So the wife has been taking care of my critters while I am at work, she wasnt big on my bullhead when I got it about a year ago and since shes been taking care of him while I am at work for several weeks at a time, she has became friends with him, so much so now that when you walk past the tank he comes over expecting a petting.
He is around 12-13" now, when we got him he was around 10". My mom had a rtc and tsn that liked being petted too. Haha now if I could get her to do same thing with my snapping turtle. We have 4 other bullheads that my daughter caught that are around an inch long as well. Yea I like the colors on him, I'd never seen one like that and I had to have him when we saw it lol
Sweet! I've had a few species that liked to be petted as well, namely a S.A. red tail, a leiarius pictus sail fin cat, a c. apurensis and an a. wittei giraffe cat. Most other species don't like hands and will dart to the other end of the tank as soon as they smell/taste a hand with a barbel. My red tail would like to be petted by me only, if someone else tried it she would swim away. I would liken it to the same way a dog knows friend from foe by smell. I wonder why Viktor would think petting fish would be controversial. The only downside I can think of is the possibility of overdoing it and perhaps removing some of the fish's protective slime coat therefore making the fish more vulnerable to infection? In my experience, never a problem and something to be enjoyed by the fish and their human...
Good to hear from you, Kirk! Not my stance, just common knowledge, I thought. Yes, I think it is about the protective slime coat and yes, I think when done in moderation the benefits outweigh the risks.
When a catfish is rubbing against you, it may be the same as the dog licking you in the sense that catfish entire skin is covered with taste buds - this source says 700 taste buds per square centimeter. Catfish is not unlike one huge tongue, seeing its world primarily through taste whilst we perceive the world primarily through sight.
. We have 4 other bullheads that my daughter caught that are around an inch long as well. Yea I like the colors on him, I'd never seen one like that and I had to have him when we saw it lol
