Meet The World’s Worst Clownfish

[Sean Clark]

Looks harmless to me...

 

[dragonfly16]

Hello everyone!
I’d like you all to meet Luxo, the most evil clownfish out there!

It started out with two tiny ocellaris clownfish, no larger than an inch. They quickly made a nice home in the quarantine tank, and even formed a close pair inside their small PVC pipe. Things seemed to be going great with them! Luxo would occasionally kick Nemo out then invite him back in, which was quite normal in pairing behavior from what I could tell.

Fast forward a few weeks, and they were the first two fish in my display tank (at least in a very long time)! They did typical clownfish stuff—hosted my torch coral to death, picked on the inverts, and so on. At this point, something became noticeably off about Luxo. She stuck very close to her torch (my second torch, that is… ), warded off Nemo, and made water changes a hassle, starting to follow my hand wherever it went.

Nemo (top) and a tiny Luxo (bottom) in their early days.

A few months later, enter Eve, the Aurora goby. At the introduction of this fish, something snapped inside Luxo, and she decided to harass Nemo to death. It was upsetting, but definitely something that happens from time to time in clown pairs. That was barely the bad part. I could not even attempt to clean the algae at this point. The little bugger would literally jump out of the water just to bite my hand! There were instances in which she’d even draw blood! A one-inch fish leaving marks!! It was here that I knew I had a mean-a** fish.

Over three months later I tested my fish luck again, and added a royal gramma. Luxo actually handled this quite well! The gramma, named Zurg, was able to hold its own and evade the clownfish. The two hung out often, with few signs of aggression. Of course, my hand was still the primary victim to the “devilfish”.

Well fast forward a little while longer, and I chose to round off the stocking with a firefish. Luxo seemed well behaved at this point, and only cared about its “anemone” (a ticked off torch). But things went swimmingly—for a bit. Luxo snapped, and one night I noticed her chasing around the poor firefish. The firefish was faster though. Then the firefish disappeared. At first I checked the sump, then the floor, then concluded that it was finished off. It sucked, but I suppose I’d have to stick with three happy fish. Or two…

After coming back from a weekend trip, I noticed the obvious absence of my royal gramma. Instead, there was a fat clownfish proudly swimming across its tank, surveying its whole territory. It no longer hosted the torch too much. The world was its torch coral! At the time, I didn’t really believe that the rapid deaths of my firefish and royal gramma were the clown’s fault. In fact, I assumed that once more, there was a disease outbreak. Thus, I netted an angry Luxo and stuck her into a quarantine tank. The goby was too difficult to catch, and at this point I was making plans to upgrade my tank.

Over a month later, nothing showed up on the goby, and I grew suspicious that Luxo was the actual disease within the tank…

These suspicions grew when I upgraded the tank, and was finally able to catch the goby and put her into the quarantine tank with Luxo. Not within two hours, I checked in on the fish and found Luxo angrily swimming around, with a completely shredded up goby. My initial reaction was “oh, God, she did it again,” and at this point knew that she murdered every other fish, all behind my back. But this time, I got her!! Fortunately, the goby was still alive, though definitely shaken up. I decided to skip quarantining the goby and gave her a nice home in the 40 breeder. Sadly, she now has a very screwed up tail with no signs of healing.

So, I believe I learned my lesson to never trust a clownfish. Or, at least this one. At the moment, I have no intention of moving Luxo into the larger tank, but I also can’t get rid of her. It’s weird—as evil as she is, she’s still my little clownfish friend! After all, she is my profile pic!! So for now, it’s fishy jail for Luxo! Bad clownfish, bad!!

I hope you enjoyed my little story, and I hope I taught a valuable lesson to anyone who thinks clownfish are fun, friendly, and cute. Spoiler alert, they ain’t…

I thought only maroon clowns were demon possessed (which I had) and couldn't get rid of fast enough when it killed my goby. Jail is best for Luxo with no bail....

 

[Shevlin77]

I have a pair of clowns that are 12 years old and a the female is about 4 inches long.

She is killed every fish I’ve tried to introduce the past two years so I’ve stopped trying.

They lay eggs frequently and when I put my hand in the tank when there’s eggs she thumps me hard every time. Love the fish but I won’t cry too hard when she finally passes on and I can start restocking with other fish.

 

[kdx7214]

I had a clownfish that lived to the ripe old age of 21 years. Once it became female, that was the end of tankmates. She would take hunks out of my hand when I tried to clean the tank, and as with yours, nailed me a few times when I had my hand above the tank to feed her. She claimed the entire 75 gallon for herself and wouldn't even tolerate the juveniles I put in (in a cage no less) to become male. Had her for 16 years and had to rehome her to a friends. She was mean, but I still miss her

 

[LeftyReefer]

Dang. my pair of picasso clowns rarely leave their favorite corner, and pretty much ignore all the other fish in the tank.

They also don't attack me. (knock on wood)

guess I got lucky as far as behavior, but my clowns want nothing to do with hosting a nem. I have like 8 anemones in the tank (last count) but they have never even looked at one, instead they host wavemakers.

 

[Dom]

Clownfish are unpredictable. I had a pair of Ocellaris clowns with a Valentini puffer in a 40. They got along great for months and the three were inseparable, swimming everywhere together.

Then over two days, they turned on the Valentini and killed it.

 

[Rocketfish]

I have a mostly black female with an orange nose just like the one you pictured. It was nice to the little orange male I put in, and a lawnmower blenny, but the devil to me! The bad thing is, after a few months, the Lawnmower blenny started helping her attack my hands during maintenance.

I put in a small, quarter sized hippo tang and that clown was not going to let it live so I caught her and put her in a 13 gallon coral quarantine tank by herself. The other clown is fine, and it took a year or more but the lawower blenny finally stopped attacking my hand. The hippo is happy and healthy and now about 4-5 inches.

If I ever try to maintain the coral quarantine tank thing, she will hit hard and often, and will draw blood if she can!

I am repeating someone else that said it first, but clown fish are the devil! Especially the mostly black ones with the orange noses!

 

[jasonrusso]

I have a mostly black female with an orange nose just like the one you pictured. It was nice to the little orange male I put in, and a lawnmower blenny, but the devil to me! The bad thing is, after a few months, the Lawnmower blenny started helping her attack my hands during maintenance.

I put in a small, quarter sized hippo tang and that clown was not going to let it live so I caught her and put her in a 13 gallon coral quarantine tank by herself. The other clown is fin, and it took a year or more but the lawower blenny finally stopped attacking my hand.

If I ever try to maintain the coral quarantine tank thing, she will hit hard and often, and will draw blood if she can!

I am repeating someone else that said it first, but clown fish are the devil! Especially the mostly black ones with the orange noses!

That's what I had. They started with the orange noses, but tuned all black.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Yeah, mine used to be rust colored, but soon took dominance and turned all black with the orange nose. I always figured mocha clowns would stay mocha colored, unless that's not what I received at the lfs....

 

[BanjoBandito]

Do you know if she is a ocellaris or a percula?

 

[bReefedBaker]

Hello everyone!
I’d like you all to meet Luxo, the most evil clownfish out there!

It started out with two tiny ocellaris clownfish, no larger than an inch. They quickly made a nice home in the quarantine tank, and even formed a close pair inside their small PVC pipe. Things seemed to be going great with them! Luxo would occasionally kick Nemo out then invite him back in, which was quite normal in pairing behavior from what I could tell.

Fast forward a few weeks, and they were the first two fish in my display tank (at least in a very long time)! They did typical clownfish stuff—hosted my torch coral to death, picked on the inverts, and so on. At this point, something became noticeably off about Luxo. She stuck very close to her torch (my second torch, that is… ), warded off Nemo, and made water changes a hassle, starting to follow my hand wherever it went.

Nemo (top) and a tiny Luxo (bottom) in their early days.

A few months later, enter Eve, the Aurora goby. At the introduction of this fish, something snapped inside Luxo, and she decided to harass Nemo to death. It was upsetting, but definitely something that happens from time to time in clown pairs. That was barely the bad part. I could not even attempt to clean the algae at this point. The little bugger would literally jump out of the water just to bite my hand! There were instances in which she’d even draw blood! A one-inch fish leaving marks!! It was here that I knew I had a mean-a** fish.

Over three months later I tested my fish luck again, and added a royal gramma. Luxo actually handled this quite well! The gramma, named Zurg, was able to hold its own and evade the clownfish. The two hung out often, with few signs of aggression. Of course, my hand was still the primary victim to the “devilfish”.

Well fast forward a little while longer, and I chose to round off the stocking with a firefish. Luxo seemed well behaved at this point, and only cared about its “anemone” (a ticked off torch). But things went swimmingly—for a bit. Luxo snapped, and one night I noticed her chasing around the poor firefish. The firefish was faster though. Then the firefish disappeared. At first I checked the sump, then the floor, then concluded that it was finished off. It sucked, but I suppose I’d have to stick with three happy fish. Or two…

After coming back from a weekend trip, I noticed the obvious absence of my royal gramma. Instead, there was a fat clownfish proudly swimming across its tank, surveying its whole territory. It no longer hosted the torch too much. The world was its torch coral! At the time, I didn’t really believe that the rapid deaths of my firefish and royal gramma were the clown’s fault. In fact, I assumed that once more, there was a disease outbreak. Thus, I netted an angry Luxo and stuck her into a quarantine tank. The goby was too difficult to catch, and at this point I was making plans to upgrade my tank.

Over a month later, nothing showed up on the goby, and I grew suspicious that Luxo was the actual disease within the tank…

These suspicions grew when I upgraded the tank, and was finally able to catch the goby and put her into the quarantine tank with Luxo. Not within two hours, I checked in on the fish and found Luxo angrily swimming around, with a completely shredded up goby. My initial reaction was “oh, God, she did it again,” and at this point knew that she murdered every other fish, all behind my back. But this time, I got her!! Fortunately, the goby was still alive, though definitely shaken up. I decided to skip quarantining the goby and gave her a nice home in the 40 breeder. Sadly, she now has a very screwed up tail with no signs of healing.

So, I believe I learned my lesson to never trust a clownfish. Or, at least this one. At the moment, I have no intention of moving Luxo into the larger tank, but I also can’t get rid of her. It’s weird—as evil as she is, she’s still my little clownfish friend! After all, she is my profile pic!! So for now, it’s fishy jail for Luxo! Bad clownfish, bad!!

I hope you enjoyed my little story, and I hope I taught a valuable lesson to anyone who thinks clownfish are fun, friendly, and cute. Spoiler alert, they ain’t…

Kind of crazy…

Look who I just brought to our LFS. Aggressive as H • E double hockey sticks! I’d go to clean aquarium and nip nip nip. I believe she killed her mate like a bad divorce. She was in the QT jail for awhile, now at the LFS (someone else’s problem).

The similarities between ours!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Do you know if she is a ocellaris or a percula?

Bought it as an occy

 

[BanjoBandito]

Bought it as an occy

Usually percula are the more agressive, it does look like an ocellaris due to the dark eyes.

 

[adsf430]

Yea I have a pair of maroon storms from ORA since they were just babes. 2 years old now and the girl is an ******. My hand can't be in 3/4 of the tank without being bit continuously. But...they are cute. Never considered getting rid of her.

 

[ClownSchool]

Hello everyone!
I’d like you all to meet Luxo, the most evil clownfish out there!

It started out with two tiny ocellaris clownfish, no larger than an inch. They quickly made a nice home in the quarantine tank, and even formed a close pair inside their small PVC pipe. Things seemed to be going great with them! Luxo would occasionally kick Nemo out then invite him back in, which was quite normal in pairing behavior from what I could tell.

Fast forward a few weeks, and they were the first two fish in my display tank (at least in a very long time)! They did typical clownfish stuff—hosted my torch coral to death, picked on the inverts, and so on. At this point, something became noticeably off about Luxo. She stuck very close to her torch (my second torch, that is… ), warded off Nemo, and made water changes a hassle, starting to follow my hand wherever it went.

Nemo (top) and a tiny Luxo (bottom) in their early days.

A few months later, enter Eve, the Aurora goby. At the introduction of this fish, something snapped inside Luxo, and she decided to harass Nemo to death. It was upsetting, but definitely something that happens from time to time in clown pairs. That was barely the bad part. I could not even attempt to clean the algae at this point. The little bugger would literally jump out of the water just to bite my hand! There were instances in which she’d even draw blood! A one-inch fish leaving marks!! It was here that I knew I had a mean-a** fish.

Over three months later I tested my fish luck again, and added a royal gramma. Luxo actually handled this quite well! The gramma, named Zurg, was able to hold its own and evade the clownfish. The two hung out often, with few signs of aggression. Of course, my hand was still the primary victim to the “devilfish”.

Well fast forward a little while longer, and I chose to round off the stocking with a firefish. Luxo seemed well behaved at this point, and only cared about its “anemone” (a ticked off torch). But things went swimmingly—for a bit. Luxo snapped, and one night I noticed her chasing around the poor firefish. The firefish was faster though. Then the firefish disappeared. At first I checked the sump, then the floor, then concluded that it was finished off. It sucked, but I suppose I’d have to stick with three happy fish. Or two…

After coming back from a weekend trip, I noticed the obvious absence of my royal gramma. Instead, there was a fat clownfish proudly swimming across its tank, surveying its whole territory. It no longer hosted the torch too much. The world was its torch coral! At the time, I didn’t really believe that the rapid deaths of my firefish and royal gramma were the clown’s fault. In fact, I assumed that once more, there was a disease outbreak. Thus, I netted an angry Luxo and stuck her into a quarantine tank. The goby was too difficult to catch, and at this point I was making plans to upgrade my tank.

Over a month later, nothing showed up on the goby, and I grew suspicious that Luxo was the actual disease within the tank…

These suspicions grew when I upgraded the tank, and was finally able to catch the goby and put her into the quarantine tank with Luxo. Not within two hours, I checked in on the fish and found Luxo angrily swimming around, with a completely shredded up goby. My initial reaction was “oh, God, she did it again,” and at this point knew that she murdered every other fish, all behind my back. But this time, I got her!! Fortunately, the goby was still alive, though definitely shaken up. I decided to skip quarantining the goby and gave her a nice home in the 40 breeder. Sadly, she now has a very screwed up tail with no signs of healing.

So, I believe I learned my lesson to never trust a clownfish. Or, at least this one. At the moment, I have no intention of moving Luxo into the larger tank, but I also can’t get rid of her. It’s weird—as evil as she is, she’s still my little clownfish friend! After all, she is my profile pic!! So for now, it’s fishy jail for Luxo! Bad clownfish, bad!!

I hope you enjoyed my little story, and I hope I taught a valuable lesson to anyone who thinks clownfish are fun, friendly, and cute. Spoiler alert, they ain’t…

My wife calls our clown, Marlin. I only hear, Pennywise.

 

[djreef]

The worst fish temperament wise I ever owned in my 40+ years of reef keeping was a 5” female maroon clown which terrorized a few large Angels (the biggest being a 10” Emperor).

She was both as persistent and brutal as she was beautiful.

Then she started going for their eyes.

She had to go.

 

[Rkdunn1]

Hello everyone!
I’d like you all to meet Luxo, the most evil clownfish out there!

It started out with two tiny ocellaris clownfish, no larger than an inch. They quickly made a nice home in the quarantine tank, and even formed a close pair inside their small PVC pipe. Things seemed to be going great with them! Luxo would occasionally kick Nemo out then invite him back in, which was quite normal in pairing behavior from what I could tell.

Fast forward a few weeks, and they were the first two fish in my display tank (at least in a very long time)! They did typical clownfish stuff—hosted my torch coral to death, picked on the inverts, and so on. At this point, something became noticeably off about Luxo. She stuck very close to her torch (my second torch, that is… ), warded off Nemo, and made water changes a hassle, starting to follow my hand wherever it went.

Nemo (top) and a tiny Luxo (bottom) in their early days.

A few months later, enter Eve, the Aurora goby. At the introduction of this fish, something snapped inside Luxo, and she decided to harass Nemo to death. It was upsetting, but definitely something that happens from time to time in clown pairs. That was barely the bad part. I could not even attempt to clean the algae at this point. The little bugger would literally jump out of the water just to bite my hand! There were instances in which she’d even draw blood! A one-inch fish leaving marks!! It was here that I knew I had a mean-a** fish.

Over three months later I tested my fish luck again, and added a royal gramma. Luxo actually handled this quite well! The gramma, named Zurg, was able to hold its own and evade the clownfish. The two hung out often, with few signs of aggression. Of course, my hand was still the primary victim to the “devilfish”.

Well fast forward a little while longer, and I chose to round off the stocking with a firefish. Luxo seemed well behaved at this point, and only cared about its “anemone” (a ticked off torch). But things went swimmingly—for a bit. Luxo snapped, and one night I noticed her chasing around the poor firefish. The firefish was faster though. Then the firefish disappeared. At first I checked the sump, then the floor, then concluded that it was finished off. It sucked, but I suppose I’d have to stick with three happy fish. Or two…

After coming back from a weekend trip, I noticed the obvious absence of my royal gramma. Instead, there was a fat clownfish proudly swimming across its tank, surveying its whole territory. It no longer hosted the torch too much. The world was its torch coral! At the time, I didn’t really believe that the rapid deaths of my firefish and royal gramma were the clown’s fault. In fact, I assumed that once more, there was a disease outbreak. Thus, I netted an angry Luxo and stuck her into a quarantine tank. The goby was too difficult to catch, and at this point I was making plans to upgrade my tank.

Over a month later, nothing showed up on the goby, and I grew suspicious that Luxo was the actual disease within the tank…

These suspicions grew when I upgraded the tank, and was finally able to catch the goby and put her into the quarantine tank with Luxo. Not within two hours, I checked in on the fish and found Luxo angrily swimming around, with a completely shredded up goby. My initial reaction was “oh, God, she did it again,” and at this point knew that she murdered every other fish, all behind my back. But this time, I got her!! Fortunately, the goby was still alive, though definitely shaken up. I decided to skip quarantining the goby and gave her a nice home in the 40 breeder. Sadly, she now has a very screwed up tail with no signs of healing.

So, I believe I learned my lesson to never trust a clownfish. Or, at least this one. At the moment, I have no intention of moving Luxo into the larger tank, but I also can’t get rid of her. It’s weird—as evil as she is, she’s still my little clownfish friend! After all, she is my profile pic!! So for now, it’s fishy jail for Luxo! Bad clownfish, bad!!

I hope you enjoyed my little story, and I hope I taught a valuable lesson to anyone who thinks clownfish are fun, friendly, and cute. Spoiler alert, they ain’t…

I had a peppermint shrimp that ate all of my snails.. I had to get rid of it and I didn’t want to but I was literally buying $35 worth of snails a week. I thought they must be dying for some reason and the shrimp is just doing his job cleaning them up... But then I saw the rascal pick one up and spin it around then poke at it several times. The next day the empty shell sat there in the same spot and I suddenly knew why all of my snails were dying..

 

[CaseyWagner]

I have a pair, Herp and Derp. (Herp is the female)

Derp is a vicious little jerk. He used to be fine and just investigate my hand in the tank and such, but he flipped a switch one day and decided that he's mister bitey now. He's figured out that the skin between my fingers is the easiest to bite chunks out of and can dart in, grab a piece, and dart away instantly.
I leaned over the tank one day while cleaning and he did a could of attempts to get at me at the surface level, then dove down and shot back up at my face. I jerked my head and the little rotter shot over my shoulder and landed on the floor.
I rescued him and put him back, and his behavior hasn't changed.
It's possible he killed my conch. He was always trying to bury it and may have just decided to outright attack it.
So far my serpent star is safe but I'm starting to wonder...

 

[Sharkbait19]

I jerked my head and the little rotter shot over my shoulder and landed on the floor.
I rescued him and put him back, and his behavior hasn't changed.

Wow! You save his life, and that's how he repays you?! How rude!

 

[Reefbuds]

I've got a big ole clarkii female named Big Mama. Bites the heck out of me and defends her Haddoni something fierce. Has yet to accept the spotted clarkii I got for her to pair with. Hopefully when it gets bigger. Love her tho, she's a big beauty