What are some of the most aggressive Clownfish?

[BarbH]

After a comment that was made on another forum the other day about the clownfish that I recently got my curiousity going. From what I have seen about the only clowns that are considered to be peaceful are Ocellaris. Many of the others are considered to be semi aggressive while Maroons are considered to be aggressive. From your experience or knowledge from realiable sources which clowns tend to be the most aggressive clowns out there? Also does this aggression seem to be shown more when they are breeding and protecting their area or does it seem to be shown most of the time. With my fw experience I had observered that my breeding pair of angels would become more aggressive towards other tankmates when they where protecting a recent spawning, however when they did not have any eggs that they where protecting they had no problems with any of the other fish in the aquarium including the other angels in the tank with them. Just curious about clowns and the fact that someone told me that I ended up choosing one of the meanest clowns out there When I asked them if they could provide any sources the only thing they told me was personal experience... so I would like to hear from the masses :bigsmile:

 

[feh]

Maroons

 

[mainereefer]

I have a pair of gold stripe maroon clowns that spawn regularly the female is large about around 5" and she is mean the only fish she tolerates is a flame tale blenny and the small male anything else she will kill in her 72bow tank

but the meanest clownfish I have owned is a cinnamon she was about 8" and 4"+ tall!! I donated her to a lfs with a 1500g lagoon setup

 

[JSB]

Maroons

+1 on the Maroons

 

[63vette427]

Gold bar maroon clowns are most aggressive i have seen. They actually were only aggressive to me being in the tank. They never bothered the other fish but would take bits out of my hand. The female even drew blood a few times. They didn't last very long in my tank until they were moved onto someone else. It made it far too hard to spot feed corals with them.

 

[Alkamist]

+ 1 to the Maroons, there pretty mean fish

 

[Trex]

Out of all the clowns I have kept over the years;

A. polymnus -- pair
A. Clarkii -- mated pair
A. melanopus -- single
A. percula -- mated pair
A. ocellaris -- pair
A. sandaracions -- mated pair
A. perideraion -- mated pair
P. biaculeatus -- mated pair

The most aggressive ones was the A. perideraion (( Pink skunks )), they started off fine, but once they started to spawn, they turn super aggressive. At the time they were in a 58 with 2 dwarf angels. I added a 3 dwarf angel and the existing dwarfs didn't care, but the clowns went nuts. In fact I blame them for the death of my Golden dwarf angel.

 

[bairdimusprime]

i've kept maroons which were extremely aggressive, a clarkii that was aggressive if you came near its space and as most of you know my true perc female has just become the clownfish version of Dr. Doom.. everything is hers to command lol

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

maroons are the worst but my ocellaris pair are a close second. they only draw blood when get close to their nem

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[ermartin]

I would have to say saddleback and tomato are the ones that have drawn the most blood from me. but any mated pair will attack when your looking and not looking

 

[emerald525]

The black and white ocellaris female in my avatar is pretty mean. She would bite me all the time when I was feeding. I loved her though. I sold her to a local reefer when I took down my 150 gallon tank.

 

[cannon77]

We have a female Domino Ocellaris in our breeding program....she will launch out of the water to bite us before we can get our hands in her tank...her male is almost as bad!!
We have been bitten by all 15 pairs we have, worst as far as pain is the maroon pair, second is the clarkii....she has HUGE teeth but only the male has bitten me so far.

 

[BarbH]

Thanks for the replies, from what I had read Maroons definitly seem to be one of the meanest. With clowns that are considered to be semi aggressive have you had any issues keeping any particular fish with them. Particualarly looking for info on Clarkiis but also interested in hearing peoples experiences with others also.

 

[reefknight]

Maroons, Saddlebacks, Fire and Tomato clowns would be my vote for the most aggressive. My female Darwin is aggressive but not to the extent of the others listed above.

I know you listed that you were looking at Clarki's have you considered Akyindos? Gorgeous clowns rarely seen I think they get overlooked often. I'd love a pair of them or Latz.

 

[BarbH]

Maroons, Saddlebacks, Fire and Tomato clowns would be my vote for the most aggressive. My female Darwin is aggressive but not to the extent of the others listed above.

I know you listed that you were looking at Clarki's have you considered Akyindos? Gorgeous clowns rarely seen I think they get overlooked often. I'd love a pair of them or Latz.

Thanks Bill, I actually got the Clarki's on Sunday. I have been a member of another forum for quite awhile, from when I was keeping fw tanks that is mostly active on the fw scene although they have a sw section. On that particular forum there is pretty much one person that answers all the sw questions with maybe one or two others piping in every once in awhile. He made the comment about the clarkis being one of the most aggressive clownfish when I had updated my build thread, when asked for sources all I was given was personal experience.

This is what got my curiousity going since everything that I have read, and I have checked out many different sites list these fish as semi aggressive. So I figured I would hear from more people about their thoughts and experiences instead of just taking one persons comments as the way it is.

 

[GrouperStupor]

All the Clowns I've had were okay with all other fish and inverts other than clowns. A angel bugs my ocellaris, but they don't bug him unless provoked. One of my Maroons is super mean to other clowns and my magnet cleaner. He ignores everything else, even my hand. It's wierd. My ocellaris breeding pair are tough when provoked, but not really mean to other tank mates. I have a Black Saddleback that is real skidish, so I put him a tank by himself. I don't think that is normal behavior for a black saddleback.

 

[shred5]

I have kept allot of different clowns and Clarkiis are insane. I own a pair of clarkiis right now. They get real territorial and their range grows as they get older. They get mean to other fish, My new female was already chasing other fish away from her anemone one day after being introduced. Clarkiis really seem to be the only clown really that get aggressive to other fish other than just around their anemone. Wait till they spawn nothing is safe.

Then I would go Tomato complex and then maroon. I actually owned a gold bar maroon once that was really sweet.

Nice thing about clarkiis is they are associated with more anemones in the wild than any other clown. Makes them much easier to get to host most anemones..

They are also known to wander farther than most clowns from their anemone in the wild. Probably why there territory in a reef aquarium in bigger.
Clarkiis also get very large.

 

[shred5]

I know you listed that you were looking at Clarki's have you considered Akyindos? Gorgeous clowns rarely seen I think they get overlooked often. I'd love a pair of them or Latz.

I agree those two clowns are great. I love them..

Live aquaria has captive bred latz from time to time now. I have never owned a pair but I assume they could be agressive.

 

[mainereefer]

my cinnamon lived in a 2' carpet in a tank with a 12" lion a 10"grouper and a few other large aggressive fish she was the boss! if she bit you you would lose a chunk of skin or maybe even the tip of your finger not just draw blood

for size reference there is a quiet one 4000 pump behind her

 

[Dragonreef202]

I have a maroon about 2 1/2" in tank with 3 damsels and he seems to be getting along with them. They're in a 37 gal about to be in 75 gal. So i'll just have to seehow aggressive he gets.