clown is a jerk

[alexiowa]

My first fish was my clownfish. That's the only reason I haven't traded him, no matter how much I've wanted to. He was fine for a while but once I started to add other fish he turned into a jerk. I put my hand in and he bites me. I used to net him and put him in a fish box in the tank and it felt like he learned his lesson. This worked for around a year. A few weeks ago he bit me again when I moved my hand fairly quickly while repositioning a coral a snail knocked over. I thought it was a one off but he did it again tonight when I took out a coral to frag. I've never introduced a second clown and he's never been interested in the anemone's. Will he calm down with a mate? Do I have to put up with this or net him every time? Put him in time out? No other fish bothers me except for my nano tang who rubs against my arm like a puppy dog.

 

[Katrina71]

Just curious what kind of clown you have.

 

[alexiowa]

standard ocellaris

 

[Idoc]

Time out doesn't seem to be sinking in to him/her, lol. Maybe send her to bed without dinner.

 

[Reefbuds]

Mine is the same way. I have a black and white occi. She bites me everything I stick my hand in and even jumped out of the tank one night trying to get my hand. It's just how some of them are lol. I'm going to get a BTA soon and a mate so we will see how that does.

 

[4FordFamily]

Clowns are immensely territorial -- this is not uncommon behavior. A mate is unlikely to reduce aggression, but it may. It may actually worsen it, however.

What size tank?

 

[alexiowa]

Clowns are immensely territorial -- this is not uncommon behavior. A mate is unlikely to reduce aggression, but it may. It may actually worsen it, however.

What size tank?

75 gallon. I'm hoping it was just two one off's. If anything i'll use the net and container method again and hopefully it will get the point again. If that doesn't work I'll throw water all over the floor again because it caught me off guard again.

 

[Reefbuds]

75 gallon. I'm hoping it was just two one off's. If anything i'll use the net and container method again and hopefully it will get the point again. If that doesn't work I'll throw water all over the floor again because it caught me off guard again.

I doubt you can teach a clownfish to sit like a dog lol.

 

[Katrina71]

I hope ours stays sweet. We we warned about territorial aggression that includes hand biting.

 

[Jason mack]

Mine is the same way. I have a black and white occi. She bites me everything I stick my hand in and even jumped out of the tank one night trying to get my hand. It's just how some of them are lol. I'm going to get a BTA soon and a mate so we will see how that does.

Hahahaha you would think this would work .... but no .. you will just have 2 clown fish biting your hand especially if you go near their anamone .. they can be real $&@";.. nothing like how we see them in "finding nemo "..

 

[eatbreakfast]

Individual clownfish can have varying degrees of aggression, even in the same species.

Aggression rarely gets better, only worse.

 

[Reefbuds]

Hahahaha you would think this would work .... but no .. you will just have 2 clown fish biting your hand especially if you go near their anamone .. they can be real $&@";.. nothing like how we see them in "finding nemo "..

Eek! And I thought one was bad enough.

 

[ALbque]

My white clown tries to bite me every time I put my hand in tank too. Must be a clown thing. Only got me once. Now before going in I chase her away., usually works for up to 15 seconds..... LoL

 

[Bryant Day]

I have had two golden nugget clowns for over a year. The behavior is the same and has not abated. The clowns were the bullies every time I introduced new fish. Eventually I had to rearrange the tank every time I introduced a new fish. They are VERY territorial of their area with other fish, and believe they own the tank when ANYTHING new goes in, syphons, hands, tools, etc.... the good thing is their bites don't hurt.

 

[Tahoe61]

You're clown is most likely female by now. I used to have to remove my clown with a clear plastic Tupperware container to work in the tank. She did get big enough to draw blood.

 

[cmcoker]

My clowns just got their own new tank... it can be an algae infested forest for all I care, but they won't be biting me or harassing new additions anymore!

 

[Scarybo]

Had a large maroon clown. She ruled the tank. Gluing frags was a nightmare. She bit me constantly. And I always jumped.

 

[Karie]

So far, I have had 3 clowns. In my tank now I have gold stripe maroon and believe it or not she is a great. She is huge!! and never bites me or bumps me or chases any tank mate. She will rearrange my tank if she doesn't like what I have done but Im okay with that. Next in another tank I have traditional ocellaris orange. I think he is still a he, not sure. He is a little bitty thing (Ive had him for 4 yrs+/-) and has never shown aggression at all to anything. But... I have had a black one that was such a B-witch. UGH! She would bump me and chase me and try to intimidate my hand anytime I was in the tank. If that didn't work she would bite the crap out of me. I got rid of her as soon as I could.

Its definitely a personality thing.

 

[JP79]

Aren't most clowns mean? Even more when they are female. My girl clown is a pain. She picks on almost every fish in the tank.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Typical behavior with mine. Have you tried to have a conversation about this behavior with it? Worst case try to spank it with the back of a spoon to correct this unacceptable behavior.