Clownfish bites!

Tamarae

Tamarae

New member
So last night my husband was reaching into the tank to pluck an asterina star on the side of the glass. Apparently his arm went too close to Nee's territory and she bit him. Of course I died laughing because he squealed like a little girlie. :lmao: Fast forward to this morning - I was rearranging some coral that had been snailed over on its side, and got too close to Nee and she bit me too.

Is it typical for a female clown to be that territorial? Thank goodness she's not a barracuda.
 
Oh yes, very normal. They get very nasty. I had a large one about 3 inches and once my hand went anywhere in the tank he came after my hand. Once he latched onto my palm and came right out of the water with it still on my hand.. Mean bastards, and they scrare the hell out of you when they attack your hand even after they have done it dozens of times.
 
I'm hoping that I never experience such normal behaviour in my clown. I've had my baby occy bite me... Once. My Saddleback female? Never. I think I'd have a heart attack and run around the house squealing like a little girlie too.

But yes, very territorial fish, she's healthy and good. :)
 
My female clownfish all the time and chasing my hand over the whole tank. Wear gloves , because they can draw blood from you hand
 
My female Maroon will actually ram my arm sometimes, and when she does bite, she targets the soft spot in-between my fingers. She's evil :angryfire:
 
I'm glad my clowns are like little puppys when I do tank work, between them and my shrimp they make great site foremans always making sure I do it right and they try to "help" me do the work but they just get in the way when they "help" me and my shrimp thinks my arm is a rodeo ride (you can almost see him smiling and Yahooing). Sorry I went of topic, but yes it is fairly normal for them to bite. It has always amazed me that people including me are scared of things so small attacking them, I find it so funny :lol:
 
That's one of the main attractions of my tank to my 2 year old niece. I have 2 ocellaris and the larger female attacks anything that goes into the tank; tongs, turkey baster, and my hands whether or not I have gloves on. I rarely put my hands in my tank, just when I get new coral and maybe on water changes. I still get attacked every time and it still makes me jump even when I am expecting it. That particular clown loves to swim on top of my Lubbock's wrasse when he is flashing and than get bullied. The wrasse will get irritated and sort of ram him and nibble on it. Rather than swimming away the clown keeps going back for more. It will sometimes go on for 2-3 minutes at a time. She is quite the character, I get a lot of laughs out of her.
 
No problem when the lights are on, I can do anything, but try to target feed a few corals after lights out and my female true perk will swim over two feet to nail me.
 
Putt said:
No problem when the lights are on, I can do anything, but try to target feed a few corals after lights out and my female true perk will swim over two feet to nail me.
Click to expand...

Perhaps there is a relationship between females and darkness?! :spin2:
 
Yup, very normal behavior for her. My perc's would just bat me w/ their tails, but when my b/w occy's bit, they could draw blood.
 
It might seem hard to believe but I have a scar from my female from 9 years ago. She was great for years and then started laying eggs, got very territorial (with me). One night she decided she had had enough and bit me between my middle and ring finger. I was always worried about my fuzzy dwarf lion stabbing me in his tank but never her in my peaceful reef tank. Lost a small chunk of skin that night.
 
Clownfish bites!

My fancy snow female and male bite me anytime my hands are in the tank. I'm used to it at this point.
gasuty8e.jpg

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Makes it easy to net them if you have to...
 
I had a cinnamon pair that were reallllll aggressive the second a hand entered his zone. My black ice do this too but they don't pack a wollap like the cinnamon could.
 
What ive learned the more u pull away when they bite, the more there gonna bite u. Mine hit me once or twice and then stop
 
In my experiences, Clarkii, Cinnamon and Maroon clowns can sometimes penetrate skin if the clown is big enough. Have been bit by my Clarkii multiple times. I had a minor cut and the mark was there for a couple fish. Looking to replace them with ocellarius. They tend to bite less.
 
Wow. Glad to know I'm not the only adult man that jumps like a little girl when one of my marine buddy tries to attack my arm/hand!
 
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