My clown made me bleed!

Q

qwaz01

New member
I have had a Red Sea Max 130D for around 4 years and my first two fish were a pair of Perc Clowns. They have always been really friendly apart from a 4 month period a couple of years ago when one kept chasing the other until it would jump into the skimmer cup.

Anyway, the last few weeks one of my clowns has started attacking me when I put my hands in the tank and today it actually nipped me and drew blood, it doesn't seem bothered by the other fish though. The other clown seems to be spending a lot of time in a huge mass of Pulsing Xena and I've never seen either do that before.

Does this seem like breeding behaviour? I haven't changed anything diet or water wise so can't see why after 4 years I'm now getting attacked.
 
Thsee are bite marks from my female ocellaris, it does not matter where my hand is in the tank she attacks it no matter what. The kids thinking it's flipping hilarious.
20150820_100609_zpswjirgz3v.jpg
 
My female will attack my bare hands any where in the tank as well. Kind of a pain. All started after I had her eating out of my hand.
 
mnchartier said:
Thsee are bite marks from my female ocellaris, it does not matter where my hand is in the tank she attacks it no matter what. The kids thinking it's flipping hilarious.
20150820_100609_zpswjirgz3v.jpg
Click to expand...


That's the exact same place I keep getting bit, inbetween my little finger and ring finger.

I don't get why though after 4 years off being peaceful. Makes cleaning the tank rather painful.
 
You've got the same tank as me, and I also have a pair of clowns.

Having kept Piranha before I joke with my kids that this is the saltwater version!
 
my maroon clown started attacking my hand after I introduced the anemone. It never attacked me before being hosted
 
Someone should update the fish compatibility chart to include the "manus fleshimus" and the incompatible amphiprioninae.
 
My female used to also draw blood, and tag me right between my fingers anytime my hands went in the tank. My male was much more docile, until the female died. Now he will attack, but no where near the ferocity of the female. The one thing he goes absolutely ballistic over however is the algae pad that I use on the glass. He'll grab ahold and shake it ferociously, like the female used to do to my hands and arms. I've had blood drawn from both my hands and my forearm from the female in the past.
 
qwaz01 said:
I have had a Red Sea Max 130D for around 4 years and my first two fish were a pair of Perc Clowns. They have always been really friendly apart from a 4 month period a couple of years ago when one kept chasing the other until it would jump into the skimmer cup.

Anyway, the last few weeks one of my clowns has started attacking me when I put my hands in the tank and today it actually nipped me and drew blood, it doesn't seem bothered by the other fish though. The other clown seems to be spending a lot of time in a huge mass of Pulsing Xena and I've never seen either do that before.

Does this seem like breeding behaviour? I haven't changed anything diet or water wise so can't see why after 4 years I'm now getting attacked.
Click to expand...

It's spawning or pre-spawning behavior. They've been together a long time, they might spawn any day. The female is guarding her territory now. Sounds like the mass of Xenia is their substitute for an anemone.

I have a breeding occellaris pairs in both my big reef and a nano. In the big reef they live in 2 gonioporas and lay the eggs on the rock under the gonis. If i go anywhere near those corals, mama bear bites me between the fingers. If other fish go near those gonis, they get chased off by either mama or pops.

In the nano the clownfish have 2 anemones. If i put my hand in the tank, mama bites me, between the fingers. It hurts. A lot. Makes cleaning the glass fun! lol

Clownfish are smart. They seem to know that the finger webbing is a sensitive spot for us hoomans.

Congrats on being a grandparent soon. hehe
 
jedimaster1138 said:
It's spawning or pre-spawning behavior. They've been together a long time, they might spawn any day. The female is guarding her territory now. Sounds like the mass of Xenia is their substitute for an anemone.



I have a breeding occellaris pairs in both my big reef and a nano. In the big reef they live in 2 gonioporas and lay the eggs on the rock under the gonis. If i go anywhere near those corals, mama bear bites me between the fingers. If other fish go near those gonis, they get chased off by either mama or pops.



In the nano the clownfish have 2 anemones. If i put my hand in the tank, mama bites me, between the fingers. It hurts. A lot. Makes cleaning the glass fun! lol



Clownfish are smart. They seem to know that the finger webbing is a sensitive spot for us hoomans.



Congrats on being a grandparent soon. hehe
Click to expand...


Thanks for the information. Out of interest what age do Clowns become sexually reproductive?
 
That I have no idea about. It's also a function of how long the pair is together, when one of them changes to female, environmental factors like food, predation etc.
 
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