jetajockey
come get me tang police!
I think he brings up a good point. I don't think handling fish with hands is any more harmful than using a net or especially a towel, but on the social interaction aspect I think there is some worthwhile discussion to be had. I'm not a biologist but I do know that we as humans tend to put our own emotion into animals (aka anthropomorphism). That said, I don't believe that fish have the capacity or desire/need to 'bond', so to speak, at least not on a human level. This is evidenced by single species tanks that are successful without any kind of bonding (interspecies or not) among other things.
Simply put, fish are happy if you give them adequate housing and food.
Simply put, fish are happy if you give them adequate housing and food.