What is the difference between.....

[Ethos]

Whats the difference between a true percula clow fish and a false?

 

[TexasPadreSurfer]

a true perc will get black highlighting around the white stripesas they age
a false perc just has white stripes.

 

[Ethos]

Thats the only difference?

 

[chkltcow]

Not entirely true. I have tank raised true percs in one tank, and they have light light black banding. I have a tank raised Ocellaris (false perc) which has started developing more distinct black bands. While it's true that wild caught Perculas have GREAT black coloration to them, it doesn't seem to stay on tank raised true percs. Also, the orange colors can be more drab on Ocellaris, but even that isn't necessarily true. I think that has a LOT to do with diet, as my clowns that regularly eat cyclopeeze (due to feeding it to corals) have a lot better color than the one that doesn't get it, and instead only gets pellets, flakes, and the occasional mysis shrimp.

The REAL difference between True Percula and False Percula (Ocellaris)..... percula clowns have 9 or 10 dorsal spines, ocellaris have 11. Good luck counting them!

 

[parker313]

chkltcow is right. In wild bred percs, true percs have a lot of black between their white stripes while ocellaris (false percs) just have a narrow black band down the edge of each stripe. However, as more and more are being tank bred, the difference in stripes isn't always holding true.

I got my tank bred true perc as a TINY little fish. The only white he had one him was the forward most white stripe around his face, and he had no black. Over the past 6mos as he's gotten older, his middle and back white stripe have started developing as well as the black on his fins. I was going to get a false perc, but at my lfs, they said they'd had better luck keeping the true percs healthy - they seemed to be hardier.

From liveaquaria.com...

Ocellaris (false perc tank bred)

True Percula (tank bred)