Clownfish ID!! Perc vs ocellaris

[Joeymclovin]

Hey guys I’ve had this clownfish for a while and I’m having trouble finding out if he’s a percula or an ocellaris. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I want to add another clown and pair them but want to make sure I get the same species! 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Looks like an ocellaris to me. You can tell by three distinct ways. 

1. The eyes. Percula will have darker eyes. Ocellaris will have more of an Orange eye (which yours looks to have.)
2. Spinal fins. Percula will have 11, while Ocellaris will only have 10. No way to tell from your photos. 
3. Thickness of the black lines. Percula’s will have thin black lines, while Ocellaris will have thicker black lines.

With all of that being said, get whatever you like to pair with him. They’re so closely related, they’ll typically pair regardless. Just make sure it’s a fair bit smaller, so they’ll easily establish who’s going to be the dominatrix female (If you get a smaller one, chances are your current fish will transition to female). 

[Clown79]

Percs and ocellaris are compatible with eachother so theres no need to worry about being 100% accurate

[jservedio]

 

5 hours ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

• The eyes. Percula will have darker eyes. Ocellaris will have more of an Orange eye (which yours looks to have.)
• Spinal fins. Percula will have 11, while Ocellaris will only have 10. No way to tell from your photos. 
• Thickness of the black lines. Percula’s will have thin black lines, while Ocellaris will have thicker black lines

You've got your Perculas and Ocellaris backwards (https://www.ocellarisclownfish.com/difference-between-ocellaris-and-percula-clownfish/)

 

However, it doesn't really matter with designer clownfish. With designer clownfish, there isn't really a reliable way of determining whether it's an ocellaris or percula simply because it's very likely to be a cross or there is a cross in the lineage somewhere and clownfish in the picture is a designer clown.

 

The only 100% reliable way of knowing is when you purchase the fish from the breeder if they kept track of lineage or if it was a wild caught clown (which nobody has anymore for damn good reasons).

 

For example, even when counting the spines - there are outliers. Most Perculas have 10 spines and most Ocellaris have 11 spines - but it's not that rare for an Ocellaris to only have 10 spines (or a Percula with 9). With the eyes, it's even less reliable since the colors vary wildly and they frequently change color and darken as the fish ages. Same with the overall color.

 

Thin lines vs thick lines on sub-adults that aren't designer clowns is probably the easiest way to tell, but it's still not 100%. If you count 11 spines, it's almost 100% an ocellaris or hybrid.

[M. Tournesol]

Love this conversation. Some of the informations should 100% be transferred to the :

 

[reefer_evo5]

Great looking clown looks like a percula  to me from the orange eyes. I have a percula and a occelaris paired together and they do great whe i added them one was alot smaller than the other n that helped with pairing and for them not to fight good luck 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

4 hours ago, jservedio said:

 

You've got your Perculas and Ocellaris backwards (https://www.ocellarisclownfish.com/difference-between-ocellaris-and-percula-clownfish/)

 

However, it doesn't really matter with designer clownfish. With designer clownfish, there isn't really a reliable way of determining whether it's an ocellaris or percula simply because it's very likely to be a cross or there is a cross in the lineage somewhere and clownfish in the picture is a designer clown.

 

The only 100% reliable way of knowing is when you purchase the fish from the breeder if they kept track of lineage or if it was a wild caught clown (which nobody has anymore for damn good reasons).

 

For example, even when counting the spines - there are outliers. Most Perculas have 10 spines and most Ocellaris have 11 spines - but it's not that rare for an Ocellaris to only have 10 spines (or a Percula with 9). With the eyes, it's even less reliable since the colors vary wildly and they frequently change color and darken as the fish ages. Same with the overall color.

 

Thin lines vs thick lines on sub-adults that aren't designer clowns is probably the easiest way to tell, but it's still not 100%. If you count 11 spines, it's almost 100% an ocellaris or hybrid.

You are 100% correct. That’s what I get for nano-reefing and drinking!

[spazizz]

Id lean towards Occy. It look like it has snowflake in it. 

 

Here's my bright orange snowflake

[Joeymclovin]

Yea guys I was leaning towards a perc, but then it looks just like a snowflake haha these designers are tricky

[Joeymclovin]

Update: I picked up a percula clown and they’re doing ok, the big one picks at the new one here and there but they’re swimming together for the most part. I had him in a breeder box for like 2 days and let him out today, they did they’re little shake dance. 

[filefishfinatic]

occelaris are generally what the designer clowns are 

[jservedio]

19 minutes ago, filefishfinatic said:

occelaris are generally what the designer clowns are 

 

Not really - there are lots of ocellaris designer clowns, but there are also tons of percula designer clowns, and lots of hybrids outside just ocellaris x percula. For example, Blood Oranges from ORA are chimeras of Ocellaris and Maroon clowns.

 

Ocellaris can breed outside of their own genus and can be crossed with Tomato, Maroon, and Clarkii at the very least and hybrids have been on the market for well over 10 years. Here is an article from 2011 about the origins of it at ORA: https://www.orafarm.com/blog/2011/06/17/mystery-clownfish/