Petting Your Fishies

[coyemuse]

So, For a few weeks now, Ive been able to put my fingertips in the tank and my swords love to come up and brush my fingers or suck on them a bit. The Sunset platys were a bit shy, but after a week they did the same thing. the yellow/black platys only took 2 days. today, after adding the three red platys, 10 out of 11 fish were sucking on my fingertips, brushing, and making air bubbles.... its the strangest thing Ive felt... the 11th fish is one of the red platys, shes chilling out at the bottom of the tank away from excitement

 

[AshleyT]

Some of my fish do the same thing lol

 

[Fishy friend2]

The only downside is that your like wiping off there slime coat when you pet them

 

[Man of fish]

Mine do this too. I think it's adorable people say " fish are boring" and "you can't pet or cuddle a fish" but you can

 

[coyemuse]

I dont do it excessively. just a minute or two every once in awhile

 

[Crossfire]

Pff, I take my loaches out and pet them like everyday. Sometimes I take them for a walk.










Granted, some stop moving after I put them back in the tank. But I'm pretty confidant that they're just taking a power nap....

*pokes with a stick* c'mon loachie....let's go.....heyyy....who wants a wormy?......*poke*



Yeah he's just nappin'

 

[Man of fish]

Nice crossfire lol.

 

[coyemuse]

Haha. you all are hilarious... dont know why i didnt post for like 2 weeks

 

[Man of fish]

Yeah!!! Well off to change that filter. I've been holding it off all day so I'm gonna go do it. I'll be around every 15 or so minutes though in between steps

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I pet my oscars. Occasionally they give me an affectionate nibble....or chomp. whichever you prefer

but seriously my oscars do run against my hands. They dont really hurt when they nibble..but my oscars are strangely docile

 

[thereverendturtle]

Pff, I take my loaches out and pet them like everyday. Sometimes I take them for a walk.










Granted, some stop moving after I put them back in the tank. But I'm pretty confidant that they're just taking a power nap....

*pokes with a stick* c'mon loachie....let's go.....heyyy....who wants a wormy?......*poke*



Yeah he's just nappin'

Nice!

 

[FishFanatic04]

I would not! purposely rub my fingers on my fish. There are oils on our skin that cannot be good for our fishes slime coats. However, my platies nip at my arm all the time when I am fiddling with plants, and the corys always dart around and bump me. Plecos have spikes that get caught in nets and can really harm them, so even at my lfs, they pick them up by hand. but I wouldn't move them often for that reason.

The nibbles are cute.

Crossfire. I got loaches. Finally! Four beautiful 2.5 inch babies yay!!! I wanna walk them too. Maybe I could use some fish line for a leash. "noose"

 

[onidrase]

I've always stuck with "fish are for looking, not touching"

Fish just shouldn't be touched, and while livebearers who nibble (though if you ask me, they bite your fingers cause they think it's food) and large trusting fish like oscars and the like won't mind being pet at, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll like it, like say, a cat or dog. It can be harmful to their slime coat when you have your hands all over them, which can lead to problems with their immunities. Not to mention it might even be a tad stressful for somebody to reach in with grabby hands.

Relate it to frogs, toads, treefrogs, you know.

You know that usually, after a while, they'll trust your hands enough for you to handle them. But what handling frogs does, is due to their skin sucking up moisture, they suck up the oils and salts, sometimes soaps and lotions in your hands, which can cause them to get very sick.

While cats and dogs and small mammals and such find comfort in being pet at and handled by trusting hands, I highly doubt the same goes for fish. I think to them, you're just that big thing that brings the food and changes the water once in a while

Good rule of thumb for a lot of things in life: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

 

[Man of fish]

Good rule. I don't purposely pet mine, but I do enjoy them nibbling me when my hands are in the tank

 

[FishFanatic04]

+1 Onidrase