have you ever been bitten by one of your fish???

[bgarthe22 39]

My koi have nibbled as have my Congo Tets, but the fish that really tried to “attack” were the Damsel fish. When I snorkeled at John Pennycamp Coral Reef St. Pk. In FLA and got too close to their nests at the base of corals, they would actually charge me and quick nip my arms and legs. They didn’t hurt, but those 6-8” fish made me very aware of their presence and that I was not welcome in that spot. It’s weird bc I snorkeled among sharks and barracudas wo incident, but not those goofy Damsel fish. Sorry, I don’t recall the species after so many years (late 70s).
Btw…..when handling muskies caught, I did wear a shark diver’s glove. They don’t try to bite, but they sure object to being caught and then having tools go into their mouths for lure removal. At such times, one quick thrash of the fish can easily drive teeth and fish hooks into a fisherman’s hand. In 40 some years of fishing muskies, it has only happened to me twice.

 

[Fishkeeper22]

a couple of my mature silver dollars have noticeable “pearly whites” maybe more visible because of all the pothos roots they have been eating lately… this made me think about this question… as a kid, and young man, I had piranhas for many years… back then you could buy them at the dime store… not knowing any better, and lacking in proper aquarium tools, I always caught them with my hands, to transfer to a bucket on cleaning day… back then I fed chicken livers, and a 100% water change, and tank cleaning was a regular weekly routine… I was given a group of adult fish, that could have easily taken off a teenage finger… but they never bit me??? then one day, a new one, I just bought for a quarter , that was the size of a nickel, bit me when I was scooping it out of it’s small tank, it locked it’s jaws, and wouldn’t let go… finally after shaking my hand up and down vigorously, it flew off somewhere out in the grass… the pain was much higher than one would expect for a blood draw pin prick sized wound… after that I switched to a short handled fishing net… I may have tried a big aquarium net 1st, but remember that getting shredded… certainly made sense to catch them with my bare hands…

over the years I’ve acquired a big pile of aquarium nets of several sizes , but I still tend to put my hand over the top of the nets, to keep fish from jumping out…

I’ll be moving those adult silver dollars to a 250 gallon this year, and seeing those pearly whites, made me remember getting bit all those years ago…

I have panda garra, that will come and sit on the back of my hands, if I’m working in the tank, but haven’t felt fish tooth since that dime store piranha…

I’ve had large cichlids like oscar’s that would bite at me, and breeding pairs of convict cichlids… but nothing else that ever latched on… any of you guys???

flashing a toothy grin ( or warning )
View attachment 377971

I’ve been it by my African Cichlid (a Hap)
But it never hurt because he didn’t have teeth and he only did it if my finger was at the top and he thought it was a flake.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford21 136]

My koi have nibbled as have my Congo Tets, but the fish that really tried to “attack” were the Damsel fish. When I snorkeled at John Pennycamp Coral Reef St. Pk. In FLA and got too close to their nests at the base of corals, they would actually charge me and quick nip my arms and legs. They didn’t hurt, but those 6-8” fish made me very aware of their presence and that I was not welcome in that spot. It’s weird bc I snorkeled among sharks and barracudas wo incident, but not those goofy Damsel fish. Sorry, I don’t recall the species after so many years (late 70s).
Btw…..when handling muskies caught, I did wear a shark diver’s glove. They don’t try to bite, but they sure object to being caught and then having tools go into their mouths for lure removal. At such times, one quick thrash of the fish can easily drive teeth and fish hooks into a fisherman’s hand. In 40 some years of fishing muskies, it has only happened to me twice.

Also the gills plates of muskies and pikes are like knives.

I'm reminded of the time I went to Cozumel on vacation. I spent most of my time snorkeling at the resorts beach. I had a disposable underwater camera to take pictures of fish and corals.
This was an all inclusive resort and they had a little bar & grill by the swimming pools. It was stocked with all kinds of food kept in warming trays. Pizza, burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs etc.
It took me all of two seconds to realize I can grab as many hotdogs as I wanted. I stuffed them into the pockets of my swim trunks and headed back into the water.
The fish smelled the hotdogs immediately. I mean I was surrounded by fish like I was the pied piper. I was hand feeding little snapper, pilot fish, pompano all kinds of marine fish. None of them bit me. They were very well behaved. It was an amazing experience.

 

[BullTerrierChild1 22]

I've got a large blood parrot who bit my arm when I was trying to re-arrange decor in the tank. It's more of a sting than your average pain...
For a while after, he would charge up to me every time I put my hand in the tank, but I learned to "chase" him away with my hand. He eventually got the memo.

 

[OMG_FL]

Many times tbh
Tho I've been bitten by some aggressive giant gouramis and some territorial Jaguar cichlids none of them drew blood except for few times I got bitten by my yellow sentarum snakehead (Channa marulioides )
He's naturally pretty aggressive and will eat anything i put inside the tank
Since I sometimes feed him by hand he's mistaken my hand as food few times and biting my fingers drawing blood
They definitely hurt cuz snakeheads got some sharp and big teeth
Other than that as a kid I used to go fishing(with nets) and always handled the ones I catch with my bare hands as a result I've been stung by walking catfish and also asian stinging catfish
Walking catfish stings are fine cuz they don't have any venom, stinging catfish on the other hand hurts like hell and it sort of numb the area and making it hard to move

 

[CassCats]

And he'd do it again