Stupid pet tricks

[chkltcow]

Wednesday while at the pet store, I picked up a copy of an aquarium magazine that had an article about peppermint shrimp. I always thought it was fascinating that my peppermint shrimp would sit and sway back and forth anytime he was out in the open. After reading it, the article said that peppermint shrimp are natural cleaners and the swaying is an invitation to fish to let them know there's a cleaning to be had. And it showed a picture of a guy with his hand covered in peppermint shrimp in a thing of water demonstrating the fact. So.... I thought I would give it a shot.

I took a small piece of Hikari freeze-dried zooplankton and held it between my index finger and middle finger, and stuck my hand in the tank. It wasn't long before the shrimp had popped his head out, smelling the food. He came over cautiously and crawled right on my hand, and started picking at it. Then he found the zooplankton and played a little tug-of-war trying to get it out of my fingers. I let go and he took it and scampered back to his hole with it.

Well, a few minutes ago my mother-in-law came by and I had to show it to her. I did the same thing, stuck my hand down in with the food.... he comes right over and walks across my fingers, then picks the food up and takes off with it. She thought it was absolutely hilarious.... and cute. I think it's the kind of interaction one doesn't usually get with an aquarium.

Anybody else have anything that you can hand feed like that?

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

I do the same thing with my peppermint Shrimp! i got startled when it 'attacked' my hand when I put it in to move a few things around, then the lil pinches actually tickles once I got used to it. I love the shrimp, its so amusing to watch!

 

[smithrc]

your next task is to take a picture with your other hand

I spent about 50 mins with my hand in our main tank - hand feeding our plecs and clown loaches.

 

[Dragonscales]

I have fed most of my fw fish by hand from day one. I think it makes the fish more relaxed about viewers to the tank and less stressed about your presence during maintenence.

Congrats with your shrimp handling btw, handfeeding and physical interaction between a person and their fish is one of the highest joys one can get from this hobby and something you should be proud of

 

[leon]

i can hand feed my male bluethroat from the surface, not gonna even try to bother with my mantis shrimp bye bye fingers!

 

[bob`_your_dog]

My cleaner shrimps love the taste of my fingers, i was cleaning something outa the tank the other day, they both flew over to my fingers and started cleaning them. I was really amazed, cause i only had one and i never really even saw him, i then added a 2nd one. Now these guys will attack and eat anything that goes into my tank, i must admit every time i walk past the tank i'm tempted to have my fingers cleaned now. Even the plastic gravel cleaner they seem to love, chasing dirt up that thing, but they allways have a very dissapointed look, like i can see the food but i cant taste it