Hand Feeding Cichlids
 

I have a few old word cichlids and I need to know if I can hand feed them! :?:

I don't see why you couldn't as long as your hands are clean and free of any residue such as soap. I feed my puffer by hand and he's got much scarier teeth than your cichlids!

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.

HEY OKIE!!! HOW ABOUT ONE OF YOUR AWESOME CLOSE UP PICS OF THEM PUFFER TEETH? :)

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.

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...

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.

Ive been bitten by my Meleagris'. They don't just bite and run, no, they hit you like a little drill bit biting repeatedly until your out of their territory.