clownfish aggression

[Carrie]

I was on Pacific East Aquaculture, looking at clams, when I saw a tomato clown pair with a GBTA. On the scale of clownfish aggressiveness, where are tomato clowns? Closer to Percs or Yellow striped maroons? Also, has anyone ordered from Pacific East?

[Derek]

Tomato clowns are beautiful. They are one of my favorites, but unfortunately they are also one of the most aggressive. From my experience they are on the aggressive spectrum on the aggressive end before maroon clowns. I had a pair of tomatoes and the female would bite me and attack me when I would feed my corals.

I have a pair of pink skunk clowns. They have the same body shape and are stunning in terms of coloration. You are welcome to swing by sometime if you want to take a look at them. They are also in the video I attached to my About Me page. They are relatively peaceful and pretty much stay to themselves. The only fish I see them bother are blue green chromis and my starckii damsel. They will occasionally say "hey you're too close" to my angels, but never any physical contact.

[Jimbo]

Too bad GSM's get such a bad rap. I've recently lost one that was as docile as any perc I have ever had. Tomatos on the other hand are mean. Those and cinnamon clowns I think are the worst in terms of aggression. I guess it all depends on if there is a pair and what the tank mates are.

[pbnj]

I'm surprised my mated pair of Clarkii clowns don't spit up pea soup and rotate their heads 360 degrees....they're truly demonic.

They don't bother any fish, unless they come within 10-12 inches of their cave....then, look out. If their mouths were any bigger, I would have lost parts of some fingers already.

[+o0zarkawater]

I have a 10gal with false percs, and the female will bite anything that comes in the tank. She is a bxtch, even though she is barely over 2.5". She bites you while you are cleaning, she is not the nicest to her other half, who rarely gets to come into the main home without groveling.

In my 55gal I have a pair of Maroon/yellow stripes who are nice as can be. The female is around 4.5". I have never seen them be mean to any new fish, or towards me. The only thing the female does is move rocks if I re-arrange anything. She actually comes up to the glass and moves her mouth like she is yelling at me after I move rocks. And butts them off of any place I move them. She doesn't like me arranging HER tank.

[Derek]

Too bad GSM's get such a bad rap. I've recently lost one that was as docile as any perc I have ever had. Tomatos on the other hand are mean. Those and cinnamon clowns I think are the worst in terms of aggression. I guess it all depends on if there is a pair and what the tank mates are.

I think that Maroon Clownfish do have a bad reputation. Mark has one and it seems perfectly nice. I think it has to do with the population in the tank and how much room is available.

[JamesL]

My maroon (from Mama) is mean to me ... always comes over and bites me, even when I am on the opposite side of the tank.

From my experience, the closer a clown is to fully red, the meaner it is

As Derek mentioned, skunks generally are pretty laid back. I also have a skunk in my tank, and it is shy. I wanted to try a group of skunks, because supposedly when they are in a large group they start "croaking" (not dieing, but making the actual sound).

[+mcallahan]

I think that Maroon Clownfish do have a bad reputation. Mark has one and it seems perfectly nice. I think it has to do with the population in the tank and how much room is available.

mine will eat out of my hand and almost let me pet her. The other day she bit me b/c I was trying to remove one of the RBTA clones. Other than that, she's a dream!

[doktorstick]

I hear clowns are good eats.

[GKarshens]

I know a guy who had a 1000g tank in his house. His female Maroon ruled the tank. She would move corals and rocks. Bit him anytime he put his hand in the tank. He literally tried spearing her and trapping her to get her out but couldn't. He just recently tore the tank down and refuses to say what he did with her.

[JamesL]

[Derek]

My maroon (from Mama) is mean to me ... always comes over and bites me, even when I am on the opposite side of the tank.

From my experience, the closer a clown is to fully red, the meaner it is

As Derek mentioned, skunks generally are pretty laid back. I also have a skunk in my tank, and it is shy. I wanted to try a group of skunks, because supposedly when they are in a large group they start "croaking" (not dieing, but making the actual sound).

I have heard the same thing. My pink skunks will croak from time to time. It is really cute. When I get my 215 I think I will try doing a school of pink skunks. It should be really cool.

[Zarathustra2]

I had a tomato that came with my nano tank. It had been left alone in the tank with no tankmates for some time before I got there. That thing was just mean. Not only would it attack me, or any net put in the tank. I added a bit of clean up crew to help out with the algae problem I inherited and it attacked the Emerald crabs. Next day it went to AquaTech. I think its still stuck in one of the frag tanks.