Hands

[critterena]

hi.
I was reading around and it seems that some people put their hands in their tanks to either fish out the bettas for water changes or just to play with them. Personally if it was safe for them (and me) i would love to do that just to be closer to my babies. Any opinions?

 

[blue_betta]

i feed bloodworms and shelled snails to my bettas directly off my finger tip, its great to have them tibbling bits of food off you!

 

[girl4God81]

I do it all the time, mostly for adding or taking things out, etc. Just make sure if you use soap to wash your hands, that you rinse them with hot AND cold water for awhile so it's all off. I don't do it unless I know my hands are cleaner and I usually just wash with a lot of hot and cold water, no soap.

 

[Betta91]

I've heard of people playing with their bettas and mine are quite playful as well. I don't stick my hand in to play with them but rather to feed them...I gues if they don't stress out and your hands are very clean it's ok.

 

[Phaedra]

I'm too paranoid of hurting him or contaminating his water with anything. I even wash my hands before I feed him! He still "dances" for me though when he catches sight of me, so that's good enough for me. Oh, and of course I talk to him.

 

[Jaded12]

I hand feed them blood worms sometimes, and if I put my hand into my sorority the girls will nibble on my fingers, wrap themselves around them and even lay on my palm. It's so cute

 

[rdd1952]

As long as your hand (and arm) is clean, it's fine. Actually, if you must get a fish out of the tank for some reason, you hands are much better than the net as they won't harm the slime coat as bad as the net.

 

[Amunet]

I have to stick my hands into my bettas' tanks to fish out different things and to put back plants that might've come up when doing gravel vacs.
It's ok so long as your hands are clean (like everyone has already pointed out )