# Cichlid Training?



## tawbrey863 (Nov 21, 2008)

I have two wonderful Blood Parrots. They are super smart. I heard on here, idk if they were kidding or not , but can you train your cichlid?..lol. I have not tried to get them to eat out of my hand yet, but plan on doing it when I get my new tank set-up. But has any one done this?


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## thevein (May 10, 2006)

well, who knows, my mbuna eat out of my hand and when the food is done, they try my hand too


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## willny1 (Nov 17, 2008)

I concur. I have a peacock that nips at the back of my hand when I am vacuuming the substrate. Doesn't hurt but is definitely surprising.


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

yes, you can train cichlids to hand feed. in fact, once you have acclimated them to accept food from hand, you can often upgrade the trick to include jumping for it. the best jumper i ever saw, was a sun fish (pumpkin seed, i think...), that would leap completely out of the water (6-8") for a hand held guppy.


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## PaulineMi (Apr 3, 2008)

My Acei eat out of my hand. It started as a surprise to me when I was swishing flake food around so it wouldn't float.


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

my JDs will jump out of the water when I toss in food. I can pet them sometimes when doing a WC and once in a while they will bite my hand when it in there....doesn't hurt, but surprises me every time.


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## a7oneal (Dec 30, 2004)

I "trained" an oscar to eat from my hand when it was a baby... I don't know how much training it actually was. I put some pellets in my cupped hand and held it underwater until it ate them (I don't remember it taking more than a minute).

When it was larger, whenever I would have my hands in the tank for cleaning, it would come over as if I had food. One time, he grabbed my thumb in it's mouth and shook.


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## tawbrey863 (Nov 21, 2008)

I got them to eat out of my hands..lol. It was especially funny when I told my mom to put her hand in the tank with a pellet..lol she was like, "It just eat out of my hands!  "..lol


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## PaulineMi (Apr 3, 2008)

These are such fun fish aren't they! =D>


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## Donfish (Dec 24, 2007)

My angels will take flake out of a small plastic cup. I just tap some to the edge of the cup and they will stick their snouts out of the water and grab the flake. Of course they wiggle and waggle at the front glass whenever they see me get the food out of the fridge. Yes, cichlids do seem to have awareness of things outside the tank.


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## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

I used to hand feed my fahaka puffer, and it was awesome for awhile. I used to hold krill over the waterand he'd swim up and pluck it out of my hand. It was realy cool for awhile cuz if i held the krill up to high, instead of jumping (they're fat fish) he'd spit water at my hand a few times, until he hit the krill and knocked it out of my hand...problem was my fingers resemble krill a lot...once he got to about 5 inches he went in for the kill one day when i was cleaning and bit my pinky finger. I know he didn't mean to cuz once relized it was me he let go and shot straight down into the sand, faster than i'd ever seen him move. That stupid beak hurts tho! it didn't draw blood, but i had a blood blister around my finger for 2 weeks! Now he's pushing 9 inches and lets just say i dont feed him by hand anymore lol At least he still recognizes me when i walk into the room and when i put my hand in the tank, if i catch him in the right mood, he'll swim into my hand and just lay in it for awhile. I raised him since he was a little over and inch so i've had him for only ten months lol


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## Baraccus (Nov 23, 2008)

I have a Blood Parrot that eats out of my hand. Awesome fish very aware of "the world" . She is always watching me and my wife. She also responds more to my wifes voice than mine....Now this may sound cheesy... But I go up to the glass and make big kissing lips (not on the glass just close) and she'll swim from across the tank, get really close like she's kissing me then swim away. Does it all the time. ....I know kinda weird.. :drooling: :fish:


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