Tank maintenance safety (mine !!!)
- Thread starter hamfist
- Start date
You show your fish who is boss...that way they'll learn to not bite you. Fishincube where are you at? You saw how tame my queen midas is. Very tame, I can even pet it...hehehe. 
I've owned a few hard biters over the years, and no amount of swatting, pushing, or fist to the head would stop those fish. The more you went on the offense, the harder they bit when they swirled back around. My juvie kamfa is going to be one of those fish, it's about as nasty as they come & refuses to back down. A stone cold killer with fins .....
Yup, I experience that a lot. So then you push over the limit on that fish...net him, shove him, pin him against the tank. It'll learn over time...RD.;4384864; said:
There are many approaches to take, and some are considered more appropriate than others.
Some would have you reward the act of not attacking you. Good luck with that one.
Some would have you out-bully the fish by convincing it that it is physically no threat to you. This could involve some questionable actions like grabbing the fish or scaring it into a corner and keeping it there until it stops fighting you, but these could be considered abusive and could also break the fish's 'spirit' if you will.
I'd definitely try outright ignoring the attacks and carrying on about your business as if he weren't there at all. If he gets no response, he might just accept your hand's presence.
I just remembered that my first Oscar always bit me once on water change day, but only once per week and never more than that. I never tried to train him because it made me laugh, even though it drew blood sometimes.
I haven't had to attempt training my new Oscar yet, but he gets more aggressive every water change lately.
Some would have you reward the act of not attacking you. Good luck with that one.
Some would have you out-bully the fish by convincing it that it is physically no threat to you. This could involve some questionable actions like grabbing the fish or scaring it into a corner and keeping it there until it stops fighting you, but these could be considered abusive and could also break the fish's 'spirit' if you will.
I'd definitely try outright ignoring the attacks and carrying on about your business as if he weren't there at all. If he gets no response, he might just accept your hand's presence.
I just remembered that my first Oscar always bit me once on water change day, but only once per week and never more than that. I never tried to train him because it made me laugh, even though it drew blood sometimes.
I haven't had to attempt training my new Oscar yet, but he gets more aggressive every water change lately.
Oscars are not close to flowerhorns at all...they are not easily spirit broken. As long as you only do it during water maintenance and nothing else. Do the normal feeding and mirror thing and so on. It will be itself still, just properly trained. As I and a few have mentioned before, treat your flowerhorn as if it is a dog. Flowerhorns are very stubborn, you need to be boss and not them.
