my female clown is becoming aggressive towards me

[RioReefr]

I do not why, but now whenever I put my hand in the tank my female clownfish becomes very aggressive towards me.
Honestly, before I could get my 2 clownfish to literally eat food out of my fingertips. Both were very passive and tranquil. I have had these clownfish for over a year and neither has been aggressive towards me ever.

BUT, I have this small rock that I rubberband Nori to for my Tang. Whenever, I try to remove or put back that rock, the female clown immediately swims for my hand wanting to bite me or use her tail to swipe at me.

I just do not understand because she takes the occasional nip at the Nori as well, so I am actually doing her a favor by putting in more since she eats it too.

 

[fishy_mcfish]

Yup, my female is a b**** too! Just how clowns get.


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[elishapep]

Lol mine is crazy if I put a small rock or coral on a rock and she doesn't like it she will knock it over and push it all the way to the other side of my tank ..


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[fishy_mcfish]

Lol mine is crazy if I put a small rock or coral on a rock and she doesn't like it she will knock it over and push it all the way to the other side of my tank ..


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Mine does the same thing haha. My female has drawn blood on my hand and arm many times as well!


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[RioReefr]

Yup, my female is a b**** too! Just how clowns get.

BTW, this rock is in "her" territory -- its is the back left-side where these Clowns spend 90% of their time. I just think it is unusual she just started doing and has consistently been doing it the past few days. Maybe it is just her "time of the month" lol.

 

[Anemone]

What I did to get around this issue...

https://www.marinedepot.com/PikStik...d_Industries_Pik_Stick-QF65262-FIMTTT-vi.html

Kevin

 

[joshky]

Clowns generally get very aggressive and territorial, surprisingly (knock on wood), my A. bicinctus female has never chased or bitten me. I'm guessing she didn't inherit the small dog syndrome most clowns have. :lol:

 

[homer1475]

It could also have eggs on that rock. Just a thought, but clowns do get very territorial. So you may just be invading her space.

 

[RioReefr]

It could also have eggs on that rock.

Well, I doubt it is the rock itself. It is a little bigger than quarter-sized that I use to clamp some Nori onto. In fact, it is the only thing that gets touched consistently twice a day so she couldn't have pick anything worse in the tank to become attached to.

I have also noticed her getting a slightly aggressive towards the male clown (also never seen this before). I wonder if she did lay eggs or going to lay some eggs(??)

 

[Bill_Moorman]

Missy is all of 3.5-4 inches long and thinks she is a guard dog. Last night I was doing work on the end of the tank completely opposite of her side of the tank and she snuck up on me and bit my arm! I thought a bee got me!

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[davocean]

Pretty common for them to have a second phase of being aggro to male and maybe all fish or hands as they hit that maturity level before spawning, which would be my guess going by time in tank.

Grabbers, gloves help.
I had luck wearing a stainless steel watch when I had my aggro maroon, he'd hit her reflection in that watch instead of me, it was amusing, made painless and less broken frags for me!

 

[Anemone]

Yeah, I can't tell you how much water I splashed on the wall when I had my anemone tank when the female GSM snuck up on me and biot my hand when I wasn't expecting it. Probably have water damage on that wall...

Kevin

 

[lpsouth1978]

As stated above, most clowns will become quite agressive toward our hands when put in thier territory. In my experience, Gold Stripe Maroon clowns are one of the worst. It doesn't help that they also tend to get really large compared to some of the other clowns. I had a 5" GSM that I was literally TERRIFIED of. She was a monster and drew blood on the regular. It seems that this behavior is intensified when they are hosting an anemone or coral.

 

[davocean]

Yeah, I can't tell you how much water I splashed on the wall when I had my anemone tank when the female GSM snuck up on me and biot my hand when I wasn't expecting it. Probably have water damage on that wall...

Kevin

Splashed water, jabbed elbows and broken frags, my last maroon was queen of the surprise attack, and once jumped out of tank and hit the floor just having my hand above "her" tank!

 

[Conchman]

My last black and white was a terror, I had to use the vac like a sword. One time the dope got too close, sucked him right up into the hose, I had to cut the hose infront and behind him. Behaved himself for maybe a week, right back at it. The 2 now are getting the same way, feeding they are like angels, put my hand in...

 

[Spiffy]

My two clowns never bit hard enough to draw blood, but at one point in time, they would chase my hand around the tank while i was cleaning.

 

[windlasher]

I do not why, but now whenever I put my hand in the tank my female clownfish becomes very aggressive towards me.
Honestly, before I could get my 2 clownfish to literally eat food out of my fingertips. Both were very passive and tranquil. I have had these clownfish for over a year and neither has been aggressive towards me ever.

BUT, I have this small rock that I rubberband Nori to for my Tang. Whenever, I try to remove or put back that rock, the female clown immediately swims for my hand wanting to bite me or use her tail to swipe at me.

I just do not understand because she takes the occasional nip at the Nori as well, so I am actually doing her a favor by putting in more since she eats it too.

And just why do you think it's OK for YOU to put YOUR hand in HER tank? Some people, I swear....:rollface:

 

[aquaman67]

I’ve had my clown pair since 2002.

She still attacks me when I put my had in the tank.

She also attacks the glass when the rooms lights go off.

I guess she can see her reflection only when the room is dark.

 

[cjohn214]

Ours got like that as well, she even bit my husband twice. Seems they get kind of grumpy over time.