# Petting



## QueenPersephone (Jul 14, 2012)

Is it Ok to pet my betta? Apollo (my betta) let me pet him.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

I would say that it's probably not great for him, but if you are gentle about it and don't do it a lot, it might be okay once in a while. If you want to touch it, try letting it eat out of your hand.


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## QueenPersephone (Jul 14, 2012)

He does eat out of my hand. I only pet once a day.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

There is a small risk that you could transmit a disease and you could rub off some of his slime coat. But it really should be fine. Maybe wash your hands first.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

I'd just leave them be. Fish aren't pet in the wild. They're eaten. They don't need to be pet.


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

i'd avoid contact in case of zoonosis just to be on the safe side if you care about him. Plus like lad said its a fish


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## QueenPersephone (Jul 14, 2012)

I do wash my hands before I pet him. He doesn't mind me petting him. I got him when he was still a baby.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I would not "pet" your betta. 1 it's weird that your petting your fish it's not a dog or cat. 2 it could get him sick= shorter life for your betta. 

Hand feed it if you want contact with it.


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## Guest (Jul 26, 2012)

There are some fish that you can touch, a betta is one of them. You can hold them in your hand and transport them to another tank without a fish net. Clown loaches are another fish that you can touch, because when they are huge, there is no net big enough for them.


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

When you touch it you remove it's mucous layer making more likely to get sick. When you wash your hands you may remove the germs but the toxins from the soap might kill him. You should never touch a fish. Angelclown I would use a plastic bag. It may cause more stress but keeps the mucous on which is really important during transfer.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

I personally catch my bettas with my bare hands. It's much easier than the net.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I often hand catch fish. You do take off slime, but so do nets. Ideally you wouldn't touch fish or even put your hand in a tank without gloves and you'd wear a face mask to keep from breathing viruses on them. But lets be realistic, the odds of doing any harm are pretty small.


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

But with a net it removes less mucous and creates less stress


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

You haven't seen stress until you've tried to untangle a angry pleco from a net. And fish get fatally squished by nets against the glass (usually by a new petchain employee) all the time. Really the best way to move a pleco is in a cave. I will often net several fish then pick out the one I want from the net with my hand. It isn't good practice, but it works. I wouldn't pet a fish, but whatever makes her happy.


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

What I usually do is let the net sit there and then when they pass it I scoop them up. For plecos I place right behind them real slowly wait a min. and then scoop them up. When there in a cave I use 2.


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

For caves I use 2 nets


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2012)

Blerty: I will not use any plastic bags with clown loaches. They have barbs underneath their eyes that can tear the plastic bag open. Then I will have the worry about my clown loaches dying, not having that happen. When they get too big for me to catch them in a net then I will catch them with my hands.

Fish know your touch and if a fish like a clown loach or betta is used to you touching them then they won't get sick from you touching them.

Baby Girl, my biggest clown loach was sick back in December 2011, she let me touch her and she relaxed, she felt better. She had three diseases: ich, fungus infection, and swim bladder disorder. I and a friend of mine got her through all three diseases. When she was sick, she was stressed and me touching her would calm her down so that she was able to fight the diseases. She is the biggest clown loach in my avatar. She was pretty far gone and my friend and I brought her back. 

So touching your fish, those that can be touched, can have healing effects.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I don't know about that I'm still not going to pet my fish... I do hand feed my cichlids. And that's only to train them to fallow my finger on the glass.


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

They could still get ill from your touch holding them is sometimes like giving them temporary aids


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2012)

The risk of them getting ill from touching is very, very small. Clown loaches will get sick faster from stress than from touching them.


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

Touching stresses them


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

I don't think they get touched in the wild


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2012)

Clown loaches get caught in the wild. Touching them does not stress them as much as chasing them around a tank trying to net them. So netting them actually stresses them more than touching them.

Like I said, "When Baby Girl was sick, she was stressed from being sick and I petted her and she calmed down and was able to fight the three diseases she had."


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

You don't have chase them with the net just leave it till they pass it then scoop them up


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2012)

I have done that before and that does not work with clown loaches, you have to slowly approach them with the net and catch them quickly. Clown loaches are very fast swimmers and smart. After you get them, you have to hold the net to the glass so they don't escape otherwise you are trying to catch them again. If you are patient enough, you could wait and they will swim inside of the net. I had all three clown loaches swim inside the gravel I have. I had to coax Baby Girl out because she had to back out of the tube. They swam inside at different times. Only my smallest clown loach could turn around in the tube and get out without backing out. Both my biggest and medium clown loach have to back out of the tube in order to get out.


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## Blerty (Jul 13, 2012)

Use 2 nets


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

It works both ways, you can get sick from your fish. Again, the risk is tiny. I think its like 1 or 2 a year in a country of 200 million. But don't touch fish if you have open wounds and be careful with plecoes, cichlids and other sharp fish. But I get stuck more often trying to untangle a fish from a net then I do from just scooping it up from below (cichlid dorsals are nasty).

And yes, pleco, 2 nets and a cave with only one way out. take out other decor, wait for pleco to get in cave, cover opening with net, scoop up cave with second net. Only trouble is some of my plecos stick out. I need to order some bigger caves.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

PVC pipe works pretty good for caves..and especially nice when you want to catch your pleco..when you cut the pipe , slip an end cap on..then you can just pull it off when you need to...


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2012)

Blerty: You have never had clown loaches, have you? They swim fast and they can outsmart a person. I really doubt that two nets will work. Plus I would think that the more nets you try to catch them with, the more stress they are subjected to and can easily get sick from the stress. Also I would think that using two nets would be harder than using one and being very patient.


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## daynadsmall (Jul 11, 2012)

Maybe once you've washed your hands you could put a little Stress Coat on your hands before touching the fish. That should help keep the slime coat intact and reduce the risk of transmitting bacteria.


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