Freakin Yellow Tang bites everytime I put my hands in the tank!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I can't figure out if he doesn't like me in the tank or he thinks I am food. He seems to bite at the hairs on my arms but also my finger tips, so I don't know. Is this common?

He also lets me hold him by the tail and also pet him, so I don't know if its that he doesn't like me...

My Naso tang also lets me pet him and cup him in my hands which I find weird.

Are tangs usually this friendly? All the ones I have owned in the past are not.

[PoonTang]

Count yourself lucky. I wish I could pet something in my tank other than a cleaner shrimp. When I put my hands in the tank everything runs away.

[Lance]

Count yourself lucky. I wish I could pet something in my tank other than a cleaner shrimp. When I put my hands in the tank everything runs away.


Be careful what you wish for. I used to like to pet my fish too, until the day my Foxface stung me. It was my fault as I was doing some tank maintenance and startled him when I moved my hand quickly. But, if he wasn't so friendly he wouldn't have been anywhere near my arm. He's not so friendly now though as I caught him the other day to put in a larger tank.:lol:

[JDigital]

I can't figure out if he doesn't like me in the tank or he thinks I am food. He seems to bite at the hairs on my arms but also my finger tips, so I don't know. Is this common?

He also lets me hold him by the tail and also pet him, so I don't know if its that he doesn't like me...

My Naso tang also lets me pet him and cup him in my hands which I find weird.

Are tangs usually this friendly? All the ones I have owned in the past are not.

Maybe he just senses something that needs cleaned, similar to a cleaner wrasse, and that's why he's nipping.. But who know's, maybe he is 2-faced and likes being pet, but also like nipping at u for fun! :mrgreen:

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

My cleaner wrasse always cleans me too...I am used to that and barely feel it but I don't like the feeling of the yellow tang biting. He pulls on the hairs on my arms too. When I push him away, he just comes right back and keep biting.

My rabbitfish has stung me once before because he is also very friendly. I don't know, all my fish seem to be friendly except the small ones. They stay away.

[moldrik]

When I had my freshwater fish I used to get nipped all the time. Some fish are extremely friendly. The more human contact you try to achieve with them, the more they'll get used to it. It gets to be really weird.

I was diving in Belize recently and there was a grouper that kept swimming with our group, big grouper too, about 2 feet in length. He kept going really close to us and you could literally pet him. Both hands and all, one on each side. And he just kept on coming for more.

It's quite strange when you start running into this stuff in the wild, it really shows how much human contact fish actually manage to get from divers. I guess with a fish of that size, your hand is like a large cleaning station, scraping some stuff right off the side of their bodies.

My clownfish are finally feeding off of my fingers when I hold the food. But if I stick my fingers in there, they go away.

[chevyjaxon]

Be careful around his tail you are aware of why they are called surgeon fish right?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Be careful around his tail you are aware of why they are called surgeon fish right?

Oh yeah...

[chevyjaxon]

so how many stitches did you get?:twised:

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Actually none. It was years ago and a small Kole tang. It did take a long time to stop bleeding but it wasn't too bad. I was moving rocks in the tank and scared him and he got me as he frantically swam by.

My tangs now all seem way too friendly which is why I was asking if other tang owners have the same problem with them biting. I really don't think its a mean bite. He just seems to want to eat the hairs on my arm.

The Naso seems to like to be pet because I think he associates it with food since I only do it once in a while when I am feeding. Most of the time I feed with a turkey baster so my hands are not in the tank much.

[Keri]

Allk of my fish except the scooter blenny ad yellow wrasse eat from my hands, I like interacting with them like that so I make a point of feeding them this way. The SF tang does nibble my hands a bit, as does the LMB but nothing too serious.

If I put my hands in with no food they check them all over to make sure I'm not hiding it somewhere but they don't act scared, I can touch most of the fish without upsetting them.

How big is your yellow tang? It can feel unpleasant if the fish has a lot of teeth!!

[marie]

I have enough problems with my fish getting in the way when working in the tank. I couldn't imagine encouraging them by hand feeding them as well


My copperband is convinced the only reason I move rocks around is to make it easier for him to find stuff :lol:

[chevyjaxon]

only my unicorn tang comes up to my hand to check things out and he's not easily discouraged neither, my yellow tang keeps his distance and they do not bite me or attack me in any way, try giving your tang some veggies to keep him busy while you do your thing

[nanoreefer]

my B&W clown is wierd, if i put my hand in the tank with food shes right there, if i put my hand in and try and grab her or move her torch coral, finaly started hosting in it after like three months for some reason? shes into the rocks and hides, but if i try and move rocks around she comes speeding over and starts biteing my hand and getting in between the rocks iam moveing or ware i whant to put them, so i have to keep pushing her out of the way so i can do anything, and sometimes she will try and knock over rocks i move my head butting them and biteing them?, it was kind of cute at first now its realy anoying, shes the only thing in the tank right now so i gess shes real teritorial or something?

[0sprey]

Clownfish will try to protect their host if they feel it's in danger.
Mine leave me alone when I approach their hammer coral, so long as there isn't any eggs, but I've hand fed them, so they know I'm benign.