What fish do you own that let you pet/touch them??

My cleaner shrimp "cleans" my arm and hand. The only fish that has let me pet/touch it was my old tiger oscar(freshwater). I taught it to jump out of water and take food from my hand.
 
Bmgrocks said:
I worked with a Dogface puffer, that would look forward to being petted, he would spit water out the tank, to get your attention, pull up to the side of the tank and let you rub him.

It all starts with hand feeding, where fish associate you with food, and don't consider you a threat. Do any of you think that certain fish have a level of intelligence??? (it seems the larger fish are more prone to being interacted with?)
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A store in Bremen, Germany, had a dogface puffer that also clearly enjoyed to have its belly rubbed. Whenever someone came to the tank it would swim to the surface and turn on its back, waiting to get petted.
They are really like dogs (and quite smart too).
The only downside is that they get big and are not quite reef safe.
 
Unfortunately my only inquisitively friendly pet is my cleaner shrimp, I don't think that counts. ;) Hopefully I'll get a few fish that'll bond with me in the future like this.
 
Other then my 2 Cleaner Shrimp, my Lawnmower Blenny likes to sit in my hand. I can even close my hand and open it back up and he will not move until I pull my hand out of the tank.
 
my foxface wants me to touch it but I'm not stupid. wish I could get him to stop spitting at me every time I feed.
 
Melody said:
Not the best shots by any means. Holding fish in my right hand and shooting with the left. :p

trusting2.jpg

trust.jpg


trusting_clown_e.jpg
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Those are some really nice ocellaris - are they really that orange in person?
 
i have a dragon wrasse that is basically like my pet puppy lol, but its only for the food people. once they get their fill its over. however i am trying to train him to let me touch it even after a feed. im at the point where it still follows me after i feed him however he does duck away when i go to touch him after the feed. maybe in a couple of years when he trusts me completely.

ps. i forgot to add that the other day i was doing a water change the old fashion way by sucking on the hose to siphon (i use my mouth and a hose because it's way faster) and i hadn't fed the fish yet. water was coming out of the tank and there was great force on the end that was sucking.....and out of the corner of my eye i glimpsed him about to swim close enough that he could get sucked in or get hurt. i yanked that hose outta there so quick!!!!!! he would of never trusted me again...and he would of gotten hurt.

another thing i would like to add is that if you have a nano reef and plan on getting a dragon wrasse, do so with a lot of caution. mine moves a lot of gravel around and actually damaged a few corals by dropping pebbles on them. they are a strong fish and can move a surprisingly large piece of rock with their mouth. i will also add that they will kill any fish similar in shape or size to them if they are added after the wrasse. i have had the dragon along with a coris wrasse since they were only about 5cm. dragon is now 10cm and coris is 9cm. the dragon wrasse does show some aggression to the coris but only during feeding and when the coris intrudes the dragons territory. they get along fine however there is the odd dispute. i once added a poddy mullet to the tank which i caught by accident whilst fishing. it was about 4 cm long and i put it in about a month after adding the wrasses when they were 5cm and juveniles. the coris didn't bother the mullet however the dragon wrasse teared it to shreds by, firstly making a b line directly towards the mullet, then by giving it a powerful Predacious bite on the head, the mullet tried to swim away however the grip of the dragons jaw is rock solid and he dragged the mullet towards the live rocks and ripped it to shreds. i've also seen him pluck a big porcelain crab right out of my hammer coral, he latched onto it just like he did with the mullet, swam towards the rocks and violently scraped the crabs shell up against the rock until it was in pieces. very very violent fish however a very sociable one and definitely my favourite.
 
PeteStarks
she is just protecting her territory lol, my old clown pair used to always attack my hand too, and it was quite scary ahaha i remember the first time it happened, i felt a bump and i jumped lol
 
my female clown used to let me when I fed the tank. but then I moved and upgraded now she bites and makes me bleed
 
I DO NOT WANNA GET BIT BY THE DRAGON WRASSE LOL, check this fish out - the harlequin tusk fish- it's another type of wrasse that i want but is really hard to get. i would not wanna get bit by that sucka that's for sure! look at the blue teeth on it
 
My first octopus Buddy was the most interactive animal I have ever had in a tank!
I also had a very large Vlamingi that would chase you across the tank creating large waves just to get some attention!
 
In my temperate aquarium I have a crevice kelp fish who sits on the top of my hand sometimes as I target feed my anemones.
Myles
 
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