I'm afraid of my tiger barbs

[talloulou]

My tiger barbs are getting bigger and when I gravel vac they nip me 8O It doesn't hurt so much as it freaks me out and makes me jump. Now everytime I gravel vac I do it in a fear state. 8O None of my other fish do this. But the whole school of tiger barbs does it. And even though I'm ready for it I still jump when it happens.

 

[Jchillin]

I would suggest you gather them together and with a stern look on your face, scold them for engaging in this activity .

Seriously though, apparently your barbs have decided that you are either the biggest piece of food they have ever seen or, the nipping is a sign of affection.

My second (and real suggestion) is to create a little turbulence around your work area to shoo them away. Not a real vortex, but enough to keep them at bay.

 

[Zagz]

My angels and my mollies all do this. I have always taken it as a sign of affection. LOL. I usually pet them when they do this. Maybe I should be worried. 8)

 

[rich311k]

My angels do the same thing. I was pruning this morning and I had to be careful they weren't in the way of the scissors.

 

[QTOFFER]

My tiger barbs and my angelfish do the same thing! I'll be concentrating on moving a plant or scraping some algae when one will come out of nowhere and nip me unexpectedly! Grrr!

 

[Tiffi]

Just think of it as a sign of affection or sit down on a chair, hold your hand in the tank and watch them "kissing" it. That will probably be the best way to get used to it.

My Amano Shrimp always swam to my hand and tryed to pull out the short hair on my fingers. Didn't hurt, but the pregnant ones with the eggs under their bellies didn't look very cute. I always thought it's quite interesting and that they might actually clean off my hands. Maybe not from algae (hopefully not ) but from dead skincells or something.

 

[mr86mister]

hahaha...thats funny, bettas seem to do that also. when my friend cleans her tank her ADF's actually bite at her hand and stuff, only because she hand feeds them snails and blood worms. its definetly a sign of affection but as long as you dont own a pirahna you should be fine

 

[Devilishturtles]

My angelfish nip at my hands whenever I stick my hands in the tanks. The first time it happened, I think I almost toppled the tank over from ripping my hand out too fast. Hehe.

 

[talloulou]

The first time it happened, I think I almost toppled the tank over from ripping my hand out too fast. Hehe.

That's how I am I think I am going to practice just sticking my hand in and letting them nip away so I get used to the sensation without feeling like I have to jump and jerk my hand away like a moron.

 

[greenmaji]

Ive had very large fish do this.. One did it because she thought I was invading her territory.. Even oscars will bite your fingers, they cant do you any harm.. as said.. pirahna or other toothed fish would be a problem.. HTH

 

[dieanna]

My gouramis do this all the time to me. I trained them when they were small to eat out of my hand because I didn't want them afraid of me when I was doing tank maintenance.

LOL, that reminds me about my visit to the fish store the other day. They had a big tub of koi and I stuck my finger in there to see what they would do. One, maybe about 8 or 9" came swimming up and sucked in my finger! LOL.

 

[Felf]

i've gone skin diving and had little jacks follow me and pick at my leg hairs and my grandpa's koi used to try to rip my fingers off if i put my hand in the pond.

 

[LoverofCichlids]

My cichlids nip me all the time. I have one that won't eat unless I hand feed him, (who knew you could spoil your fish 8O ) Anyway, I also take it as affection.

 

[Snuffleupagus]

I would suggest you gather them together and with a stern look on your face, scold them for engaging in this activity .

Is that a reference to James Thurber? He's one of my favorite authors.

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To the point of the topic, I've noticed my zebra danios and golden wonder killifish (and tiger barbs, sometimes, and probably more as they grow and get less wary) will nip me, and from what I've observed it's usually on a mole or something that probably looks like a nice piece of food. I remember that one time when I swam in the ocean huge schools of little fish would be swept past you on waves and nip you on the moles or the nipples or other such places. Not really painful, but certainly surprising.

You know what really feels weird is when I persuade the clown loaches to eat out of my hand.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Sometimes my rainbow shark nips at me when rearranging. Will also take food from my fingers, small freeze-dried plankton.