Amphiprion Ocellaris : Care And Requirements Of Amphiprion Ocellaris

Scientific Name : Amphiprion Ocellaris

Origin : South East Asia

Difficulty : Easy

Minimum Size Tank : 20 gallons

Temperament : Peaceful

Temperature : 72 - 82°F

Reef Safe : Yes

Maximum Size : 3 Inches

Diet : Omnivore

The star of the hit animated film Finding Nemo, the Ocellaris Clownfish (as well as Percula Clownfish) is the most recognizable marine fish bar none. Everyone's seen one. Everyone knows what it is. And its colors remind me strangely of candy.

It has thick orange and white bars that are outlined by a thin black line. They are also known as the False Percula Clown fish. While they may look like percula clownfish they differ slightly physically and their colors a very slightly different.

Not easily differentiated by the untrained eye, ocellaris clownfish have 11 (sometimes 10) dorsal spines while percula has 10 (sometimes 9). Its a tough job counting dorsal spines but thankfully there is an easier way to tell them apart. Ocellaris have thinner black outlines on them than percula's do. Compare them both from the photos on the right.

Ocellaris clownfish are widespread across South East Asia and can be found as far as Australia. They have a symbiotic relationship with anemones and are only found in the wild with their hosts. Clownfish have developed a way to protect themselves form the anemones sting. It is thought their bodies develop a mucus that hides their presence from their anemone hosts. Both the anemone and the clownfish protect each other from predators.

They are the most heavily collected marine fish in the hobby. A very cheap fish, they go for as little as $10 er specimen. They are among the hardiest fishes available, making them perfect starter fish for beginners.

Tank raised ocellaris clownfish are frequently available and while they may cost a bit more, they are generally hardier than wild caught clowns. Personally, i always choose tank raised clowns as they're better suited to live in captivity.

The ocellaris clownfish is a peaceful fish that gets along well with others, big or small.

They do not however, get along with other clownfish. Putting two large ocellaris (possibly females) together in a small tank will see them fighting round the clock.

You have three options if you want a pair of ocellaris clownfish.

• Buy a mated pair
• Buy a small one and a large one, put them together and hope it works out
• Buy two small ones and put them together. The dominant clownfish will become a female

There are no guarantees that they wil pair up but i've seen people do this many times enough and i must say it works 90% of the time.

Ocellaris clownfish are site attached fish, meaning they rarely stray from a general spot of their choosing. This spot is usually their anemone. If an anemone is not available they may choose to set up shop in and around other corals.

Despite the fact that they are found with anemones in the wild, anemones are not needed in captivity. They get along just fine without them. Anemones aren't the easiest creatures to keep as they require very strong lighting. If your aquarium cannot provide for it, the anemone will perish.

Because ocellaris clowns are site attached, smaller tanks can be used. I'd say the smallest tank you need for one is 20 gallons. I've seen them in tanks as small as 10 gallons but that seemed really cramped for me personally.

Clownfish in captivity are the easiest fishes to feed because they will eat just about anything offered.

They are omnivores that will eat algae based foods as well as meaty foods. They should be offered a variety of foods. First, get them on a good dry food.

Ocean nutrition has some pretty good flake and pellet foods on the market. Prime reef, formula one and formula two are some good dry foods to offer. Prime reef is mostly meaty stuff while formula two has an extra bit of algae added to it.

New Life Spectrum in my opinion produces the best dry foods on th market. Only available in pellet form however.

Mix their diet of pellets with some frozen foods. All of ocean nutritions dry food is available frozen a well. Mysis shrimp and krill are another choices to feed.

I don't like feeding brine shrimp as they don't offer much nutritionally. Adult frozen artemia do not offer more much more to the fish than roughage, which is fibre. Fibre can be found from far superior foods such as mysis shrimp or krill.

Enriched brine shrimp should be chosen for your dwarf angelfish if you insist on feeding artemia. Enriched brine shrimp are simply artemia that were stuffed with a nutritious food (like spirulina) and then frozen. So they're more of a vessel that holds something nutritious.

As long as their yolk sacs are still intact, newly hatched brine shrimp are a nutritious food to offer. Once their yolk sacs are depleted they turn into garbage again.

Ocellaris clownfish have been bred in captivity. In fact, beginners to breeding normally start with clownfish as they are one of the easier fish to breed. But first, we need to form a pair. As mentioned above, you can either buy a mated pair of form one yourself.

All clownfish are born sexless, develop into males and have the potential to become a female. I say potential because only the strongest, most dominant clownfish in the group will turn in to a female. Should she perish, the next strongest male will begin changing into a female to take her place. In a group, the female will be the largest clownfish present.

Sexless ----------> Male ---------> Strongest in the group ---------> Female

This process is irreversible, which is why you never buy two large clownfish with intention to pair. You might end up with two females.

They are egg layers, laying their eggs on a wide variety of things from live rock, plastic screens to even pots. For a good idea on how this is done, view the videos on the right.

Their larvae are first fed rotifers for a few days before moving to baby brine shrimp. The process is long and drawn out but if you wish to know more, there are two books i'd like to recommend.

The first one is the holy grail when it comes to marine fish breeding. Breeders Guide to Marine Aquarium Fishes by Matt Wittenrich is by far the best book on breeding to date. Clownfish species are extensively covered in this book.

The second book is the holy grail of clownfish rearing and breeding. Clownfishes by Joyce Wilkerson was published in 1997 but is still the authority when it comes to clownfish. Covers all known species as well as clownfish breeding extensively.