The difference between an ocellaris and percula clownfish…
I had just bought a bigger fish aquarium that I had hoped to start… So I added the live rock, some Troika and Turbo Snails, a sea urchin and of course wanted to add some clownfish. I currently have two clownfish… now note, both are believed to be babies, and ocellaris clownfish. The first, the one I had bought and added is black. The second, which was contained in a smaller tank was added to the big tank slightly later. Long story short, all that these two clownfish do is fight, fight, fight…. and fight.
Now trying to do some research on this, I noticed that some ocellaris clownfish are actually percula clownfish. And at times, different species of clownfish do not get along. So my question are these:
Presuming they are both the same species of clownfish, should they not get along?
If they are different species, can these two co exist?
How do you tell the difference between each species?
Thank you in advance for your help.
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If they are not getting along they could both be males. Ocellaris are often sold as percula, but they are not. Ocellaris is more like a poor mans clownfish, and is not the same kind as what nemo was. Nemo was a percula clown. The difference is the color pattern is very similar, but it is not as bright orange. The black outlines on the white stripes are also thinner on the Ocellaris Clown when compared to the Percula. The advantage of the Ocellaris is that it is much hardier.
Most clown species will not get along, and probably won’t coexist very well together. If you have 2 females, or a male and a female, they should get along. But they are best kept either as a single, a mating pair, or a large group.