how do yo uprepare your hands and arms before insertingthem into the tank?

king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Ive seen may people hand feed their fish.
Many bare hands and arms go into the bottom. How do you prep your skin to go in? or is it a bad idea? I'll still probably do it from time to time. But what about gloves? What types of plastics or whatever should i get? Are they reusable?
Hand feeding is a neat trick I'd like to try one day. And on that topic....obviously I'm not going to and feed a lion fish....but what else is considered bad to hand feed? shrimp and crabs ok? Other than poisonous fish and ones with nasty teeth. what are bad types to hand feed?
thx
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
To answer your first questions, I often just stick my arm in without any thought of it. Sometimes I'll give it a quick rinse.
 
1990jpyj

1990jpyj

Member
i wash my hands with soap(dawn liquid stuff) and dry my hands really well. the fish that will eat from my hands in my tanks are:
Foxface-not the best idea but she still eats, clowns9easyest to feed), hippo tang, blue w/yellow tail damsel. i think those are the only one that will eat from my hands.
the tang and the foxface will eat the algee, everybody else likes to eat the pellets one at a time. i feels weird when the damsel eats cuz he always hits his tail on my hand before he will eat from it.
it takes some training to get the fish to eat this way but normally if you try after not feeding for a day the will learn quicker, but thats in my experence
good luck
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
I would not use soap before putting your hands in the tank. Just rinse your hands well with warm/hot water is better than using soap.
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
Originally Posted by SpiderWoman
http:///forum/post/2864518
I would not use soap before putting your hands in the tank. Just rinse your hands well with warm/hot water is better than using soap.
I agree here. Especially antibacterial stuff like most dish soaps and liquid hand soap. As long as I wasn't just spraying bug killer on the lawn, they go straight in. Depending on what I'm doing, the nitrile gloves may go on, but not for feeding.
 
oceansidefish

oceansidefish

Active Member
I am sure my fish are going to need some nicorette one day....My hubby smokes his cigars now and then....Sometimes things fall over.
 
marcb

marcb

Member
Originally Posted by King_Neptune
http:///forum/post/2864772
any bad experiences? getting bitten ect?
I actually had 2 volitans that I did hand feed. They would come right to me and take a feeder fish that I held by the tail. Never had a problem.

As to the original question. Generally a thorough rinse is all I ever do before going into the tank. If I'm really dirty, soap and water, but with a REALLY good rinse off and dry to remove all the soap.
 
b0b82

b0b82

Member
Well I wash my hands with liquid hand soap. Then just do what ever I need to do. Also I have feed Lion Fish by hand many times and never and a problem, as long as you don’t get finned then why not? (I do dive with Sharks though) I also use to feed my Octopus by hand that was way cool. However my wife at the time was feeding one of my Triggers and she got a chunk of finger taken off LOL.I do hand feed my LPS coral and never had a problem. Just enjoy the rush and be careful. You know your fish better than anyone. And please don’t try this at home because these people are professionals. So if you get bit or stung don’t blame me.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
i never even think about it, but if i'm going to be in the tank for a while i put my ronald mcdonald gloves on (they go all the way up to the shoulder). only thing that hurts me in my tank is my anthelia. really gives me a good rash
 
M

marineang

Guest
I have a pair of "Aqua Gloves" from Dr. Fosters & Smith, they go all the way up to the shoulder. Not only does it protect whatever might be on my hands from the fishtank but it keeps my arms and clothes dry - which comes in handy when my arms have to get completely submerged into the 75g. They were not expensive (around $13) and are a great asset. Better safe than sorry....
 
zshain012

zshain012

Member
plus from my experience from hand feeding my fire shrimp, your hands get so dry especially now, in the cold seasons. lol
 
nwdyr

nwdyr

Active Member
for a quick in and out I do nothing , if I am arranging rocks like I was last night. I use those surgeon gloves , borrowed them from the hospital during my last stay
They also sell them at home depot. Just make sure you get the ones w/o powder! They are cheap and throw aways. If my hands a dirty I will use soap and water , but I rinse for like 3min at least and make sure i get under me nails REAL good
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
I usually just put my arm in my tank with out much thought, I had an incident last summer though, without thinking I was working in my tank shortly after I sprayed myself down with "OFF". Luckily the only incedent was my skimmer overflowing on the floor a few hours later, could have been much worse since deat is supposed to be pretty toxic to aquatic lifeforms.
I also have heard stories of people poisoning their tanks with deoderant when working in deep tanks.
So it isn't a bad idea to at least rinse your arms off before you begin working in your tank and gloves is even better.
 
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