Why do my Clownfish do this?

revhtree · Dec 13, 2011

I have about a 4 year old set of picasso clownfish that will not bite my hand even when I mess with their home and am inches away from them but they follow the mag float all over the tank and bite at it.

Why is this you think? It's funny! LOL!

gar732 · Dec 13, 2011

I would guess they are threatened by the mag float but not by you. They probably associate you with food, at least I know mine do. Whenever I walk up to the tank they go straight to the corner I usually feed them in.

MarvinsReef · Dec 13, 2011

that's interesting. LoL

Russellaqua · Dec 13, 2011

I bet it's a food association too. That is pretty funny though.

Aquaph8 · Dec 13, 2011

Mine won't bite me unless I have something in my hand like a algae scrapper.

nicodim55 · Dec 13, 2011

revhtree said:
I have about a 4 year old set of picasso clownfish that will not bite my hand even when I mess with their home and am inches away from them but they follow the mag float all over the tank and bite at it.

Why is this you think? It's funny! LOL!

Haha that is funny, I have 3 blk/wht that follows my hand whenever my hand is in the tank

One of them even let's me touch it.

Dashiki · Dec 13, 2011

Never bite the hand that feeds you.

Isn't that the clownfish moto?

skoolz · Dec 13, 2011

Dashiki said:
Never bite the hand that feeds you.

Isn't that the clownfish moto?

LOL I thought it was ONLY bite the hand that feeds you.....

Captain Nemo · Dec 13, 2011

Rev, they dont bite you because you taste bad and havent washed your hands..... the mag float is cleaner.... LOL!!!:wink:

Troylee · Dec 13, 2011

Dunno mine attack my hands like no tomorrow and run from everything else... Kind of ticks me off I grab a frag to take a picture and the war begins... I have splashed so much water out of my tank and dropped so many corals in the rocks from those little punks!!!! Haha

nicodim55 · Dec 13, 2011

Captain Nemo said:
Rev, they dont bite you because you taste bad and havent washed your hands..... the mag float is cleaner.... LOL!!!:wink:

hahaha:wink: niiiice

MarvinsReef · Dec 13, 2011

Dashiki said:
Never bite the hand that feeds you.

Isn't that the clownfish moto?

nice! I hope so. I have a few of them to deal with. :wink:

Troylee said:
Dunno mine attack my hands like no tomorrow and run from everything else... Kind of ticks me off I grab a frag to take a picture and the war begins... I have splashed so much water out of my tank and dropped so many corals in the rocks from those little punks!!!! Haha

LoL. but you know you love them little buggers. there's really no need for coral frags anyway when you have awesome clowns and nem. 1smile1

aslmx · Dec 13, 2011

I was doing a water change and my clown fish charged my hand, missed, jumped out of the tank and landed behind the tank. I raked it out from behind with a broom handle , washed it off in the sump and chunked back in the tank. It didnt learn a lesson because it still bites the crap out of me when I do a water change.

Justin MD · Dec 13, 2011

I can feed my perc by hand. But she hates when I blow the rocks off. Does the darting thing.

Troylee · Dec 13, 2011

Mine associate hands with food... I have always hand fed them but regret it now haha... If I have any little scabs that resemble a flake food forget it I will get attacked till I give up.... Still doesn't explain revs case.... Guess they just wanna show who's boss haha...

mjaustin22 · Dec 13, 2011

My two b/w attack my hands all the time!! it doesn't hurt, but it always freaks me out enough to rip my hand out of the tank and splash water all over, makes me mad lol.

GrouperStupor · Dec 13, 2011

I have a maroon that attacks my magnet cleaner also. It's scared of everything but the magnet. I guess it's just showing off. It probably sees that magnet sit in the corner and never eat any of the other fish and figures it's safe to headbutt.

Joe S · Dec 14, 2011

As a grad student I maintained a bunch of tanks with A. bicinctus. One pair would leave my hands alone but HATED the magnet... They used to spawn on the glass wall of tank and once I accidentally wiped their whole nest off the glass with the scrubber. After that event, whenever that magnet moved in the tank, they relentlessly attacked it. All other pairs were apathetic to it. Talk about fish that hold a grudge

gar732 · Dec 14, 2011

One time when I was feed my fish one of my clowns bit my finger trying to get the food. It's happened before and doesn't hurt but this time she got me pretty good. It suprized me and I pulled my hand back reflexively. The clown was still biting onto my figure and I almost flung her out of the tank, she flew a couple feet and landed back in the water right next to the edge of the tank. She got lucky.

WrasseSandwich · Dec 14, 2011

My clown always bites me and chases my hand, but I've found she's afraid of the net, so I just hang the net in the water anytime I need to move things around