Do fish like to be petted?

[Treefer32]

This is a really silly post, but my fish behavior is nuerotic at best. I have a large (easily 8-10" in diameter) Caribbean Blue Tang in my 350 gallon display. He demonstrates the stranges behavior throughout the day. From Swimming directly in front of the powerhead each morning when the lights start turning on to hanging out under a large shelf rock I have when the lights are their peak to in the evening, being petted by coral.. I know it sounds silly, but, tonight I watched him rest on my GSP that waves in the motion of the water and he would just set there as he rubbed his belly against the gsp. I've found him laying his side against the GSP, and swimming around to lay down again and get all of his sides scratched or rubbed..

I've heard that GSP may have chemical reactions in the water, but, could it be like clowns adjusting to an anemone, that my tang has a chemical connection to the GSP?

Any others have fish that demonstrate weird relationships with corals? (We all have seen clowns host really weird things. but what about other fish aside from clown fish?)

 

[chandavi]

My smaller male clown also likes to take a turn in the power head current in the morning when the lights come up. Strange, his female partner has no interest.

 

[Screwgunner]

I had a sailfin tang that liked me to sweral him around with my tongs. He was so cool the clown fish I had would attack me every time I put my hand in the water. Scared the crap out of me the first time. .

 

[Breadman03]

My system is currently a Rubbermaid stock tank due to a tank leak. Well, my rabbitfish looks through my viewer whenever I use it. It's neat and all, but I've got to race all around to try to stay ahead of the fish if I want to look at anything else. It'll all be in a glass box again soon enough.

 

[Nick Steele]

There is a sailfin at work that will swim up to anyone working inside the tank. Scared me at first but over time I got use to him and will now extend my finger and he will swim into it and I can “pet” him.

I know it’s not a coral but it is a petting story

 

[Screwgunner]

There is a sailfin at work that will swim up to anyone working inside the tank. Scared me at first but over time I got use to him and will now extend my finger and he will swim into it and I can “pet” him.

I know it’s not a coral but it is a petting story

You are braver than me didn't want to find out how sharp there scalpales are.

 

[Nick Steele]

You are braver than me didn't want to find out how sharp there scalpales are.

That’s why I was scared at first but then I did it for a few more weeks and noticed he was just chilling. Was eating algae I was plucking off urchins and dropping back in tank. So I keep finger still and he inched closer

 

[Trouble1375]

Our 8" Sailfin Tang, Eclipse, comes to me every time I put my hand in the tank for anything and gets pets. She is missing her dorsal fin and has HLLE scars from years ago. I got her from the person who rescued her from LFS when she came in their stock order like that. Previous owner had her for 5 years and was breaking down system to move and wanted her to go to someone who had no other tangs. He also gave us the Sea Whip that she supposedly liked to hang out in. I never see her near that but the Banggai Cardinal loves the Sea Whip. We had an issue just this past weekend with a FoxFace going rogue and eating Zoas like they were going out of style and trying to catch him with all our rock work was an insane process. Eclipse and her other larger (5") tank buddy, Spitz, a Japanese Swallowtail Angel actually blocked 2 tunnels and were herding the FoxFace towards the corner of the tank after about an hour of us chasing him. It was like they knew we needed help.

Our Boxfish spits water at us when the hood doors are open for attention.

The cleaner wrasse, as is their nature, verifies that my arm is clean for me. He gets a little nippy sometimes especially around my wrist.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Golden State Corals has a bunch of vlamingi and YT's and orange shoulder tangs that eat nori from your hand, and there is one vlamingi that follows your hand around the tank bringing his head out of the water to rub against your hand if it can reach you.

 

[Screwgunner]

Yes sir they all have differant personality. And in this hobby the only way to find a good fish like that. Is to try a saltwater tank.

 

[jackalexander]

my yellow watchman goby will let me pick him up (underwater of course) and hold him for a good few minutes and even kind of rub under his chin. he’s like a dog, especially when he wants food, he will swim over to whatever side of the tank he can watch me and beg for more food.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Puffer will be the ultimate winner although my dumb vlamingi tang acts like a dolphin at feeding time and misses half the food

 

[Justin_Reef]

My porcupine puffer doesn’t mind getting pet. Not sure if she actually likes it but it doesn’t bother her.

 

[steakncheese]

My freshwater Oscar enjoyed being petted. It also did tricks. I taught it to spend in circles when he was hungry. He also knew how to get the attention of the kids. This Oscar fought for attention from the kids. He always wanted them to play with him. I have had many a great relationships with Oscars.

 

[Pico bam]

I had an old clownfish I could pet with my fingers. But it would bite me when I put my hand in the tank...

 

[doughnut king]

My dwarf fuzzy lion fish comes right to the surface so that I can hand feed him. Love that little guy

 

[M Stein]

I've had a yellow tang attack his reflection in the mirror.

 

[Gup]

My favorites 4 decades ago, were my Yellow Seahorses. I thoroughly enjoyed feeding them and have them wrap their tails around my fingers & pet them with my index finger

 

[Auquanut]

I had a very large Blood Parrot cichlid that I've had for many years. She would ruthlessly attack my hand for a few minutes every time I reached into the tank. Occasionally drawing blood. After a few minutes, she'd get it out of her system and want to be petted. She now resides at my daughters house because my granddaughters just love her. So far, she doesn't bother Stephanie (the kids aren't allow to reach into the tank), but whenever I come over, I reach in to get some abuse and give her some lovin. She remembers me with a vengeance!

 

[MamaP]

My clowns like to eat the food right out of my fingers as I'm putting it into the water. They occasionally bump my fingers with their heads like they want to be petted, but I haven't actually tried to pet them. Recently, I've had some of the other fish start coming to eat the food from my fingers. I guess they've been watching the clowns do it and trust the "food fingers" now!

Beauregard, my cleaner shrimp always wants to clean me, but it freaks me out, so I try to avoid him, lol. ;Chicken