Anybody Else Ever Been Bitten By Their Fish?

Zach72202

Zach72202

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So today I was doing a waterchange on my Mbu Puffer's tank. Scraped all the algae off of the glass, and was vac'ing the algae that I scraped off up with my python. I wasn't really paying attention to my right hand as I was doing it, just where the nozzle goes. Normally my puffer just goes over to the other side of the tank and hides behind a rock when I am doing this.

Well not today.

I hadn't fed him his usual shrimp yet. I was just minding my own business when I felt this overwhelming pressure on my right index finger and then a sharp pain. The little bugger bit me! Albeit not bad, he just was able to grab the edge of it, but still! He took off some skin and left me with a surface gouge of about 1/2" long! And he's only 10" long right now! If he got me good he would have definitely broken my finger. Scared the literal heck out of me at least!

I have been bitten by my spotted congo puffers, and it was rather comical as it was like a little pinch and it made me jump, but this actually hurts. It felt like a 30lb weight was rolled over my finger at least. And that was just on the edge of it.

I will be getting a longer python.
 

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Sorry, I know this isn't the point of the story but when you say:
Scared the literal heck out of me at least!
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...are you literally using the word literal literally?
 
By my cichlasomas when they were defending fry, although more of a hard whack than a bite, and even by emperor tetras, they have surprisingly sharp little teeth, not aggressive just curious or looking for food.
 
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  • #6
Sorry, I know this isn't the point of the story but when you say:

...are you literally using the word literal literally?
Click to expand...

Sorry the bandage on my typing finger makes it about 3x the size lol

By my cichlasomas when they were defending fry, although more of a hard whack than a bite, and even by emperor tetras, they have surprisingly sharp little teeth, not aggressive just curious or looking for food.
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My bolivian rams have eggs in that same tank and I put my finger near them and they started attacking me. I thought it was rather cute!
 

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I do my best to avoid putting my hand in my Caudopunk tank. One of the females is particularly aggressive and likes to bite my hand, the siphon, the turkey baster, or whatever else goes into the tank lol. She’s currently is guarding 30+ fry so she’s being more aggressive than normal. It’s never really hurt that much- but it feels really weird.
 
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  • #8
I do my best to avoid putting my hand in my Caudopunk tank. One of the females is particularly aggressive and likes to bite my hand, the siphon, the turkey baster, or whatever else goes into the tank lol. She’s currently is guarding 30+ fry so she’s being more aggressive than normal. It’s never really hurt that much- but it feels really weird.
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Ah I think its quite adorable when little fish bite me. Honestly if I had a lot of dead skin on my hands I would consider putting it into a tank for fish to nibble on. Its a thing that happens at some spas I believe!
 
Ah I think its quite adorable when little fish bite me. Honestly if I had a lot of dead skin on my hands I would consider putting it into a tank for fish to nibble on. Its a thing that happens at some spas I believe!
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Yeah, it really is. Just not when she won’t leave me alone ! Last time I put my hand near her territory she literally wouldn’t stop attacking me until I removed my hand.
 
So today I was doing a waterchange on my Mbu Puffer's tank. Scraped all the algae off of the glass, and was vac'ing the algae that I scraped off up with my python. I wasn't really paying attention to my right hand as I was doing it, just where the nozzle goes. Normally my puffer just goes over to the other side of the tank and hides behind a rock when I am doing this.

Well not today.

I hadn't fed him his usual shrimp yet. I was just minding my own business when I felt this overwhelming pressure on my right index finger and then a sharp pain. The little bugger bit me! Albeit not bad, he just was able to grab the edge of it, but still! He took off some skin and left me with a surface gouge of about 1/2" long! And he's only 10" long right now! If he got me good he would have definitely broken my finger. Scared the literal heck out of me at least!

I have been bitten by my spotted congo puffers, and it was rather comical as it was like a little pinch and it made me jump, but this actually hurts. It felt like a 30lb weight was rolled over my finger at least. And that was just on the edge of it.

I will be getting a longer python.
Click to expand...
Sounds like one fiesty Puffer lol !
Our larger Polypterus likes to sneak up on my arm when I'm in the tank trimming/cleaning etc...its vision is incredible as it can actually tell when I'm looking and will casually swim in the other direction ....a couple nips past couple months but nothing serious, at least for now!
But yeah, makes yah think twice before yah stick your hand in the tank eh?

Lol, have a good one and good luck in keeping all your fingers!
 

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Never by my fish, though I used to have a clownfish that would try it's hardest to get me. Now when I was keeping and breeding reptiles, that was a different story. You name it and chances are good I've been bit by one lol.
 
I mean, I've had platies nibble at my arm while doing water changes, and I've had shrimp investigate my hand and try to eat skin cells and protein out from around my fingernails. The closest I've ever had a fish come to actually actively biting me was when I was much younger. My mother kept tropheus and mbuna.. the mbuna could pack a pretty harsh punch when they went to eat. My mother used to let me feed them which,, retrospectively she probably shouldn't have let an 8 year old do haha. They would bite pretty hard. But that's as close as I've come haha
 
I had a crowntail betta once that would either bite my finger or the food hatch every single time i fed him.
 
My braver fish will go after me. When defending their eggs, my angels didn't bite so much as they rammed their bodies into my hand. My sunset gourami (like 3 inches long) nibbles on my arm during water changes. Every other fish I have is too scared of me, they're fine at a distance but once I go into the water they're scared.
 
I let my 1.5" long fahaka puffer bite my finger yesterday because I was curious what the little guy was capable of, and boy was he strong - he bit as hard as a fully grown hamster!
 
Betta a few times, it's like a small suction cup, barely feel it

my Upside down catfish 'nibbled' 1x but he was trying t get a shrimp - we were both startled. not a bite - more a suction

Thankfully, my Silver Dollar Fish avoid me when my hand is in their tank.

'I'm looking at you SDF, I saw Piranha 3D movie! They aren't fooling me! They'll turn on me when the dramatic music starts!'
 

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I had a red devil that would definitely attack you if you had a hand in the tank. The first time he bit me, it was quite a surprise.

Getting bit by a mbu puffer sounds terrifying
 
I've actually"trained" my electric blue acara to bite me because I always wanted a pet I could touch but can only reasonably keep fish. I pinch his food between finger and thumb and don't release it until he nibbled a few times. Love my shiny water puppy!

You might want to get some arm length gloves like people use for pruning rose bushes. It will spread out the pressure of the bite a little and should prevent skin puncture. And maybe feed him first and keep an eye out going forward.
 
Swimming in a lake last summer, I was feeding sunfish freshwater clams that I had been breaking open. After a while I was surrounded by hundreds , and one actually bit me in the nipple. Actually hurt a little too
 
Sometimes I bury worms in the sand so my cories can dig them up. My platies sometimes bite me when I do this, because my wrists are hairy, and they think the hairs are worms.
 
I let my betta fish nibble on the top of my pinky the other day and it was the cutest thing! It didn’t hurt at all
 
A friend of mine had a 14 inch Red Devil in a long 40 gallon tank. (70% water change every 3 days.) Her son would tease the fish constantly. One day he was too slow, and the fish nailed him good on the hand. He bled for a little while after that one.

I've been nibbled many times, and attacked by pairs of cichlids when I went to remove their spawn for artificial hatching. But never any serious bites like Piranhas, big Cichlids, or little Puffers. (Never had a Puffer.)
 
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  • #30
or little Puffers. (Never had a Puffer.)
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Lol try 10 inch family sized meatloaf size puffer that crushes clams for sport. "little puffers", I have been bitten by a Tetraodon schoutedeni before, but that was like a pinch rather than a chomp that could take a finger off
 

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