Show me your Malu's!

[davocean]

OK, think I've decided to hunt for a Malu for my picassos.
There was a pink and purple one on QM I just missed out on, but thought I'd like to see others out there and get opinions as well, and maybe opinions on other percs/picasso color changes w/ these as well.
Hoping my pics will get some of their black back now that BTAs are out.

 

[Doni]

So far, my Picasso & Snowcasso are keeping their black with my Malu (I think it is a malu).
Here is a recent photo taken last month:

 

[davocean]

Nice, great pics, TY.

 

[CockyBrock]

beautiful clowns and a great looking nem..

 

[Toddrtrex]

Here is one that I had a couple of years ago. As I have stated in the past, I lost it after feeding it a silverside.

 

[OrionN]

Here is my two Malu. Male is the green one and the female is the purple one. They spawn twice so far. I hope to be able to raise young one sometime in the future when I get some time. The female keep eggs and fertilized internally and release fully formed babies. They are about 4 times the size they are in this pictures now. (double diameter)

 

[NaClCrocodile]

Wow, those are sick! I'm really jealous. I'll have to look around for more info on these guys. I've got a new project, thanks a bunch

 

[OrionN]

Eggs in the female

The male spawn sperms

 

[davocean]

K, now we're gettin somewhere!
Wow, cool info, had no idea they did this.
Has the spawn ever affected your tank at all?
I didn't even know they could be sexed.
Looks like your clowns kept killer dark color as well.
Thanks for pics you guys.
All nice looking nems.

 

[OrionN]

I notice the eggs in the female Thursday AM. They spawned Friday PM at about 5 PM. They are in my office tank so I was there. I always have about 20 g of ready mixed salt water to use in case of something like this happen. I change the water as they spawned suction most of the sperms out as it spawn. The female never release the eggs. Over the next two days, the embrio in the female start to be able to move on their own. All the babies was release between 6 PM Sunday (the female still full of babies) and 8 AM Monday (all the babies disappeared). The babies were released in the night between 48-60 hrs. I guess my pump chewed up the babies because I did not have the time to set up aeration without using the circulation pumps. I plan to bring this pair home and set up a stable tank for them to try to spawn them again. Hope to be able to raise some babies next few times.

 

[Doni]

That is SOOO cool Minh!

 

[OrionN]

I got both of mine from LFS. Most of the time they are sold as small H. crispa ("small Sebae anemone") I find that they are not really difficult to keep and is perfect for smaller tanks with sand bed.

 

[davocean]

Yeah, I don't see many, and when I do they are gone fast.
I'll have to keep checking LFS.
ORION, do you have a shot of foot showing how to ID?

 

[OrionN]

Dave,
The foot of H. malu is essentially the same as H. crispa.
Look at my middle picture and at the tentacles of the green Malu. You will see the circular lines on the tentacles. I think these lines and size are what separate Malu from Crispa. The purple Malu also have these lines on the tentacles but I cannot capture them with picture.

 

[elegance coral]

Dave,
The foot of H. malu is essentially the same as H. crispa.
Look at my middle picture and at the tentacles of the green Malu. You will see the circular lines on the tentacles. I think these lines and size are what separate Malu from Crispa. The purple Malu also have these lines on the tentacles but I cannot capture them with picture.

Beautiful critters, Minh
The foot of malu is very different than the foot of crispa. This is the most reliable means of separating one form the other. Not all malu's have the lines on the tentacles, so it's not always a reliable means of ID.
malu http://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/ebooks/ch1.html#malu

crispa http://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/ebooks/ch1.html#crispa

 

[OrionN]

Believe me, I have keep almost all of the host anemones. I had H. crispa and H. malu. I certainly cannot tell them apart other than the size of the anemone and that I feed and feed the H. malu and they just don't grow very big. If my Crispa was small, his column is no different than my Malu. I did not unattached them from the rock and see what their foot feel like.

 

[davocean]

So circular lines kinda like rings on a tree?
And foot is same color and vercue?
I appreciate all photos/comments, and understand there may be some variations.
This is my best ID shot of my old crispa, which got WAY too big, so Malu is sounding perfect for me.

 

[davocean]

Thanks for links Elegance, I'll go through those.

 

[davocean]

Also on a sidenote here, someone posted this nem, and at a glance it looks like an LTA to me, but I was noticing these lines on tents.
I don't have a foot shot.

 

[OrionN]

Look at the picture below at the green tentacle near the middle of the picture, you can see the lines pattern of the tentacles.

The column and verracue of the Malu is the same a that of a Crispa. They are whitish clear with white verracue. More than a few anemone expert consider H. malu and M. crispa maybe of the same species