My Clarkii clown bites my hand till damn near bloodshed

[JLAudio]

So I have a pair of Clarkii clowns in my 125 who host a large carpet anemone and the dominant large female (3" or so) will attack my hand anywhere in the tank. I have had some clowns attempt to bite my hand but nothing like this. Its not like im soft or anything lol, but he literally made my hand bleed and I cant even move a rock around or he's on me like a pitbull. Im curious if anyone else has seen this type of aggression with clowns and has any thoughts on why or how to reduce it.

Thanks all, ill try and get a video with my phone

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Mine did it to me too. As a matter of fact I had 3 in my tank and all of them would attack me at once. I called them the Clarkii Mafia!

 

[noelskii]

my black female clown doesn't bite my hand but she whips me with her body


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[qy7400]

Clarkii and Tomato are the most aggressive IMO so what you're seeing is normal, she is making sure you go no where near their home.

 

[nikkibabee]

I have a perc in my nano who will not let me do anything...she nips and it is annoying...1 time I flung her out of the tank by accident she bite so hard.

 

[SaltyFlip]

wow, these are some aggressive clowns; hope mine remains somewhat peaceful to me.

 

[dacaptain78]

My false perc has a new home in the fuge for the same reason. I would catch him in a specimen container when I had to do any lengthy or delicate pruning in the tank. The fact that I could catch him at will never struck fear in him though, and he became more adept at evading me. Since nothing seemed to curtail his bloodlust in the sump he went.

On a positive note, my son loves the clowns new home since it is closer to eye level with him than the display tank.

 

[ereefer]

I had a perc that would bite me all the time. They seem small, but if they get you in the right spot, damn they hurt. I had no choice but to get rid of it. By the way, I had to use my hand as bait to catch it.

 

[duke62]

my perc drew blood.could have sworn i saw it smile after she did it

 

[JLAudio]

hahaha, ok so this is fairly normal....I was starting to flick my fingers at him after he cut up my fingers and knuckles

 

[Brian65901]

Maroon Monster

I need to get this to get by my Maroon ***** http://www.ddgloves.com/stainless.html
She needs a muzzel

 

[James]

My false perc has a new home in the fuge for the same reason. I would catch him in a specimen container when I had to do any lengthy or delicate pruning in the tank. The fact that I could catch him at will never struck fear in him though, and he became more adept at evading me. Since nothing seemed to curtail his bloodlust in the sump he went.

On a positive note, my son loves the clowns new home since it is closer to eye level with him than the display tank.

haha, knew that was coming from when I was over. Clowns are way worse than sharks imo.

 

[Domboski]

When I used to stick my hand in my shark and stingray tank, the only fish I was worried about was my female Clarkii Mean fish! :lol2:

 

[sporty]

I have a pair of gold stripe maroons and the female slaps my hand when I stick my hand in the tank.Its enough to startle me and make me withraw my hand quickly.

 

[tentacles]

Since nothing seemed to curtail his bloodlust in the sump he went.

:biglaugh:

i work on a tank that has a large female maroon in it, and she's drawn blood from me before. that bite smarts! if i need to put my hand in the tank anywhere near her nem now, i shoot some mysis in her direction. (too bad i had to learn the hard way, piranha clown!)

 

[Tanglove]

Aww Man I was picking up a pair of clarkii clowns tomorrow I guess I'm crazy or I'll have my fair share of them biting me once they get settled. I don't know if I should get them now, for some reason they are very nasty lil devils. Oh well I'll man up. Lol

 

[brick-brothers]

I dont have any problems with my clowns. Is it because they are not in pairs?

 

[SevTT]

Naw, my clowns are paired and they're both evil.

When you see the clownfish aligning for a charge, wave your fingers at it. Usually this will make them back off. You definitely don't want to withdraw from the tank immediately, 'cause that only reinforces the behavior. After a while, they'll stop doing it as much.

Also, many fish are terrified of green fishnets. I used to stick one in my tank and the clowns would hide in the back, so I could do stuff without (much) interference.

 

[marki24]

I have clarki clowns as well and this is a normal behavior for them. They are just protecting their territory

 

[plateboy3293]

I have a occellaris clown she is a female no mate but she seems to tolerate my hand being in the tank. On a side note one time I was at petco and my friend wanted to buy a hermit crab I told him not to since petco isnt that great for saltwater. So there are about 6 cleaning shrimp in the tank and the guy who is taking the hermit crab out is flipping out every time the shrimp touch him. He fell off the stool twice while trying to avoid the cleaner shrimp. I had one for a while but I was fine with him walking on my arm. It was funny though. I have another story about petco to I needed about 50 goldfish for a 18in knifefish I needed food for and the lady could not scoop the fish there are hundreds in the tank but she couldnt catch one. Then she calls for help ( what is this) takes ten minutes. Then the other lady that comes doesnt know how to bag the fish but she can catch them but cant count them while putting them in a container. Took me a half hour to get 50 fish that should have taken 5mins.