Hello, I've a bit of a problem..

[Sheol]

I own a false perc ( A. ocellaris) who has taken an intense & neurotic dislike of me doing anything in HER TANK/MY REEF. I know she thinks she is trying to protect her Anemones & all , but this is gotten entirely out of hand. Beside, those aren't really 'nems but Green hairy Rhodactis coralliomorphs for Pete's sake!
She dislodges any new coral I put on the LR, if she can (this morning she bit my new Montipora!). She attacks any tool used to work in the tank, and most annoying of all, she bites me BETWEEN my fingers where my skin is thin but the nerves are thick.
How common is this behavior, who else has experienced it, & is there anything to be done ( I know I'm gonna have to buy gloves anyway.) about it.

Sincerely,
Matthew

:mad2: :mad2: :mad2:

 

[osprey77]

when i got my RBTA the tank it came from was well defended by the attack of 2 maroon clowns. They inflicted a couple of well placed bites when the owner tried to get the RBTA and a few other frags out of the tank.

 

[Sheol]

That part at least can be stopped with a purchase of gloves. She has left me no choice..

Matthew

 

[Anemone]

Yep, my maroon female draws blood now. She's gotten very good at "biting for effect."

Kevin

 

[Eric55]

I'm lucky I guess. My female only head-butts my hand when it's in the tank.

 

[MarinaP]

Hand feed and use gloves.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

Sounds like my female ocellaris..she is a real um..pain in the fingers.. yeah..lol. Her favorite place to bite us, was right between the fingers. She was really protective of her tank but then after we got her a male again.. she stopped being her evil self. I guess she just wanted a mate. She still bumps us if we have our hand in the tank for too long. Before we found a mate for her ..she actually took a small chunk of my husbands hand.

 

[Sheol]

Well, she killed her mate last summer. Or he got spooked & decided to go carpetsurfing on his own ( which I sorta doubt..)
I wonder if it'd actually help to get her a new potential male. BTW, she has the getting the skin-between-the-fingers thing down to a science. As I said gloves are a must.
But as I said, that is only half the problem. The other is her growing skill at redecorating the tank!

Matthew

 

[Reefdiver72]

I place a net in the tank and mine go hide and wont bite me. Mine are going bye bye quickly.

 

[tedr]

If we could only breed out the biting between the fingers gene and replace it with the attack finger nail gene, we'd all be better off, including myself.

 

[Sheol]

LOL. There is a selective breeding program for someone with a lot of patience ( & a low pain threshhold!)...
Well, I tried mock battles already with algae brush & scrappers. She copped to that gambit quickly. Sneaks behind the rockwork & attacks from unexpected directions. Gloves ONLY solution.
If this "Move Matt's corals whrere *I* want them" continues, it may be moving time.

Sincerely,
Matthew

 

[got2envy]

I was doing a water change with the siphon hose the other day and had my face over the water..my maroon jumped straight outta the water and tried to bite my face haha..i heard a ploop! and back in it went ..everytime I put my face to look at the tank from above it tries to attack..but doesn't care that my hand is in the tank..crazy clowns!

 

[timrandlerv10]

got2envy...HAHA...she thinks you're a slinky

 

[hahaitzmickey]

wait til they learn how to suck water in and spit at ya, i notice some maroons do that but never seen a false do it... i had one of mine fight a scorpion fish even tho she lost one of her fins it grew back quickly.

 

[Sheol]

A scorpianfish? She is lucky it didn't try & eat her! Never heard the spiting thing tho..

Matthew

 

[hahaitzmickey]

yea it was a small gulf scorpion fish no bigger then her...