Petting Goldfish

[goldenpuon]

I am working on taming my fish (guppies, bettas, and goldfish). I started this a couple weeks ago by just putting my hand in the water for about a 1/2 hour at a time and letting the fish get used to it. Or, if they hesitated, putting food in my hand first to attract them to it.

Well, I have stopped doing that for a while now but apparently my goldfish have remembered. They swim up to my hand when it is put in the water and start nibbling on it like crazy. I managed to gently touch my tamest goldfish Wickren 2 days ago when it was fed. It could have cared less that I touched it, the fish just kept nibbling on my finger to eat the food out of it. My other goldfish are also brushing past me with their fins and bodies, obviously not afraid to touch my hand.

I just thought I would share this. This is a fun and remarkable experience. ;D And of course I am very careful.

I am going to get a video of Wickren begging later on. This fish begs hyperly and opens its mouth really wide to say "I'm hungry". I might post it here or int the "Fish Picture and Video" forum.

Renee

[babygeige]

Sounds like fun! I love it when my fish nibble on my fingers. Except for my bettas. My red female likes to bite my arm when I'm cleaning the tank. It startles me every time. It feels like a bug bit me!

[goldenpuon]

I'm teaching my bettas to bite my fingers. They ambush my hand and then NIP!, go at my hand. It is just funny to watch though because it doesn't hurt and they are small. My oldest female betta Drift (I will have had her 2 years next month) loves to jump out of the water and land on a platform thingy in the 4 gallon container I keep her in (part to explain.) Then she just flips back into the water. She doesn this during feeding time. I never trained her to do this.

She is my only fish ever that has "voluntarily gone out of water".

Once I got scared too when a goldfish nibbled at my arm. I was cleaning the tank and suddenly something slimy touched my arm. I thought I had bumped a goldfish while I was cleaning the tank but no, it just wanted to eat me! But it sure scared me. I drew back and let out a little cry until I realized the goldfish was after me. lol

But you should be happy your fish nibble on you. It is a sign they feel safe/have a healthy appetite around you even if it startled you. Plus it is cute!

[stix0504]

I just wanted to say that I have always had a close relationship with my goldfish. I have hand fed all of them in the past and I agree that the interaction is amazing. When I change out the water, they all have to come up and nibble on my arms. I had one Oranda who would actually sit in my cupped hand in the tank.

I think it actually started because I had two fish who were always getting rocks stuck in their mouths that they couldn't get out. So I would take them out, hold them half in / half out of the water and remove the rock so I think they just started trusting me from there. I have since changed to larger rocks, though so that isn't a problem any more.

I must admit that I don't do much of the hands on stuff anymore because I feel like it contributes to things getting in the tank that shouldn't be in the tank (like oils, etc.) but, when I first started taking care of them, I did do it a lot and it was definitely amazing.

[danny]

hey,i love to pet my some of my fishes too!..all my bettas jump out of water if tempt them with food.haha!and they would not hesitate too bite me..when my grimjaw(my tiger oscar) was still alive,he was not afraid of me petting him.he bites my fingers too..now i have a new oscar,but he is not like grimjaw,he doesn't want to touch me,although he jumps everytime i'm around(begging for attention and food i guess).my guppies too nibbles at my fingers.i am trying to tame my bichirs as well.

[goldenpuon]

That's really awesome guys. A few of my goldfish will let me touch them if they're nibbling food out of my hand at the same time. And my bettas, guppies, and goldfish don't mind brushing past my hand as they swim. They aren't afraid to touch me. It shows that they are very happy and tame.

Danny, my bettas also jump out of the water for food. It is really cute but I never trained them to do that. I just have to make sure they don't jump out. lol

[fishfever]

My mollies (have 2 adults and 4 babies in main tank) also let me pet them, either while waiting at the feeding ring or while they are nibbling. I don't do this all the time as I'm not sure if any of my skin oils would do some harm (hope their slime coat helps). I've also noticed the molly fry in the fry tank will surround my arm while I'm maintaining the tank and poke at it. It kind of tickles and I have to work slowly and carefully to avoid injuring them. They probably would make great fish workhorses in the future that eat the dead skin of people's feet in those fish pedicure shops!

[demfish]

My black moor will let me hold her and pet her too, the only time I do it is when I'm cleaning the tank. She feels like velvet. Been doing it for the last 8-9 months and have seen no problem as of yet. I think as long as your careful and hands are clean and wet. But then I don't know everything and almost nothing lol

[bikeguy33]

i don`t have many pettable fish....but in the maintenance bizz i made a habit of doing this with as many fish as i could. 3 motoro rays i used to care for would see me and come to the surface and spin around. they would flip upside down with no fear of me. then they would get a full shrimp in their mouths. at this time they seemed to love their belly being scratched.

but to add to the conversation at hand, as long as you are clean with no soap on your hands, i feel it is fine to pet the fish if they will allow it.running a hand across a large fish can speak volumes about the health of the fish.normally the slimeyer the better (with the exception of the hag).pet away, cause often their slimecoat will be affected before appetite or symptoms of a disease will set in.

[goldenpuon]

Thanks for the tip on slime coat and fish health Bill. I am still working on my goldfish. they follow me around the tank all the time. I'm sure they'll let me pet them sooner or later. They're still kind of nervous about it though.