Where gloves. Problem solved.
Ha! Yes, that does work for sure. But it can still be annoying when you are trying to do something.
I'm intrigued do tell lol. May take me longer as I've resorted to flicking at them when they get near me now, it's become a game to them lol. I don't actually flick em but the water being flicked makes em run then race back at me, lil sons of [emoji12]
Fish are a mix of smart and dumb. They actually have more intelligence than people give them credit for, but of course they are just fish so it's limited. This means they can learn but not figure out when they are being fooled.
Basically all I did for both sets of aggressive clowns is to mimic a lionfish with my hand. I would put my hand in the tank as a fist. When the clown would head toward it I would open it up quickly with the palm facing the fish and all the fingers spread out as far apart as they can go. Like a kid does when he makes a hand turkey at thanksgiving. Don't chase the fish with the hand stay there. If he comes close then give a little chase, but not too much. Once the fish leaves, fold your hand back up into a fist again and leave it in the tank.
This will signal to the fish that whatever that hand thing is isn't mad anymore. If the fish moves forward again to test the resolve of this new hand-fish, flash your finger spines at him again.
It honestly didn't take me very long of doing this each time I put my hand in for something for big mama clown to leave me alone. Now when I feed her I gently put my hand in and let the food slowly release around my fingers. She is always first to eat so she comes and takes it from me now.
Like I said, I don't know if this will work with all clowns. I've only tried it twice. But it's easy for you to experiment with it and see. Give it a try and if you notice a proper reaction when you open your hand up then you know there is at least a good chance of training them to respect the hand-fish.
If these are fish you really do want to keep and are just selling because you're exasperated with them, this training is worth at least a shot. If it works you're better off and if it doesn't then you haven't lost anything.