I've never worried about this. In fact, my gar will take food out of my hand all the time. Lately I've noticed that he's getting a little more aggressive. He snaps at a dowel rod that I use to move things around and separate fish for feeding (I don't actually hit or poke the fish...just usher them a little so the slow guys can get some food). He's snapped at other things like the cleaning vacuum. Tonight, I think he expected my fingers to have food and he snapped right next to them the same way he does when he takes food from my fingers. So I've been keeping a close eye on him as he has been following my hand around and circling ominously.
Have you been bit by your gar?
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My 6" Florida is very aggressive. I stick my hand in and he starts to follow it and get curious. He also bends and strikes my gravel cleaner. I just dont have the b@!!s to feed him with my hand. I see those teeth
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um, it's a wild animal...it will bite you, especially when it associates you with food. that being said, you don't have to "worry" about it taking off your finger, but their teeth are sharp and will quite easily draw blood with multiple punctures. not great in terms of infection risk (from bite and water) if your immune system isn't very strong. rest assured gars in the wild have bigger teeth and inflict more painful wounds.
not saying you shouldn't feed it by hand (i don't do it with any of my gars), but definitely don't be surprised when it bites you--
--solomon
not saying you shouldn't feed it by hand (i don't do it with any of my gars), but definitely don't be surprised when it bites you--
--solomon
I am careful to hang whatever I'm feeding him below my fingers. It's actually pretty easy to get them to hand-feed...well...mine is anyway but that's only one fish. The reason I started that was because the other fish always seemed to eat everything before he even got a chance. So it got to the point that the other fish would chase all the food and he just calmly swims to the surface at the center of the tank and waits for his food. I don't think he actually intends on biting me. He just associates my hand with food so he gets a little excited. I was just wondering if anyone has been bit or if they get more aggressive with age. So far, so good. Not the first fish I've done this with though.
I once tried to feed my alligator gar by hand. I saw some guy feeding his baby gar and thought I'd give it a try. And man did he almost take my finger away. I pulled out my hand fast. lol I never tried that again. Now I just throw his food in the water. (he's in a pond)
Been bitten, stung, or impaled by gars, wasp fish, lionfish, moray, clarias, fossil cat, stingrays, groupers, crabs, octopus, torpedo ray, electric cat, arowanas, and countless others. In the hobby for 47 years of occassional hard lessons.
Man, you must be one of those touchy feely kind of guys. LOL
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Do you mind sharing a few stories? I'm pretty interested in hearing about the octopus.
Yup the first time, I was showing off to one of my dads friends. feeding him shrimp out of my hand and he missed hah Ive had afew close calls with my wolffish too ha
