Friendly Pets

[veil92]

Well my Odessa barbs are highly friendly. As in they're not weary of anything entering the tank including a net, vac, and most important...my hand! It's hard to make adjustments when they keep trying to "eat me". Kinda freaks me out when they catch me off guard. Does anyone else have experiences with fish they'd like to share?

 

[SharonCC]

My Mbuna used to attack my arm, when I first got them. It used to freak me out, too. One time, I jumped, and knocked the hood off the tank...thank goodness, nothing got broken. The darn things used to leave red marks on my arm. They don't do it anymore...I suppose they've got used to my arm in the tank, and know now that it's not food. Either that or they didn't like the sound of my cursing!!!

 

[Mikaila31]

Garra Flavatra(sp)

These guys keep there eyes glued to the surface when I'm doing water changes and maintenance. I put my hand in the water and they are all over it. Drove me crazy at first, cuz it felt so weird. I've gotten use to it now and I have more of these guys on my wish list. You can catch them with your hand extremely easy. Take them out of the water, then let them go. Put your hand back in and guess what! They go right back to cleaning it .

 

[Syphoniera]

Those little guys are so cool!
And I must say yours look much nicer and more colourful than any I saw when I Googled a bit just now.

Edit - I was so impressed I missed a letter ® I needed to post...

 

[Colin_T]

Tiger barbs do the same thing when you stick your arm in the tank to do some cleaning. They sneak up on you and start pulling the hairs. There was a clownfish in one of the coral tanks at the shop and it would go anyone who dared stick their hand in the tank. And there was a gudgeon/ sleepy cod type thing that would hide under his bit of wood. And when you went into the tank to clean it he would wait, and wait, and wait, then pow, sneak out and bite your finger. It scared the crap out of you. Axolotls do the same thing. Sit there looking innocent and then lunge forward suddenly. Enough to send the old ticker racing.

 

[Attilauk]

my Tiger Barbs are facinated by my hands when im cleaning the tank and my BGK is learning to take food from my hands very quickly

 

[saz326]

I used to have white cloud mountain minnows - they always tried to eat my freckles when I put my arm into the tank.

 

[joecoral]

Happens all the time in work, whilst cleaning the tanks fish quite often start nibbling my hand/arm. Obviously when its little things like tetra's it doesnt hurt, triggerfish on the other hand....

 

[B13]

My zebra danios are the nosiest bunch of little b*ggers on the face of the planet!!

I was installing a plug board on the wall near the tank and when I looked over my shoulder, six little faces were all lined up watching me!!

 

[Mikaila31]

Those little guys are so cool!
And I must say yours look much nicer and more colourful than any I saw when I Googled a bit just now.

Edit - I was so impressed I missed a letter ® I needed to post...

Thanks! They are really cool fish. I originally had one in that tank. He was just as pretty, but kinda shy and never cleaned my hands. I bought some more and they where quarantine in a bare bottom tank. During this time they stayed quite pale like all the pics on google. I added them to a hi-tech planted tank and they all colored up immediately. They get much darker, spots turn a faint yellow and they get some beautiful red in there fins. They started the cleaning behavior 2 weeks later. They need protein in their diet I believe, thats why they suck on you. They also love to chew on bloodworms and other meaty foods.

I am planing on getting some more from franksaquarium.com after New Year's.

 

[Syphoniera]

Darn it, I need a big lottery win, (without buying tickets, of course) and a really big, sprawling house built on a sturdy cement slab. Sigh...
So many fish, so little money and room...
My 'someday' list of wanna-have fish keeps growing - and an awful lot of it is franks aquarium's fault...

 

[veil92]

Great stories everyone. I noticed that a lot of people get freaked out when the small through medium sized fish (5 inches or so) "nip" at them. Sharon's case sounded sorta dangerous, lol. I personally probably couldn't handle Mikaila's Garras on my arm. I guess just another reason besides their price not to have them!