Hand tame fish?

[SailfinGirl]

Does anyone else try to "tame" their fish? Will your fish come up to you and try to be petted? My eight month old tiny silver molly loves to peck at my hands, and swim through my fingers, but won't this be stripping off his protective slime? Is it safe for him?

 

[CFC]

I hand feed a lot of my fish to ensure that ones that are slower to feed manage to get some food before the fast eaters scoff the lot but none of my fish like to be petted.

 

[Nuttygal! :0)]

All of my fish swim up to me whenever I walk past the tanks, so then I end up stopping and feeding them. When they've finished eating, I dip my fingers in and they all swim up and peck them. My guppies and platys and actually most of my fish my fish through my fingers too. I don't think it's bad for them, don't worry SailfinGirl! It's really nice that they're not scared of me and cool too, but they prove to be a problem sometimes because whenever I have the net in there they ALWAYS swim into it and I end up scooping loads of them out without realising sometimes! They're very nosy and inquisitive! Another thing, when I'm doing water changes with my gravel vac I'm always scared that I'll accidentally suck them up or something because they won't leave it alone!

Funny little guys, fish.

 

[jmaster]

i can hand feed my tyre track eel and she sits in my hand some times

also my angles and bettas eat out my hand

 

[Nuttygal! :0)]

i can hand feed my tyre track eel and she sits in my hand some times

also my angles and bettas eat out my hand

 

[bunjiweb]

Some of my fish eat straight out of my fingers, nibbling at a variety wafer.

One of the funniest things i have had fun doing lately is late at night in my catfish tank with the moonlight on, holding a couple of algae wafers in my hands and watching my ghost and african glass catfishes come to the surface to feed off me, its really great to watch

I hope some day that my large Syno. Angelicus will be less of a scaredy cat and get used to feeding out of my hand.

Ben

 

[SMSBrunetteGirl]

 

[WILDER]

I bet fish keepers who keep pirhanas don't hand feed them.

 

[stellablu]

Between my six tanks I have many of my fish eating from my hand and who swim over when they see me. I have freshwater, brackish, and saltwater tanks. Some of the fish that are hand tame are my Calico Ryukin, Dwarf Puffers, actually all of my puffers (except the new guy who is still shy), two Black Mollies, Percula Clownfish, and my Watchman Goby. Between my tanks I split four or five different frozen cubes of food by hand. I have to admit I used to not particularly like goldfish or mollies, but I like how they come right up to my fingers and nibble at anything I offer them. Very cute! Makes keeping fish so much more fun!

 

[CMC]

We hand feed one of our oscars. He's about 6" long. Sometimes we pet the top of his head and then give him a treat (another pellet). He doesn't seem to mind. I've wondered about his slime coat too when we pet him. Once in a while, he'll even let us actually pet the side of his body. The other oscar won't let us touch him but we can hand feed him. And in case anyone is wondering, oscars DO have teeth!