Best gloves for nasty plecos?

Recumbent

Piranha
MFK Member
Feb 16, 2010
407
187
76
San Diego
I'll be moving a lot of 14" - 18" plecos soon (L234, L25, L155 etc.) and even 12" L114 are hard to bare hand (I'm tired of donating skin to these spikey beasts and have never used golves). What gloves do you use or reccomend? I don't like using nets unless I have to (I think it is harder on the fish and makes a bigger mess). Soft but puncture resistent would be best.
 

mrtoofay

Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 28, 2012
325
66
46
california
Cheap leather gloves like the ones from Home Depot. Kevlar doesn't help. Try to get the ones with the smooth finish instead of the ones with a suede finish. Rinse them inside and out before you use them. I used to use the cheap ones, and just toss them away after using them.

If you are anal about it, boil them a while to remove any possible chemicals.

I don't really use gloves anymore, not even for the nasty L185s. Just use a net or a bucket to guide them to a corner and guide their head into your hands. If I use nets, it's only while they are in the water, they only leave the water in my hands, nothing else. The only spot on my hands that gets roughed up is the thumb where I hold their forehead. Nothing some extra rich lotion won't fix.

Here's the head of the L185 for reference.
 

xraycer

Arapaima
MFK Member
Sep 5, 2013
5,383
2,571
203
Southern NH USA
Drain tank way down, and use black trash bags. Works even better if you can get a second person to corral them in while the other person just hold the bag open
 

slippery slimecoat

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jan 26, 2012
928
444
87
New York
I have a pair of thick rubber gloves that go almost all the way up my arms. I believe they were originally meant for dealing with saltwater stuff. They work quite well.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

Adamrhh

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jul 6, 2010
1,560
3
53
Ohio
www.theratpub.com
I like rubber cleaning gloves, the think kind that reminds you of the plumber slip on boots.
 

Divinehammer

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 24, 2012
203
0
16
Sherwood park Alberta Canada
I bare hand mine, but when I needed to use gloves I just use the cheep leather work gloves, works great for large Catfish as well. you can also get rubber nets instead of mesh ones they supposedly work really well for spiky fish.
 
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