i have ben trying to get my fancy goldfish to eat from my hand for a while now, but they are just scared of my hand being there.

but now instead of just putting the froozen bloodworm in the tank and letting them bite pieces off, i hold it in the water and they come up and eat from hand. only one of them did it at first, the others just waited for bits to come off. then today i just gave them a block, held in my hand and they all came up for some. it was so great, feeling them tear pieces off. they got so excited all being up there 2 of them tried to eat my fingers, which i found quite amusing!! lol.

anyone else like hand feeding??

Hi Claire, yeah it is a really lovely feeling and it's just a matter of building up trust in a way. Goldies don't need much encouragement where food is concerned

no they don't i agree, its like oo that plant looks like food, ill have a nibble of that, or oo that floating piece looks like food!!

but i have seen that it takes trust to come up and eat of your hand, because, 2 of them just used to swim away from my hand. and it was nice to see them coming up and taking food.

Congratulations! Its a wonderful moment when the first one does it and then the others get the idea!! Isnt it cute the way they suck on your fingers

I agree it's neat when you finally get one to trust you like that! Some of mine are soooo used to me that often when I have my hands in the tank (usually RE-planting stuff they have worked hard to UN-plant!!) that they will come right up to my hand. They have even startled me when I wasn't looking!!

one of my fish used to try and nibble my fingers when we were doing water changes and i had to put my hand in

he used to swim round my hand thinking hmmmmmm.....yum!
Greedy thing

I love my pond fish, they will follow us around and literally beg to be hand fed and even petted. The comets and shubunkins are my fav's to feed as they feel like kisses, but the koi hurt they are rough when they bite, lol

My calico telescope will eat from my fingers and I will try and get my new moor to do the same, but my commons and comets...lol, I don;t know! I think they will try and take my fingers off! They love to give me "kisses" when I am messing about in their tank, especially if I am not paying attention and they can scare me. But I love hand feeding my fancies...

It is a really great connection to have. The only goldie of mine that did that was my red cap Mr. Brain. Maybe I should start trying again.

my fish will let me pet them. if i stick my hand in the tank to do something they'll come over there and let me rub my finger on them.

Our pond is like only a year old, but our fish have grown so much! I've always wanted them to suck food off my fingers, so a few weeks ago I stuck the food onto my fingers, AND THEY FINALLY SUCKED MY FINGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now whenever i put my hand in the water, with food or without, they always suck my hands! It's really adorable, i just wish that I could pick them up and stroke them!
xox LyDiA xox
P.S. This is a GREAT website!