Do you pet your fish?

[Tamberav]

Nope… my Copperband would probably let me but it’s not good for the slime coat.

 

[Mflores888]

I really like it when my midas blenny nips my finger. I think it shows trust as well

My midas used to sit on my palm when I had it open. I miss him but sadly it died from velvet a while back :/

 

[mdb_talon]

If by pet you mean do i stick my hand in for some reason and my clown/pirannah hybrids viciously attack me...then yes i pet them.

 

[blaxsun]

Clownfish/piranha hybrids. I'll have to remember that, lol.

 

[i cant think]

When I was working at my LFS I accidentally pet a lionfish - I didn’t get stung somehow. I have also pet my foxface once but the ones that used to come in were nowhere near as playful as mine, I have also pet a lot of my wrasse and can get them to hand feed now (I rarely do it though).

My Dot Dash Blenny will just perch on my hand when I do the water change or need to put a coral in the tank, they sure are filled with personality that their “small” size doesn’t have room for haha.

 

[WVNed]

I only pet my long spine urchins

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Cory catfish: Never, you would cut yourself!

Neon tetras: Na, i have tried but there to hard to catch.

Dwarf gourami: Bro, the gourami's SCARY. He looks viscous, but his not vicious.

Betta: Yes all the time. I think hes the only fish i do pet.

Cherry shrimp: If you cant guess this one you have no common sense.

Snails: Sometimes, ye.

 

[Tonycass12]

I used to work at a Rainforest Cafe taking care of the aquariums. We had a large grouper named Bob that would come and perch himself right next to where you were working on scrubbing algae when we were diving and wait for his scratches.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

I used to work at a Rainforest Cafe taking care of the aquariums. We had a large grouper named Bob that would come and perch himself right next to where you were working on scrubbing algae when we were diving and wait for his scratches.

That just shows that the myth that fish are dumb is fake

 

[Dave1993]

Only thing that comes to me in my cleaner shrimp will jump on my hand when i put it in the tank which is not very often

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Video of me petting my foxface

October 28, 2021

youtube.com

That is WILD!! Awesome!!

 

[Goaway]

It looks to me that it isn't a trust thing. He is trying to eat you.
To answer the question though no I dont even try to pet my fish. I keep my hands out of the tank as much as possible. It is cool that he doesn't swim away from you.

Some fish said to the fox "I heard humans taste like chicken." the fox is trying to find out what chicken taste like.

 

[radiata]

I knew a guy 40+ years ago who worked the the Aquarium Stock Company ("AquaStock") in lower Manhattan. He had been stung three times by lionfish. First time his hand doubled is size, second time only his finger doubled in size, and the third time he said was like a bee sting. So, keep petting those fish if you must. And, keep hoping you're not susceptible to anaphylaxis. But if you are, you're probably already carrying an Epinephrine injector on your person.

 

[Mflores888]

That is WILD!! Awesome!!

When it was a baby it would rub against my hand when something fell down in the tank and I had to pick it up he would just casually rub against it

 

[Mr Cypher]

my trigger fish and my fairy wrasse will lay in my hand and eat out of my hand but not really pet

 

[ClownWrangler]

It extends a little more down but he got me pretty good when I was helping him move the rocks out of the tank and he got spooked and swam by with his pocket knife and got me. I dropped the rock down from shock of what happened. I did bleed inside the water but we syphoned it out and it wasn't much

I doubt a little blood will hurt a reef tank. If you have any macro algae it would like the dose of iron.

 

[Seneca]

I had a 14 inch sohal that let me pet it. When I was transferring fish to a larger tank after I caught several other fish to move them over it swam into my hands and let me pick it up and put it in a transfer bucket. It sadly injured itself, got a bacterial infection, and died about a year and a half ago.

I have two naso brevirostris that let me pet them briefly, but they aren't as trusting (yet?).

 

[EricR]

Only pet my starfish, urchin, and conch

...and sometimes the sand when I'm just happy that nothing has died yet in my tank

 

[Karen00]

Video of me petting my foxface

October 28, 2021

youtube.com

That's amazing! My freshwater gobies will sit in and on my hand but I've had them for a long time. My saltwater fish are skittish bit we've only been together a few months. They have only started to trust me at feeding time and they now know the dropper full of food that I target feed them with is a good thing. Haha. So I don't actively pet them but if they want to interact with me then I let them. Having said that none of them are venomous! LOL

 

[Rmckoy]

I was stung by a foxface. .
I will say it’s a lot worse than a bee sting !
He stung my right hand. .
It throbbed and swelled instantly .
and what ever it’s venom is , it went into my body straight to my sinuses .
plugged everything up solid on my left side of my face Along with the worse headache imaginable for 2 weeks ……

FYI …
Every time stung by them will get a little
Worse .
so you might not feel much the first time .
but the 5th or 10th could do a lot more