Peaceful, yeah right

[reefing102]

Most people say their ocellaris clowns are peaceful. Most websites say they are peaceful. Mine is anything but. My ocellaris is the most agressive SOB that i have had. Any time my hand goes within a 12-18" radius of his anemone's he goes and bites me. My tanks is only 24" wide so that makes it a little hard to clean algae. I flick him with my fingers chase him around the tank and he still up and bites the heck out of my hand. Most cases i have to net him in order to clean the tank.

So can i kill him? Please. I mean my damsels are afraid of him.

Are any of yours as agressive?

[fras]

They are related to damsels except they have the added bonus of being fiercely teritorial. Anyone who says they are peaceful lies, i've seen an adult female maroon in action it's a sight to behold.

[oct2274]

are you seriously asking us if you should kill him? if that is the case no one here is going to tell you that, but you can certainly catch him and sell or give him away to a good home.........

[sk8rreefgeek]

wow! flicking a clown, then thinking about killing him?? karma's gonna kick your *** if you kill that clown!

for the record, my black and white clown is super friendly, and will eat out of my hand.

He bit me once cuz I was cleaning some algae in his area, but he was just protecting his woman.
if I ever saw someone flick him, I would kick their *** on the spot

[sk8rreefgeek]

I just learned that you can't say *** on here. lol

censorship is a *****

[mouscacha]

I think you should give him away. I just inherited three clown fish, and two are extremely territorial. I'll be giving away 1 of them and QTing the two until i put up my new 90.

[hyperfocal]

Mine are peaceful as long as nobody is threatening their territory (their BTA and environs). They don't mind the Yellow Tang at all, or the Ruby-Headed Wrasse (fort eh most part) but as soon as the Flame Angel gets close they go to war. The Banggai is 50/50, sometimes they ignore it other times they chase it off. There must be some kind of behavioral cue that's triggering their territoriality; the Tang isn't exhibiting this behavior so he's okay... the Flame Angel, not so much.

[asherah]

My ocellaris is totally peaceful. If you put your fingers in the surface of the water he will nibble on them lol.
He never bites and never chases anyone.

asherah

[m2434]

My ocellaris is a pain in the but. Always steals food from my corals, makes it impossible to feed them. Not as aggressive as my Maroon Gold-Stripe though.

[myerst2]

In most cases you have to remove him to clean the tank? Is this a 3 foot clownfish? I give a three inch fish much credit if you have to remove it before putting your hand in the tank.

[guardrail]

my clowns are peaceful. come up and beg for food when i come in the room, never attack my hand. and never chase any other fish...

[bpoore89]

I have had a mated pair for a very long time. They where my first fish. They playfully nip my arm if its in the tank but its all in good intention and are really funny to watch swim through your fingers

[reefing102]

Originally posted by oct2274
are you seriously asking us if you should kill him? if that is the case no one here is going to tell you that, but you can certainly catch him and sell or give him away to a good home.........

seriously no not literaly kill him

Flicking him - i've never hit him but it scares him

[mysterybox]

My clowns are very peaceful, and they eat out of my hand. I know each fish is a little different, but also, I do not have an anemone. I would imagine that they would fight to the death to protect it. just a guess, though.

[DocJim]

They will vigorously defend their territory. Mine has even drawn blood on my hand once. Now I just avoid that area of the tank. Guess he broke me!

[TitoTee]

Originally posted by karlkidd He bit me once cuz I was cleaning some algae in his area, but he was just protecting his woman.
if I ever saw someone flick him, I would kick their *** on the spot [/B]

I thought it was the females that protect the males

[spanglish]

Originally posted by reefing102
seriously no not literaly kill him

Flicking him - i've never hit him but it scares him

Oh, come on Kill him!

[jcpatella]

My two ocellaris clowns were the first fish I added to my system. From day one, they swam the entire tank, as if it was theirs (especially the female). Only recently did she start chasing all of the other fish around the tank everytime I walked up to it - she didn't want ANYONE having her food. I ended up bringing her back to the store, and the male seems perfectly content without her!

[onano]

My mated pair are very peaceful. I hand feed them and they allow me to hand feed their anemone without any aggression.

[ACBlinky]

IME clowns are generally sweet natured, peaceful fish... until you invade what they perceive as their territory. They don't care that you need to kill that pest anemone, or scrape some coralline off the tank wall, or that the fish they're chasing was just swimming over their anemone while chasing food - if you mess with 'their' area, clowns can and will turn into vicious little beasts. My ocellaris absolutely owns a portion of the 90g. She'll chase the other fish away from 'her' rock, and she's not at all afraid to bite me when I'm cleaning. My maroon pair live alone in a 30g tank and are sweet as pie, provided I don't get too close to the tank. Then they try to bite me through the glass. They're beastly little things, and I love them to death

Your clown is just doing what comes naturally to her (if you have one clown on its own, it's a she, or will be soon). Wear gloves when you need to put a hand in the water, or let her bite you and ignore it.

[350nine]

At least you can catch him,right? Take him out and trade him in for something else.

[CinciCobra]

My clown recently started doing the same thing. Had him / her as a juvenile in a nano tank, then moved it into my current 75g reef about 9 months ago. I have had it for around 2 years. And a few months ago it started attacking me anytime my hand goes into the tank - no pain, but it is a pain to do anything in the tank.

My solution was to net it each time (big net) and hang the net in the corner of the tank. Makes it easy and the fish won't be a pest either.

[Gdevine]

WOW! My false perc is about as great a community fish then I could EVER ask for. Reading how some react is amazing to me given my experience.

[Rewd]

Evil/wonderful fish. lol

[atzak]

it has been my experience that clownfish don't always read the same books that we do, or in this case, visit the same websites