Amphiprion ocellaris

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(Redirected from False Clown Anemonefish)

Ocellaris Clownfish

Ocellaris Clownfish
Species	Amphiprion ocellaris
Difficulty	Moderate
Min. Tank Size	113.562 liters 113,562.353 mL 30 US Gallons (113.6L)
Size	10.16 cm 3-4 " (7.6-10.2cm)
sg	1.020 - 1.025
pH	8.0 - 8.5
Temp.	297.594 K 24.444 °C 535.67 °R 300.928 K 27.778 °C 541.67 °R76 -82 °F (24.4-27.8°C)
Water Hardness	8-12
Stocking Ratio	1:1 M:F
Availability	Common
Diet	Omnivore Pellet Foods Flake Foods Live Foods
Life Span	5-8 years

[edit] Alternative names

Ocellaris Clownfish, False Percula Clownfish, False Clown Anemonefish, Anemone Demoiselle, Nemo

[edit] Other Scientific Names

Amphiprion melanurus, Amphiprion bicolor

[edit] Sexing

There are no physical characteristics to tell the sex of the fish. In a pair or a group, the biggest Clownfish is the female and the next largest will be male. Like other Clownfish, this species is hermaphroditic. If the female dies or disappears, the male will become the new female and another sexually immature specimen will quickly develop into a reproductive male.

[edit] Tank compatibility

They will not generally bother corals or any inverts. Can be territorial towards other Clownfish or Damselfish, do not keep with larger predatory fish.

[edit] Diet

This fish will eat most foods offered including flake, frozen, and live foods.

[edit] Feeding regime

Feed twice daily.

[edit] Environment specifics

Needs a salinity between 1.020 and 1.026 and a spacious tank with plenty of hiding places in live rock. It will host anemones such as Heteractis magnifica or Stichodactyla sp, but captive bred specimens will also host long-tentacled corals.

[edit] Behaviour

Clownfish are territorial and will defend their territory against other fish. Can be kept singly, but a pair or group will show interesting social behaviour. Do not need a sea anemone to thrive or even breed in the aquarium. If an anemone is included they will defend it and often will not stray more than 4" away from it unless feeding.

[edit] Identification

The Ocellaris Clownfish will have 3 white stripes with thin black outlines with bright orange between each white stripe. They look a lot like the Percula Clownfish but the Percula Clown has thicker black lines in between the white and orange plus the orange is less bright on the Percula. Tank bred Ocellaris Clowns may not have full white stripes. Another way to tell them apart is that the true Percula has 10 spines in the first dorsal fin, the False Percula has 11 spines.

There are also now available, mainly from selective farm breeding, a Black (Melanistic) version, a Mis-Bar version (irregular bar, not covering entire flanks) and Stubby version (shorter body length). The latter two may be from inbreeding of stock.