Clownfish ID???

[cannon77]

Ok, we were given this little guy as a "True Perc" We have had for a few months and he is now paired with what we KNOW is a true perc. Based on Spines, eye color and body color. The female is a Solomon Islands variant, which is wht she is really bright orange, almost yellow. The male however, has been getting darker and darker all the time. He is so dark that I cant count his spines and looks like he is really an Onyx. On that note....looking at his eye color, he lacks the yellowish orange ring that you see in a Perc, so that is what leaves us wondering about him???? Given the details of eyes and body color, we are leaning that he may be some sort of "Onyx Percularis" What do you think???
Pics of him now

Pics when we first got him

 

[danagui]

If the clown experts can't figure it out we're all doomed! Lol jk....don't know how detailed ur willing to get but clowns have different mouth and head formations...I'd read up on that...I got lazy and didn't get around to it....

 

[cannon77]

Thanks Dan, thats the issue, we have looked at every aspect of this guy and he fits BOTH Per and Oc. ? I think we may be doomed, haha.
Not mention, if he is an F3 offspring or higher, his head and mouth shape can be very different than what it "should" be. Who knows???

 

[RexBrown]

That guy looks very familiar. I have two just like him that I bought from Mystic Reef in Riverside, over a year ago. If I remember right, mine are true percs from Sustainable Aquatics. They had a lot of orange, but as they've matured they have darkened up a lot.

Here's the before:

Here are the same clowns just a month ago or so:

He is so dark that I cant count his spines and looks like he is really an Onyx.

I'm not so sure that it is an onyx and it looks like I have the same ones.
I really don't know what this variety would be called. If mine are indeed from SA, I could email them a photo and ask what exactly they are.

 

[gumbii]

i've seen those sold as african true percs at different LFS and venues... i dunno if that's really where they come from, or they're just being racist...

 

[cannon77]

Thanks Derek, If these are being sold as a common "True Perc" Then I am a little concerned that they are of an unknown origin or the original broodstock may have been a hybrid. Even if the broodstock were wild caught, it is still possible that mama or daddy fish could of been hybrid in the wild and they will carry the genes of that hybrid and still look like a common True Perc. Really curious to find out about him because these two are going to be laying eggs soon and I would like to know what kinda fry I am gonna have on hand?

 

[cannon77]

Not to mention Derek, these fish lack the proper eye color to be percs of any sort. A perc will have a yellow/orange outer ring inside the eyes??????

 

[danagui]

Was it wild or tank raised? Either scenario leaves open a huge possiblity that its a hybrid species that that dominant traits from both sub species...i would say find out about the supplier and ask them

 

[danagui]

Echo....didnt read posts above mine haha

 

[LotsaFishies]

Based on looks alone, I would say Ocellaris. It's face, and banding-pattern look like an occellaris to me. It looks very similar to a Black Ocellaris, with a unique two-tone pattern.


An "Onyx" clown is not a species of clownfish, it is simply a Percula Clown with a particular (and uncommon) color pattern: where the black edging along each of the three white bands extends into the space between the white bands and actually connects with the black edging from the other bands.