Anyone have some older captive bred latezonatus (wide band) clownfish?

[dedragon]

Just received mine and 1 looks great the other definitely wouldnt have been my choice if it was wysiwyg but hey they were $30 each. Wanted to know if anyone has had them for a while to see how they change as they age. Do they get the signature white/blue lip when they get older?
Really interesting to see the larger one immediately dive into a haddoni carpet anemone when most things ive read say they are almost always found in sebae anemones in the wild

 

[dedragon]

No one else have these guys or see any in person?

 

[D-Nak]

Years ago I'd occasionally see them for sale. But more recently I haven't seen any, and when I asked about it, the response was typically that they're not in high demand and therefore not bred that frequently. All of the babies I saw had deformed heads, and my experience with this with ocellaris and percula lead me to believe that it doesn't correct itself as the fish gets older.

The natural host anemone is H. crispa, but it's not surprising that they'd take to a haddoni since other similar species have haddoni and their natural host (akindynos, clarkii, polymnus, sebae, etc.) though I definitely agree that it's interesting how quickly they move right in! The percula babies I've raised dive right into their gigantea nems when introduced to the tank--that belief that captive-raised fish don't know their host anemone is completely false!

 

[dedragon]

it looks like the captive bred ones have started getting stocked rn on multiple websites. I got mine from saltwaterfish.com but wwc has some rn as well.
I need to get a better pic of the big one but she looks great. The smaller one sadly has a slight mouth deformity. Im kind of ticked that they still even ship these out anymore, but if they are going to at least discount those ones.
Most deformities in the head wont correct itself, but i believe even wild caught juveniles dont have the same colors as the adults, specifically the blue/white lip

 

[dedragon]

not the best pics but nothing noticeable on her that i see, quick white light pics i took when she was darting around