how to bond with your pet fish

Hand: //gentle grab Fish: 👁👄👁

I tried to keep a small school of neon tetras once. They all died , but in that bag was a lone stow away baby guppy. It grew up , and he enjoyed whenever I walked past the tank. He got excited when I did jazz hands in front of the tank.

My betta always knows when I get home cause he can hear me open the door and he gets all excited and swims up to the front of the tank to greet me everyday. Best feeling ever. :’)

My cherry shrimp aren't the brightest, but they seem to recognize that when I come to their tank in the morning they can go to the feeding spot to find some new food. They also stopped being scared of me after I spent about 20 whole minutes letting them climb all over my hand.

I've always bonded with my Bettas and currently my pea puffer! But I think the closest bond I had was with a betta naked Phantom. He was a rescue from a Petco (back when I worked for one) that was lifeless and no fins, after I nursed him back to health he turned out to be jet black with blood red double tail fins! He was always a gentle soul, not the best swimmer, and very into dancing whenever I drew on his tank. Towards the end of his life even when he couldn't swim anymore (had to move him to a shallow breeder box so he could get to the surface) he would still muster up an excited wiggle when I came by to check on him rip Phantom, you were a good boy

The fish I was closest to was my betta, Cat. He lived in his little tank above my bed, and would get very excited to see me whenever I was around. It was more than just "you are my source of food", he was just happy to be in my presence. He was there to send me off to bed, and would come say hi when I woke up in the morning. I decided he deserved a bigger, more beautiful tank but sadly he passed after moving into his new bigger home. That one really hurt, he was a real companion pet. RIP Cat the betta fish.

My betta girl, moss who just recently passed away was the sweetest betta ever. She would go into my hands and jump for food, so sweet.. she was about 2 years old, so unfortunate she passed so soon :(

My uncle rescued a betta fish from his sister in law, it was literally in a container for 3 years without any maintenance, including food. It didn't get fed for three whole years, from what I heard. Absolutely horrifying and depressing that he could survive three years without being fed. It was just crazy and I couldn't beleive it. Edit: not to mention he was swimming in what was quite literally his own toilet for that long. It passed away a while ago, but his last year was happy.

My guppies absolutely love me. They're 3rd generation right now. So they've all been with me since they were born. Feeding them is definitely the best way to bond. I have a hard time cleaning the tank because of how interactive they are with me. Always getting in the way. 😆

I got really close to my brothers first beta fish (really my fish). His name was peacock and he was some sort of mustard tail I think- anyways he would come up and interact with me by either watching me or following my tweezers when I trimmed his plants, eat off my finger and jump out if the water for food. He would stare at my bearded dragon for hours on end. If anyone but me or my bearded dragon or leopard gecko approached the tank he would act aggressive by flaring his fins and gills and would try and attack them through the glass. He started to make bubble nests in the corners and would sleep on a specific leaf every night. I miss him every day

My bristlenose pleco sleeps the whole frickin day but when its around 6pm (feeding time) he always comes out to have a look 🙃

aw man 😥 many centuries ago my younger brothers had a betta fish who they named Beto (like a bad pun), but of course they didn't care for it (nor I knew back then the way my mom was caring for it wasn't ok so we're all going to fish hell). Anyway, I was doing bad at school and my solution, for some reason, was to use Beto as my apprentice to teach him the things I was gonna have tests about. so everyday I'd sit near his little bowl and talk to him while doing homework. Little homie was pissed the whole time lol, flaring his cute cheek fins at me. This time with him actually helped me understand things and my grades improved. one day I arrived early from school ready to share some human wisdom to my fishboi victim, and I saw him on the bottom of the bowl, was white as a ghost (he was dark reddish purple). he survived three years of bad care and a hairless monkey weirdo talking to him 😥 I owe him my school degree lol looking back I guess those were the few moments he had some kind of bonding times with someone, that and my mom's feeding him I guess 😔 years later the memories of Beto's grumpy face made me curious to read about bettas and then I realized the terrible life he lived and it's the reason I became interested in aquariums and I really hope I can give bettas a decent life in the future... I've read they can live 7 years if cared properly... it'd be cool to get a grumpy 'Betto the 2nd" to live that long.

I tried holding my red devil when she was a bit smaller. Learned very fast those teeth are no joke.

My flowerhorn drew blood twice, does that count? 😂

I have a black moore that I love dearly. Her name is Maleficent and she’s very chonky. Whenever I stick my hand in the tank to clean up the glass, she comes and tries to eat my arm and get underneath my hand to receive pets. It’s adorable. Goldfish are so personable and fun to have.

Never in my entire life have I ever seen a fish smile! 😭😭💜💜

Bro this is just how you become my friend and gain my trust lol

I used to have a baby Parrot Cichlid in college. It was like a little puppy. It would sleep in the ceramic log at the bottom and poke its head out whenever I got close. It got so excited when I fed it and would swim around all happy.

Feeding routine is the best bond. ❤

Ropefish. They wrap around my hand and fingers and even prefer to be hand fed, rather than just dropping the worms in the tank. African ropefish are the most personable fish I've ever kept