Peacock Bite

[Trouser Cough]

I've seen a couple threads over time here that pertained to being bitten by various fish. The most recent one I recall had something to do w/ FlowerHorns. This isn't about Flowerhorns.

This is about Peacock Bass. I have a few in a large tank and the largest is 12-14" long and sturdily built. Feeding time is becoming an increasingly aggressive display with water flying out of the tank and frenzied behavior. Except for the largest bass. He hangs out where he knows my hand will be and truth be told he's a hell of a lot quicker than me and likely capable of delivering a couple three bites before I can get far enough away from the angry little crank. It's way beyond the point of 'hey, do you think that fish would ever bite you' and is now just a case of how far off that special day might be.

There's an Arowana in the same tank and I've had them for years and have never been bitten but I've never had adult bass before. The Aro's mouth is lined with teeth and I'm sure it would be a bummer but I haven't actually seen teeth in the bass' mouth at all.

Any of you been nailed by a peacock and if so how big of a deal we talking here?

 

[Americancichlidsaredabest]

Well I personally haven’t ever been bit by a peacock bass but if their mouth is like a largemouth bass it’s teeth are gonna be like sandpaper.

 

[Trouser Cough]

Well then... that doesn't sound too bad at all. He sure hits hard though. Maybe I can just stick my hand a little close at one of these upcoming feedings and see how serious he is about this. Might wait a while on that one.

 

[ruincccc]

being in a similar boat, I’m getting increasingly nervous when I try to scoop a tube of tank water for API test kits as my basses get bigger and increasingly aggressive during feeding time. Let me know how it feels or I’ll share my story if I got bitten first. I actually got bitten by my Oscar once when I tried to hand feed a night crawler and he missed the target big time. It wasn’t too bad, but definitely not pleasant.

 

[Trouser Cough]

Last week the same bass yanked an API test tube out of my hand and swallowed it. I rapped my knuckles on the tank (hard!), he spit it out, hit it again and it broke… then he swam off but kept an eye on it in case whatever entered the tank to rescue it might be tastier than broken glass.

Whenever we have people over for dinner I ask the ladies if they’d like to feed the fish. It’s wet blouses and shrieking noises for sure.