Do you ever "hold" your bettas?

[AyalaCookiejar]

This is more of just a curious question. I have never stuck my hand into my bettas tank before while he was in there until today. The tongs I used to move stuff around in his old tank were long enough to reach the bottom, but in his larger tank it is a bit too deep to reach the bottom without my hand being sort of in the water.

I was putting a new ornament in there a few minutes ago and he kept swimming up to my hand and around the handle of the tongs. My hand was clean, I just didn't want to stick my whole arm in there :p He seems to love following my hand around, especially when it is IN the water.

I also saw a video yesterday on youtube of someone holding out their hand at the surface of the water and their betta swam into their hand and used it like a hammock. So, I was just wondering, do you guys ever do that?

Also, I'm a bit scared of him biting me :p even though I've been told that it doesn't hurt. This is just a curiosity more than actually wanting to hold my fish, by the way, but he really did seem to love my hand!

[sainthogan]

I have, but it was because she had jumped out of her tank and I had to pick her up to put her back in, and then when she sank to the bottom, I picked her up again and took her out to rinse her off. Now, she's scared of my hand.

[DoctorWhoLuver]

Lol, my sorority girls attack my hands XD they try to eat it... :O

[FishFriend9292]

I had to stick my hand in the tank, and my betta rubbed up against it like a cat, LOL

[stareyes]

My betta freaks out if anything besides my hand goes into the tank lol!! He loves chasing,nipping and rubbing against my fingers. :) Don't worry if he nips you, it doesn't hurt although it may make you jump!

[AyalaCookiejar]

Very neat lol, the cat betta xD I am just a little skeptical of him getting so close to my hand! I think I'm more scared than he is! Which, admittedly, is very cute. I don't like putting my hand in his tank because I don't want the oils or anything to harm him. But I know sometimes I'll have to, and was also scared of him nipping at my fingers lol

[DragonFish]

Well of course its not the best idea to, you know, reach in and pet or grab your fish regularly since it could damage its slime coat....but if your betta comes over to swim around your fingers and hand and nibble at you a little, it can't really hurt so long as your hand is rinsed and clean. xD Bettas are very curious and friendly little fish and if you stick your hand in the tank, IME, most will eventually come over to investigate. xD

I've found that females tend to be a little bolder then males in general....they tend to be a little extra curious about the strange thing wiggling around in their tank.
Also, a while back when I bred, my hands were in the spawning/growout tank quite a bit with all the water changes I had to do, and I hand-fed my fry when they were large enough to eat food I could pick up so the babies all grew up very familiar with my hand. All I had to do was stick my hand in there and I had a SWARM of little bettas on me. xD

[AyalaCookiejar]

I wasn't really talking about petting or grabbing them.. just letting them swim into your palm if they wish to do so. And that's very cute! I actually fed him while doing that because my hands were clean and in his water anyways. I notice that he usually follows my entire body instead of just my hand or fingers outside the tank.

[aemaki09]

My HM chunks in the sorority tank loves to try! I don't normally let her but she always tries to come up and either rubs against me or gets in my actual hand. I don't put my hand in often, but a lot of my plants arent rooted down completely yet so I have to reach in and put some back in place once in a while, which is when she does it. I think it's to gain my favor so I'll feed her more bloodworms than anyone else haha

[shellieca]

I do it pretty much every day. Most of them will swim into my hand & when one does I cup my hand around them then gently let them swim away.