Loaches Online Forum

I have five clowns, and all eat ravenously -- but not from my fingers. They just won't.
The kuhlis come right up of course, and the betta (much to my surprise, as I'm not very experienced with bettas and tossed him in, hoping for the best, when a coworker lost interest in him in a bowl on her desk).
Will my clowns ever eat from my fingers? I've been trying every day for months and they dart in and out, just an inch or so away, eating the scraps the others pull off. I've tried most every type of fish food, they come closest for frozen bloodworms. Lights on or off doesn't seem to matter.
Or am I the only crazy person who likes to feed her fish by hand?

I feed my frozen formula 1&2 by hand, just because it doesn't want to break up so I rub it between my fingers in the tank. A few of my clowns will eat from my hand, it just takes time.

Mine sure do. I think it is because I have a very active loach tank, and they know that first come first served, may be the only way they get frozen blood worms. I hand feed my Hoplo and my African Butterfly, because they do not compete as well. The hoplo is one of my very favorite fish. I adore her. Since I am hand feeding those two fish, the other little piggies have learned to take food from my fingers. Although I have never been bitten I do get a bit of a pinch fromt he larger clown sometimes if he gets too excited.

I think the problem is that the betta is a messy eater, so the clowns don't have to come to my fingers, they can just scarf up what's flying around. And man, scarf it up they do. They're stripey aqua vacuum cleaners

"Stripey aqua vacuum cleaners" Haha! That's a great way to describe it.