Territorial Clown

[I am Maul]

I have only been keep salt water a little over a year. I have a 20 gallon nano reef. My problem is my Ocellaris clown has become extremely territorial, to the point that when I try to introduce new coral, or remove disguarded shells, he will attack my hands. I also have a few blue eye cardinals that are showing some tears on their fins. At first I thought the damage was from the banded coral shrimp that we had (recently gave away), but now I am wondering if the clown is doing the damage.
Is this normal? Has anyone else had this much trouble with a clown? I was told they are great community fish and perfect for a nano. Any advice or help is appreciated.

 

[EzraZamir]

Hello - I've read they can be nippers and stake territory, but they usually only do that if they are kept in pairs and settle on a territory together. My Clown is really calm, but I recently added a Green Chromis to my Biocube 29 and he chases him a lot. Yesterday I was doing some rock and coral moving, and my Clown kept approaching my arms like he was going to nip. Not sure what your feeding schedule is like or how much stock you have in the tank, but I find if I feed my fish lightly, twice a day, they are more calm and don't chase each other out of their spots. I feed a small pinch of Omega flake food in the AM, then a small serving of brine/mysis shrimp every PM. This way they get fed daily without polluting the tank. Hope this helps...

 

[deerhunter06]

My snowflake clown is an ****** bites me the whole time my hand is the tank put a new sps in my tank the other day near his anemone and he kept nipping at it and knocking it over till the point where I had to move it. Also I have a dreaded maroon clown and he is as nice as can be compared to the snowflake.

 

[Smithjm5]

Clowns can just be a holes honestly lol, if it's in a particular part of the tank you can't change up the scape and it'll kinda "erase" their territory and they won't be as territorial. But I'd say it's pretty normal

 

[mainereefer]

you have to remember clownfish are damsels. most are mean little buggers