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Have you ever been bitten by your fish?

Hand Feeding Cichlids

4K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  SKAustin 
#1 ·
I have a few old word cichlids and I need to know if I can hand feed them! :?:
 
#3 ·
Hmm the only fish of mine that have ever "bit" me were my dwarf gouramis. Cichlids don't really have much in the way of teeth, so even if it got a good hold on your finger or something I don't think it would really hurt. Definitely not as bad as getting a nasty bite from something like a hamster.
 
#4 ·
HEY OKIE!!! HOW ABOUT ONE OF YOUR AWESOME CLOSE UP PICS OF THEM PUFFER TEETH? :)
 
#5 ·
LOL..Roughly 85-90% of my fish are handfed.:mrgreen: Severums, silver dollars, loaches, tetras and barbs are all handfed.;)
 
#6 ·
iamntbatman said:
Hmm the only fish of mine that have ever "bit" me were my dwarf gouramis. Cichlids don't really have much in the way of teeth, so even if it got a good hold on your finger or something I don't think it would really hurt. Definitely not as bad as getting a nasty bite from something like a hamster.
Sounds like you have never owned a large cichlid. I have had my skin broken countless times doing tank maintenance in my large cichlid tanks.

You can hand feed if you like, I personally like my fish to stay competitive with each other so i just offer a meal and let them sort out who gets what.
 
#7 ·
Hand feeding is fun! Cichlids generally don't hurt much, and I've been bitten by a shovelnose catfish which was ineffective at hurting me. If you want to do this you could use a clean gardening glove, but that takes away some of the fun...
 
#8 ·
Gump said:
iamntbatman said:
Hmm the only fish of mine that have ever "bit" me were my dwarf gouramis. Cichlids don't really have much in the way of teeth, so even if it got a good hold on your finger or something I don't think it would really hurt. Definitely not as bad as getting a nasty bite from something like a hamster.
Sounds like you have never owned a large cichlid. I have had my skin broken countless times doing tank maintenance in my large cichlid tanks.

You can hand feed if you like, I personally like my fish to stay competitive with each other so i just offer a meal and let them sort out who gets what.

Nope, I sure haven't, but I've been bitten by things like bass which are probably along the same lines. Have you ever gotten a serious bite from a hamster? They have rodent teeth. Not pointy little things, I'm talking long and blunt. When they decide they want to bite the tip of your finger...well, imagine popping a grape with a small Lego. They'll sink those blunt little teeth to the bone. No fun at all. I'll take my chances with the cichlids.
 
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