Do saltwater fish bite during water changes
- Thread starter Bernmc
- Start date
it depends on what kind of fish it is. like a small damsel probably wont but a trigger might. Asking if saltwater fish bite is too broad.
Clownfish are known to nip but it doesn't hurt. If feels like a pinch. My cleaner shrimp is always trying to clean my hand. He pinches to but nothing has ever happened to me that makes me hesitant to put my hand in the tank. Besides, water changes don't require your hand in the tank other than to get the syphon started.
My brothers clowns "attack" him when Ihe does work on the tank. But it is more of a funny thing. His tang never did or his gobies.
Cleaner shrimp will try to clean your hand, too. The only fish you might have to worry about would be triggers.
Some SW fish definately bite. Some don't.
Mantis shrimp don't bite, but they do occaisionally rip open hands and shatter glass tanks with their raptorial appendages. Their diving nickname is "thumbsplitters." Triggers might bite. Eels bite. Some blennies bite. (Some are venomous, too.) Puffers might bite. Lionfish don't bite much, but they do (mostly accidently) stab people with their venomous barbs. Depends on the type of fish. If you buy aggressive fish, they are more likely to bite or sting. You are more likely to get some bad effects if you scare the fish or grab them without thinking things through.
Also, many invertebrates are venomous or poisonous, so make sure you know about corals and anenomes before you handle them much. Some "button polyps" defend themselves with lethal neurotoxin that can enter your bloodstream through cuts on your hands. At least one guy had his hands paralyzed for half a day by handling button polyps. Another person lost a family dog because he dropped an invertebrate and the dog ate it, which promptly poisoned the dog beyond all recovery.
On the other hand, clownfish, damsels, gobies, basslets, jawfish, butterflyfish, cardinalfish, dartfish, dragonets, seahorses, and most tangs seem unlikely to bite in such as way as to cause any damage, though a tang might whack someone with a tail spine.
Mantis shrimp don't bite, but they do occaisionally rip open hands and shatter glass tanks with their raptorial appendages. Their diving nickname is "thumbsplitters." Triggers might bite. Eels bite. Some blennies bite. (Some are venomous, too.) Puffers might bite. Lionfish don't bite much, but they do (mostly accidently) stab people with their venomous barbs. Depends on the type of fish. If you buy aggressive fish, they are more likely to bite or sting. You are more likely to get some bad effects if you scare the fish or grab them without thinking things through.
Also, many invertebrates are venomous or poisonous, so make sure you know about corals and anenomes before you handle them much. Some "button polyps" defend themselves with lethal neurotoxin that can enter your bloodstream through cuts on your hands. At least one guy had his hands paralyzed for half a day by handling button polyps. Another person lost a family dog because he dropped an invertebrate and the dog ate it, which promptly poisoned the dog beyond all recovery.
On the other hand, clownfish, damsels, gobies, basslets, jawfish, butterflyfish, cardinalfish, dartfish, dragonets, seahorses, and most tangs seem unlikely to bite in such as way as to cause any damage, though a tang might whack someone with a tail spine.
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