, Blackfoot, and Thielle's clownfish.

 

Skunk Clownfish Amphiprion akallopisos, has a thinner stripe along the back and starts

above the mouth.

 

Here's the Orange Skunk, notice the wider stripe that starts on the lips, some also display

a true orange.

 

And for fun, the newly described Amphiprion pacificus, showing a possibly thinner stripe that starts on the lips.

 

Here are the differences between the Sebae, Latezonatus, and Polymnus Saddleback clownfish from the Saddleback complex.

Latz. Showing wide stripes, blue/white lips, and a slightly higher body.

 

Here's the Polymnus or Saddleback, showing that teardrop shaped body, wide stripes, the middle saddle-shaped stripe, and yellow/orange highlights on all strains.

 

And finally, the Sebae clownfish, can be similar to Polymnus clowns, but often have more orange/yellow highlights that are brighter, they also get slightly larger (16cm vs 13-14cm).

[1.0reef]

That's it for now, if anyone has any I.D. suggestions or variant/species add on's please let me know.

[oceancube]

Produced here at clownfishUSA "SWISS" occellaris no hybrid.. Parents Mocha female occy / Male black snowflake occy !!!This fish was produced by me and sold this one to Kris @ alphacorals .

 

[1.0reef]

Produced here at clownfishUSA "SWISS" occellaris no hybrid.. Parents Mocha female occy / Male black snowflake occy !!!This fish was produced by me and sold this one to Kris @ alphacorals .

 

I saw this! Incredible specimen! I'll be sure to add it tomorrow! Also, I know you're a designer breeder and if there's any new variants or hybrids I haven't listed please let me know!

[oceancube]

yes we have our magneto perculas as well but not sure if you want to list them cause they are from bali black picasso/ doni 'S' female. anyways let me know.. Seems like your doing a good job compared to others that try , they only seem to notice there own fish and not others

prices on peace keepers aint no $400.00 . Its in the thousands range

[1.0reef]

yes we have our magneto perculas as well but not sure if you want to list them cause they are from bali black picasso/ doni 'S' female. anyways let me know.. Seems like your doing a good job compared to others that try , they only seem to notice there own fish and not others

 

prices on peace keepers aint no $400.00 . Its in the thousands range

Thanks man!

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I have decided, after finding some cool breeding attempts and general information on Amphiprion thiellei and Amphiprion leucokranos that I should do some comparisons, and background info on these two unusual "species."

In reality, most biologists consider them to be hybrids of:

A. chrysopterus

 

and

A. sandaracinos

 

This probably creates the odd hybrid, seen here.

 

They keep the band along the top of their body, like the Skunk Clownfish. But often have these unusual, thin headbands extending from their other white band. Almost all individuals have a cloudy white-brown-orange caudal peduncle. They are described as having a body shape of a skunk clownfish, but higher and thicker, showing their possible A. chrysopterus genetics.

Their overall coloring is usually a brown-red-orange color as adults, and their white bands have thin black outlines. The eyes are almost identical to the orange skunk clownfish. Both species that are assumed to be the parents of this hybrid, both overlap in the southern indo-pacific, around PNG and the southern Philippines.

 

A. thiellei

 

These are an incredibly rare hybrid, nearly identical to the White Bonnet hybrid above. However, there are subtle differences.

A. thiellei has a longer, slimmer body. More like an Ocellaris clownfish, which are viewed as one of the parents of these clowns. Most adults have an orange-ish, somewhat yellow body, that's slightly more vibrant along the underside. A few have a brown-golden body.

Their caudal fin is rounded, like an Ocellaris, not more triangular/forked, like A. leucokranos. Their caudal peduncle is also very "organized" as there is very little muddling of the colors, especially the white band.

 

Here's a comparison.

[1.0reef]

Some Leuk clowns from Java may suggest a hybrid with Clarkii's instead of chrysopterus clowns....

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Thank you very much for this thread! I found it very helpful!

 

- C. Smith