First Time For Everything

[Tetra1]

So, today I was spot feeding my watchman goby as I have been for a while now, and out of the blue my misbar ocellaris clown bites me. I have had this fish for a good long while now, never has it done this before and I have had my hand in the tank tons of times. Has anyone ever had this happen or know why they might do it. There is no anemone to defend, so I am in awe? Thoughts?:neutral:

 

[Squishie89]

Does she have a mate? It could be she laid eggs and is protecting them.

 

[Zeko]

Both of mine go after my hand none stop all the time it cracks me up

 

[Tahoe61]

Many mature clowns become aggressive and defend their territory, it's the nature of the beast.

 

[jokervueboi]

My tomato clown doesn't even let me get near her spot when I'm cleaning my tank. Good thing I bought a magnet scrubber.

 

[croix67]

my maroon goes for my hand when in the tank never used to till last week

 

[Russellaqua]

Sounds like typical mature clown behavior. I think it's slightly less common with ocellaris clown than with tomato clowns, but still not unheard of.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I have never had an issue clowns biting.

 

[khambholja]

I have a tomato clown and it goes after my hand every time. My blue "devil" damsels do the same thing

 

[mmoner]

Both Female and male black photons began biting as they matured.

 

[mfinn]

My female maroon clown has always been a little aggressive, but since I had to do a tank switch with her, she has gotten very aggressive.
If I have to put my hands in the tank and move something she will swim up to 2' away from her anemone to try and bite me.
Since the tank move 4-5 weeks ago, she has drawn blood 3 different times.

 

[Usatennisfan]

My male maroon bites me if I get too close to his hang out spot for too long. My female will pretty much let me touch her but my male is a little jerk. Can't wait until he gets bigger :-/

 

[Novillac]

How old are clowns when they are "mature"?

 

[Pete H.]

I have a GSM pair and a black ocellaris pair and all 4 fish will bite you if you go near them. In fact, my GSM female who is 6+ inches has drawn blood once or twice while I am gluing coral down and my female black ocellaris jumped out of the tank trying to bite me while I was working on the hood. Crazy clowns!

 

[ViktorVaughn]

My female ocellaris bites my hand, arms, plastic tongs, and literally anything else that goes in the tank she attacks.

 

[Ryan2428]

I have 2 young ocellaris and they nipped me for the first time today about 30 min ago lol. They got made I moved a young hammer coral today after they knocked it over

 

[pugbug99]

My ocellaris bit me all the time when I had them won't get anymore. They didn't have a nest or anything just miserable little fish lol

 

[croix67]

my maroon is about 2 iches and its a little get just got a bubble tip see what happens now

 

[Mgoc]

My yellow stripe maroon clown fish has given me a couple of nice little bites for getting too close to his anemone. The bites do not hurt but they do bleed and make me pull my hand out of the tank and I think that feels like a victory to her lol...

 

[Tetra1]

Well, thanks for all of the stories, I am glad I am not the only one dealing with this. My maroon clown never bit me ever when I had him, nor did my tomato clown and I had always heard they were the bullies. Well, I may get rid of the ocellaris mainly because I am getting a larger tank up and running soon and I want a maroon clown again. We'll see what I decide to do, he may have just bit the hand that feeds him and is going to get ousted! :lock1: