Amphiprion allardi
Amphiprion allardi naturally inhabits the Pacific and Indian Oceans from the coast of East Africa and the southern coast of Kenya to Durban, South Africa. These fish are fairly easy to keep in aquariums and even novice aquarists can handle it, but the fish are rarely found in the trade and the price is quite high.
Amphiprion allardi body coloration varies from dark brown to black with two vertical bluish-white stripes. The body itself is rounded. The caudal fin is whitish and the rest of the fins are orange. Females are slightly larger than males. The maximum size of the fish is 14 cm.
Amphiprion allardi should preferably be kept in a coral tank with anemones. These fish are much larger than many clowns, so one individual requires at least 120 liters of water, and a pair of 200 liters. Also, if the fish are kept in conjunction with anemones, you will need an even larger aquarium, given the anemones requirements for free living space. In case there are no anemones in the aquarium need to organize in the aquarium a lot of free space for the swimming fish, with lots of live rocks with crevices, where the fish could hide.
Amphiprion allardi is a moderately aggressive fish. Do not contain these fish in a group, the most acceptable will be keeping Amphiprion allardi singly or in the extreme case of a pair. It should be noted that Amphiprion allardi is very aggressive to other types of clowns, so they should not contain them together. All fish are born hermaphrodites - when you purchase two fish, over time, one of the fish will be male and the other female. And the change in gender in fish is very fast, only 2 months! Once the pair of fish become sexually mature, they become extremely aggressive toward any clown fish. In case the anemone is occupied by other fish, Amphiprion allardi is sure to take it away from them.
The fish are very hardy. They are fairly resistant to most infectious diseases and rarely suffer from infections. They can be treated with medication or copper-containing agents without fear in case the fish are infected.
Although the fish are hardy, they still require high quality water in the aquarium. Keeping Amphiprion allardi in a small aquarium, the water there quickly becomes polluted, which affects the well-being of the fish. In this regard, quality filtration and substitution of 1/6 of the aquarium water with fresh water 2 times a month. Water parameters: temperature 23-26° C, pH 7,8-8,4, salinity 1.023-1.025. By the circulation of water in the aquarium, there are no special requirements, but it is desirable to create a small stream of water, for example, using a water filter, by directing its diverting nozzle along the back wall of the aquarium.
Lighting can be any, although if the aquarium contains anemone, it must be strong.
There is usually no difficulty with feeding the fish, as they will eat almost any food. In the wild, Amphiprion allardi feed on plankton. In aquariums, the fish are given a variety of live, frozen and dry food, algae, meat seafood, shrimp, as well as tablets. Feed the fish 3-4 times a day to young fish and 2 times a day to adults.
Reproduction
Amphiprion allardi sometimes breeds in aquarium conditions and manages to get viable offspring from them.
The male starts courting the female 3-5 days before spawning. He begins to dig the substrate, making small holes in it, thus attracting the female to himself. After the female gives attention to the male, they choose a place for spawning, which may serve as a vertical part of the rock or coral next to the anemone. Once the spawning site will be cleared of debris, the female hatch an egg, which is immediately fertilized by the male. Spawning lasts for 2.5-3 hours. The eggs are orange in color.
Depending on the water temperature the larvae hatch out in 6-13 days, at night. The first time larvae swim in the water column for 8-16 days. After the young fish have passed the larval phase and begin to swim freely, their first priority is to find an anemone for their protection.
The life expectancy of Amphiprion allardi under aquarium conditions is 14-20 years.
