Wild Caught Hybrid and Variant Pair

calm down I have no intent of selling any of my collection, its a hobby not a business :)

Oh, trust me, I am calm, so no need to tell me to calm down -- just thought you would be interested in using the proper term, no big deal if you don't.
 
This pair was posted on another website and I posted the same problem as Elegance Coral did. The likelyhood of a maroon and ocellaris being found in the same anemone has got to very slim and then having either one of them accept each other as a mate would have to be even slimmer yet.

Clowns are not broadcast spawners, they need a common place of refuge (anemone). For this hybrid to occur there would have to be a strange clown/host combination occuring in these waters. This reasoning is what makes me skeptical of the proposed parent species of this hybrid.
 
There's just one problem. Maroon and ocellaris don't live in the same species of host anemone. It's kinda impossible for these two species to cross breed, in the wild, when they don't live together.

Anything is possible. In Scott Michael's book Damselfish and anemonefishes he has a picture of a wild pair of maroons hosting a ritteri anemone.

Edit: the wild pair was pictured in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.
 
Last edited:
yea thats a wierd pair of clowns but i believe they have never mated before they probably are friends lol but not mates
 
I've heard various anecdotes about people with maroon clownfish without the cheek spines. I would think a more logical conclusion would be a variant of a maroon clownfish rather than the very slight statistical probability of the extraordinarily rare cross (so rare it has been described only sporadically even in captivity).

On the whole "terminology" thing.... Whether you decide to "go by the norms" or not is up to you, but when you are posting on a forum for everyone to read it's lots easier if we all use the same terms established through time. Even though you seem to know the difference, someone less knowledgeable reads the post, then figures this is how it is. Then they go to sell a pair of "mated" clownfish that have never produced an egg, the myth is further propagated. See how it can spin poorly? Even if you don't plan on selling them, it's best to define them correctly when discussing with others. (lord knows how much arguing we've all seen from true-percs/onyx threads!)
 
Back
Top