Fantastic footage of a maroon trio in nature

[Winwood]

I always believed these fish solely existed in pairs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oopQ2y9MWVw

 

[velvetelvis]

Not only that, but with a large tomato-complex clownfish not far away!

Michael Scott's clownfish book has a picture of two female maroons apparently sharing an anemone (H. crispa) in Lembeh Strait.

 

[Ron Popeil]

trying to get all up in that spawn. nice find.

 

[davocean]

I've seen clusters of clowns in nems/hosts, especially in the wild, but that is usually from the same clutch w/ one dominant female.
This one is weird because it sure looks like two females sharing that male, who was obviously twitching for them.
Of course in the wild it would be a bit easier to have some space or swim away if things got ugly.
Cool vid.

 

[illcssd]

I've never seen footage of two females, one male before. Cool find! Baffling honestly, I'd never think two females would get along, wild or not.

 

[Reefvette]

Dont be so sure

Dont be so sure

Dont be so sure those, it could be two males and one large female.

The large ones dominance is already show because the other fish avoid her. Its looks like both maybe small males that are fighting for dominance.

 

[m758b033]

Were those even BTAs? I would assume they were, but for a second I thought they looked like H. Malus. Might just be me.

 

[tvrsir]

female male and juvi?

cause i have a trio of occys' that act the same.

 

[Reefvette]

Def not a juvi that one is too large. The Female must be about 6 inches and the other two about 4 and 3

 

[Winwood]

If I had to guess I'd say 1 female and 2 males. It's hard to say though. Up until this point, I believed maroon clowns wouldn't tolerate any extra individuals besides the original pair.

 

[phender]

Here is what it looks like to me. The two smaller fish are the pair and are tending/laying eggs. The larger fish is a female that was scared into their territory by the diver. The pair does a dance and twice the largest fish is chased away or goes away on its own.

It would be interesting to pan back and see where the largest fish goes and if there is another male nearby.