My 3 inch Ocellaris female decided to go postal today!

[Kennyboy1984]

Hi. So i've had this ocellaris pair for about 2 months now. Very peaceful altough I have seen the female chase pretty much any fish that comes close to the anenome. I stuck my hand in my tank today to feed my sun coral then wham out of nowhere the female clown bites me. It felt like a pinch from a human! Now everytime I stick my hand in the tank it tries to bite me. Is this normal for a clownfish to be this aggressive?

 

[dantodd]

Not all clownfish do this but it is not at all unusual either.

It is obviously a territorial behavior and increased territorial behavior is often seen as a clown gets closer to breeding...

 

[Vegas RN]

the one i had in my old tank would bite my hand everytime my hands got in the tank. when i cleaned the tank id have to watch where the little bugger was at all times so it didnt scare the s@#t out of me. He was ruthless. lol

 

[raoul]

We have a female that has been very aggressive at times, but she's calmed down a little. Now she's mostly territorial when you mess with her nem. She's drawn blood once that I know of! The thing that sets her off most though, is the green bulb on the turkey baster! We had to switch to white, and she's always had it in for my husband, she hasn't attacked anyone else
Good luck!

 

[WDLV]

My female saddleback (polymnus) used to sneak up and bite me. It would scare me so bad I'd jump and cut my hands on the liverock. Man that used to tick me of.

 

[FishGuttz]

I had a tomato who bit me hard on the back of the hand. It felt like getting hit with a hammer.

 

[sharper]

my false percs are babies, when they get older, do they bite and would it hurt even though they aren't big clowns?

 

[WDLV]

It doesn't really hurt. Even when my 5" female polymnus bit me it didn't really hurt. It just scared the poo out of me. I doubt your false percs would ever get that big.

 

[Kennyboy1984]

lol. I had no idea they could be such terrors. It is funny that i'm now scared to stick my hand in the tank! I know its just an idy bidy fish but I'm scared of it

 

[Kennyboy1984]

This fishes behavior has become even more agressive. All the other fish hide in the rocks and don't swim out in the open very much because of the female clown. Any suggestion? I do have an extra tank I could put the pair in...or shall I let nature take its course?

 

[WDLV]

Well if they're in the nano... yes. If they're in the 125 no.

 

[OCDP]

Hah.. my female Ocellaris used to be like this. It doesn't hurt... as already been stated, it just scares the crap out of ya. I remember getting bit and jumping, hitting my hands on the lamps, man that hurt... it was quite annoying.

It's just a territory thing.. esp. in the 24g...

 

[Sacrifice]

Don't mess with my house or my neighbor, or you will get bitten.