black percula

[Floyd]

I saw some black perculas at the lfs this weekend. Does any one have any info on them. Are they like the regular perculas as far as requirements. I am also considering a large clown(tomato, clarki, marroon) what would be good tankmates for them.

[Ninong]

So-called "black perculas" could be either the black color morph of Amphiprion ocellaris that is found near Darwin, Australia or they could be A. percula specimens bred for more black coloration. Either way, they're exactly the same as regular A. ocellaris or A. percula, just a slightly different coloration.

The larger clowns you mentioned (A. clarkii, A. frenatus and Premnas biculeatus) are much more aggressive than either Percula or Ocellaris clowns. I wouldn't put any of those in the same aquarium with Percula or Ocellaris clowns unless it is a really large aquarium -- like at least 300 gallons.

What size is your aquarium?

P.S. -- If it's a 46-gal bowfront, I wouldn't think of putting more than two clownfish in there and both of the same species so that you will have a pair. Don't mix clownfish species in such a small tank.

There are a lot of other small sized fish that would make suitable tankmates, especially if you stay away from the larger, more aggressive clownfish.

[BubbaWPB]

I've always wondered... when they sold them to me, they told me they were perculas... but I've heard since then that they are oscellaris... any ideas?

[Ninong]

I've always wondered... when they sold them to me, they told me they were perculas... but I've heard since then that they are oscellaris... any ideas?

What ideas are you looking for?

Most LFS employees can't tell the difference between Amphiprion percula and A. ocellaris if their life depended on it, especially if the A. percula are only 6-10 months old, which would be typical of captive-bred fish. A. percula don't begin to develop their typical adult coloration until they are about 12 months old. So juvenile captive-bred Percula and Ocellaris clowns look very much alike. You can't rely on slight differences in coloration because both species have a wide range of shades of orange. You would have to count the dorsal spines and anal fin rays or hope that the supplier identified them correctly in the first place.

If you're talking about wild-collected fish, then that's a different matter. It's should be easy to distinguish between Ocellaris and Percula clownfish if they are at least 18 months old based on the thickness of the black margins on the white bands, assuming they're typical fish. If they're black morphs, then you have to either count the dorsal spines and anal fin rays or observe their swimming behavior over a period of time to determine if they're Ocellaris or Percula. This probably won't work if they're all bunched up together in a 30-gal holding tank at an LFS.

The bottom line is that you can't depend on the LFS to know what they're selling. Many LFS insist on selling clownfish as "Sebae Clowns" that are really A. clarkii and not A. sebae. Those are very easy to tell apart because A. clarkii have a third white band at the base of the caudal peduncle and A. sebae have only two white bands and the second one curves towards the rear at the top and covers part of the dorsal fin. There is no white bar at the caudal fin in a Sebae Clown, so you can tell off the LFS employee the next time you see him trying to sell you Clark's Clowns as Sebae Clowns. This drives them nuts but it's great sport. One of them told me that he was sure they were Sebae Clowns because they came from the same distributor who supplied them with their Sebae Anemones and he was told that they go together. He was proud to inform me that his customers experienced no problems getting his "Sebae" Clowns to accept his Sebae Anemones. Which, I gleefully pointed out to him was proof that they were Clark's Clowns and not Sebae Clowns since Sebae Clowns do not accept Sebae Anemones and Clark's Clowns accept all ten clownfish-hosting sea anemones.

Caveat emptor!



P.S. -- It's easy to tell the A. percula specimens that have heavy black from the black morphs of A. ocellaris. If I had enough good, clear, in-focus pictures of both, you would be able to tell the difference, too. We went through this a few times already. The last time was when Scott Zachow (Reefland) purchased his pair of black A. ocellaris a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, he accidentally lost most of those pics in one of his software upgrades.

P.P.S. -- OK, I just realized you had a picture of your clownfish in your post. Those appear to be black onyx Percs (A. percula). Were those captive bred in the U.K.? If you can take a very clear, in-focus closeup of one of them with the dorsal fin fully extended so that we can count the spines, then we will know for sure.