is petting a fish bad?

[somefinnfishy]

the huge redtailed cat at work loves to be petted is it bad for him?

[MACDADDY]

petting a fish might mess with their natural slime coverings, not like they couldn't easily produce more though...

[125gJoe]

Agreed about 'slime coatings'....

I wouldn't do it. It may be possible to slightly stress the fish. That's why most (hopefully), fisher'people' that intend on releasing their catch will try their best to minimize handling the fish and return it to the water as quickly as possible.. Of course if it's big, a pic or 2 will do no harm. :)

[valerie]

how do you know he likes it and not just letting you becuase he thinks you might have food?

[somefinnfishy]

Because he turns around a few times to make sure you get his belly never mouth first.He also kicks water out of his tank till you come and see him with or with out food.and of course when its feeding time he will gently suck it off your hands.And what I dont get is he allows tankmates to share his space with out much fuss.
I want to take him home so bad:( If anyone wants a sweet cat he is for sale to a good home-BIG TANK/indoor pond but the boss has him marked at 299 and turned down 200 last week.I think the boss didnt like/trust the buyer.

[somefinnfishy]

Originally posted by 80gJoe
Agreed about 'slime coatings'....

I wouldn't do it. It may be possible to slightly stress the fish. That's why most (hopefully), fisher'people' that intend on releasing their catch will try their best to minimize handling the fish and return it to the water as quickly as possible.. Of course if it's big, a pic or 2 will do no harm. :)

We are haveing polution probs here with dead walleye washing ashore like 400 on a one hundred yard beach.The DNR estamates one in ten die in catch and release fishing :(

But back to the cat at work and any fish dont they live well on gravel bottoms and squeeze into logs and rocks most the decorations in our tanks look more slime stressfull than our hands IMHO but thats why I brought up this discussion:D

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

it can create fungal disease thats why fisheries use gloves when handling fish.its a problem when i handle sleepy cod i have to treat him with stress zime then a nati fungal rememdy but other then that i dont know how it could harm them

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by somefinnfishy
We are haveing polution probs here with dead walleye washing ashore like 400 on a one hundred yard beach.The DNR estamates one in ten die in catch and release fishing :( .... Down here they call it 'Red Tide' (west coast). I think it's a combination of pollution and the 'bad' algae that had major fish kills here in the last few years... I doubt 'catch and release' has much effect at all - certainly not 10% of fish kill.....

[125gJoe]

But back to the cat at work and any fish dont they live well on gravel bottoms and squeeze into logs and rocks most the decorations in our tanks look more slime stressfull than our hands IMHO but thats why I brought up this discussion:D Does that catfish really abrase, or scrape his/her sides that much? Then petting seems fine.. Do you get slime after the 'petting'?? If not, I'd say ....---Wow! Strange behaviour, but nice, in a way!!

[JP457]

We have red tide up here in NY too but I havent seen it in a few years. If the fish is big enough I wouldnt worry about it. The % of slime you remove is minimal. Im not sure about bacteria tho

[somefinnfishy]

he has had some eye probs as of late but everyone keeps feeding it dead gold fish:mad: so we have chalked it up to that but he has been treated like this for years?
I'll ease off on the handling but I think the fisheries use the gloves to reduce stress on a fish that is in a overstocked holding tank or about to undergo reaclimation to another tank or possibaly transport.I dont finger the fish I bag for that reason but this fish is happy well ajusted to his home there for should be much better able to handle it than a even a slightly stressed fish.Also I get no noticeable slime on my hands during handleing
I worked today and forgot all about the pics:( will post in the next few days.

BTW he is weird to touch his head is all lumpy like a slimey rock after his gills is the softest skin you could ever imagine.

The red tide is from fishing for sure on the millacs lake its the best fishing lake of 15,000 here and the indians won the rite to drag net the lake you know like their ansestors did with power boats and 1000 yrd nylon nets:mad: So the lakes limit was droped last year to allmost nothing so instead of harvesting the well stocked lake one million fishermen went out for fishing anyway but chucked em all back in even one percent of a a few million is a lot of dead fish

[RENEGADE]

pics:confused: where:confused: i don't see them:confused:

[ewok]

i would have to wonder about the stuff on your hands when you're petting him.......

soap residues... nicotene from smoking.... anything else you handle....

it might be less about the fish and more about what you can inadvertantly transmit to him.....

remember the old thread about the "petting ray" exhibit? i wonder if they ever resolved that problem.......

just some thoughts.......

[Swbuda]

have a Clown Knife and an Oscar that like to be 'petted'.. I thought this was strange and enjoyed it but never told anyone cause I figured they wouldn't believe me:o . Glad someone else has one that likes to be loved on....Been petting the Oscar for over a year now and he is very healthy! (I wash and rinse my hands extremely well before they go in the tank..)

[Swbuda]

How big is this redtailed catfish?? Pictures?? :)

[somefinnfishy]

Anything on my hands at work is done gone in the first 20 minutes
I dip in the bleach/net bucket between each bagging all of our tanks are 40b or bigger so we dont worry about the clorine residue and the cat is in a 180 so thats not a prob.
Josh I love my job:D

[Swbuda]

would be glad to give that catfish a loving home...He'd stay til he died of old age...:)

[Tim Bo]

From http://www.aquariumpros.com/humor/

Don't pet your fish!
We were assembling a new display system for an aquarium store when a woman walks in holding a water-filled bag containing a Betta splendons, asking to speak to the owner. The owner, Don, a jolly round guy who always wore a big smile, popped over to listen to the woman's story. "This is the third Betta I've bought that's gotten this red sore on it's side," she said "It always develops on the same side of the fish in exactly the same location, then shortly after, the fish dies. What could be causing this?" Don is a very knowledgeable fish person and went through a series of questions and answers with the woman while we listened in.

The fish was kept alone in a 5 gallon tank so fighting with tank mates was not an issue. He explored the possibility of external parasites causing the fish to scratch. That wasn't it. He discussed the room temperature where the aquarium was kept, thinking maybe the fish was sitting next to a heater in a cold tank and had burned itself. Nope! He went over her method of cleaning the tank to determine if she was injuring the fish. Everything checked out. Stumped, he then asked the woman if she did anything unusual with her aquarium or the fish.

"Well no," she said, "I feed him and then sit with him awhile to keep him company. He really seems to enjoy me staying there with him. He wiggles in front of the glass where I'm watching him, and then he lays on his side while I pet him for a few minutes. Bettas just love to be petted. That's why I keep getting them. They're so sociable! It really hurts me when they keep getting sick and dying as they have."

The story had a happy ending. The Betta was put in the store's hospital system to be healed. After a brief, firm but kindly lecture from Don, the woman left the store happy, with a new Betta and a cute little kitten that would never suffer from her loving attention. Can you say "anthropomorphic?"