Amphiprion Milii

[ThRoewer]

To make them more comfortable I "planted" their anemone in a large ceramic planter bowl. And then filled it up with gravel.
It will take a bit, but I hope that the anemone will be fully out by tomorrow morning.
The milii were a bit upset that they had to cozy up in the smaller haddoni.

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[ThRoewer]

This morning the haddoni was out and the anemonecrab pair giddy about having it all to themselves while the milii were still sleeping in the smaller haddoni.

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[Overboard]

Great! You don't see these often so it fun watching your progress with them.

Mark

 

[ThRoewer]

Great! You don't see these often so it fun watching your progress with them.

Mark

Sometimes it looks like these two are taking to each other (well, I guess they actually do), standing face to face and making their sounds.

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[ThRoewer]

Like in the wild, haddoni, pair of crabs, and a pair of milii (well, one was just in the other anemone)...

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[ThRoewer]

And here a video of how it all gets collected in the wild:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8N2DBspzMUo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

At the very beginning of that video, it can be seen how far these guys venture from their anemone.
These fish are definitely not as closely bound to their anemone as many other anemonefish species. My two also are not afraid to venture around in the entire tank. This is very different to my percula, darwin "ocellaris", the maroons, and even the bicinctus.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Here's a less melanistic variant of A. Milii
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zmi3XHhUB7g" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ThRoewer]

I think these might lighten up as well if put with a magnifica or BTA.

 

[ThRoewer]

Feeding tigger pods

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/abzF0PXU0t0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Looks like the smaller Haddoni on the left was enjoying some too with mouth open.

 

[ThRoewer]

Looks like the smaller Haddoni on the left was enjoying some too with mouth open.

The open mouth is because it is stressed. I need to give it a sandbox as well.

 

[ThRoewer]

A store here has 2 wild A. milii, but they are not as nice:

https://youtu.be/ZNibE5ZI3WE

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[ThRoewer]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v8G_RlEMzZw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[CoralsAddiction]

The ones at the store are 100% Milli but yours are nicer for two main reasons
More melanism
Bonded Pair.

 

[ThRoewer]

The ones at the store are 100% Milli but yours are nicer for two main reasons
More melanism
Bonded Pair.

Mine clearly have a better body shape.
The melanism is intensified by the haddoni, though they actually might be more unique with the brown back and dorsal fin.
As for bonded pair - I don't think so. They are not killing each other, but there are way too many chases and the smaller one always has some damage to its tailfin. They have the hierarchy mapped out but I somewhat doubt that the larger one has already become a functioning female.

 

[ThRoewer]

I feel these guys have grown quite a bit since I got them, especially the larger. There is still chasing during feeding times but not so much anymore at other times. But I think it might still be 6 months to a year until they are truly a pair and start spawning.

 

[ThRoewer]

Here the latest video of the two:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pDPEbyaKIag" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

One thing I noticed is that these guys are particularly tolerant towards the anemone crabs. Many of my other pairs don't like sharing their anemones with crabs.
The haddoni seems to like playing potted plant. It's doing great and hasn't made the slightest attempt to move somewhere else. It's pretty much the same with the other haddoni that I "planted" in a cut-off small specimen container. Since this seems to work well I'm going to do the same with all my other haddoni.

 

[ThRoewer]

Yesterday (Saturday) their haddoni decided to take a day off. When I first checked the tanks in the garage around noon the anemone had completely retracted into the sand and nothing of it could be seen.

When I looked in the evening the milii had started to excavate the anemone and made a real mess in the process. I had seen this before with the bicinctus where the male would grab a pebble with his mouth and carry it as far away as he can. The milii must have been extremely busy and motivated judging by the amount of gravel they moved:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l5ToZsGEz20" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ThRoewer]

Today everything was back to normal. Even the crab pair was back at its usual place on the foot of the anemone.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ArK_x61E4JY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Looking great!