# Touchy Feely Fish



## Perocore (Jan 6, 2014)

My family has owned fish for a very long time now- as long as I can remember. Right now we actually have 5 bettas, 3 guppies, 3 neon tetras, 1 pictus catfish, 15 cherry shrimp, 1 whisker shrimp, too many snails...these are our tropicals and they consist of 6 different tanks in our living room and kitchen. However, this is not what I want to focus on right now.

While my mom and I adore our tropical fish, my sister has always loved pond fish- specifically ornamental goldfish because they just look odd. Right now she has two baby goldfish- Ulfric is a gorgeous (I mean this fish' build and finnage is incredible) orange Oranda who we've had about 8 months(?). Since he seemed lonesome, my sister brought home Attila, a peculiar little orange Bubble eye. These two fish are pretty amusing, they love people and both will let my sister pet them (but only my sister). 

Now, while I do prefer the tropicals (smaller tanks, easier to care for), I have always had a great love of koi fish, namely butterfly koi. They're just incredibly elegant, beautiful fish that live a long time (oldest on record was 212 years), are great out-doors fish and work indoors as well (with a massive tank/tub), and are very intelligent. So when we went to Walmart and they had a beautiful silvery butterfly koi baby- I just had to snatch him up.







This is Gabriel. Gabriel is a peculiar fish, honestly. He's only a babe- about 6" long- and since he was an on-the-whim purchase I had no where to put him but in with the goldfish. I was advised (and by advised I mean someone was incredibly rude about the whole thing on another forum) to immediately remove him from the tank as he would apparently kill the goldfish. Since he had to go into a bigger tank anyways, I heeded their advice and moved him into a 150 gallon tub. Where he did nothing. He swam about a few minutes, but after several hours he was laying on the bottom of the tank, barely moving. He responded when I approached, but quickly went back to laying on the bottom of the tank. Concerned, I moved him back to the goldfish and quickly realized that it had been depression. As soon as he saw he was heading towards the goldfish he went nuts! Started swimming like crazy trying to get out of the bag, heading towards them. As soon as he was in the tank he was all over his buddies! He was nudging them and pressing against them and followed close to them the rest of the day. 

Gabriel's attachment to the goldfish is incredible. They don't just sleep together- all three of them will snuggle up together to go to sleep. During feeding time, instead of out-competing the goldfish as I was told he would, Gabriel waits. He watches the other two eat and waits until they both have full mouths before he'll eat anything. If one of the goldfish is in a pot (each goldfish has a pot and they'll only ever store food or sleep in there pot, not the others) then Gabriel will squeeze in there with them. He plays with them, and though he's much faster he never bullies them, ever. He just loves those goldfish- I mean he snuggles with them! What sort of fish snuggles?! I was so perplexed the first time I saw him snuggle up with them before going to sleep. 








And it's not just the other goldfish. If my hand is in the tank, such as when I'm cleaning/etc, Gabriel will swim over and just press against my hand, and if I turn my palm upwards he'll lay in it. That's actually the only way I can catch him- if you put a net in there he avoids it at all costs (and is smart enough to do so), but as soon as I use my hands instead he relaxes and just lets me scoop him up. I've just never heard of fish enjoying physical contact so much, it's very strange.

Has anyone else ever had a koi fish act snuggly? Or seen goldfish be affectionate towards each other?


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## jooleeah (Sep 3, 2010)

Thats actually so precious. I had a goldfish once for upwards of 9 years and ive never seen him be affectionate to any of the other fish that came and went. Maybe it was because he thought he was immortal and didnt want to get attached, who knows lmao


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

My grandmother raises koi and goldfish and has a pond of around 50 of the buggers. Gorgeous fish with a surprising amount of personality. They come to the water's edge when she is near, even if there is food on the other side of the pond. She'll dip her hand into the water and they will swarm her, taking turns being "petted". Of course, we limit this because we don't want to rub too much slime coat off!

Silly fish.


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## sachaaa (Mar 17, 2014)

What a sweet story, and such an incredible relationship between that little trio of finned friends. My mom calls animals like that 'garden of eden animals', whether you're religious or not, there's something almost miraculous about animals who are so connected to people and each other. The awareness they show is just incredible.


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## Mitsy (Apr 8, 2013)

Wow I didn't know fish of different species actually bonded together like that. I've had fish here and there, but never long enough to see anything like that, or to create a bond with them, that's a amzing, If possible I would love to see pictures of Gabriel laying on your hand, and all of them snuggling.


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## crazyratgirl101 (Nov 29, 2013)

My betta fish is like that. Fish are more personable than people think. When I walk by my betta swims up to the glass and gives me puppy dog eyes. If he could talk i know he would say "Mommy! Get me a bloodworm!" I also "hold and pet him" I scoop him up in my hands and he swims in the puddle of water. I reach my hand in the tank and pet him every so often. I guess this holding made him very docile because he now lives in a tropical tank with many betta look alikes and does nothing. Nice addition to my tank


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## ratty_milkshake (Feb 24, 2014)

I never understood 'fish people' but this story is way sweet!!!! Made me smile!


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## abratforarat (Jan 12, 2014)

That's really cute! I've never had a fish who does that, but one of them cuddled in my hand (in the water!)


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## Perocore (Jan 6, 2014)

Well, all of our bettas are pretty personable, but there's just something really amazing about goldfish and koi when they're treated like actual pets and not just decorations. They're incredibly intelligent (for fish), despite popular belief, and very long lived, so it sort of makes sense that they'd be capable of such bonding. The first goldfish my sister ever got was this massive Japanese moor. When she picked him out, the people dropped him on the floor before getting him into the bag. His eye quickly became infected and he eventually lost it. However, he was one of my sister's best friends. He would swim up to the surface of the water and beg for her attention, and actually seemed to enjoy being petted (but only by her). It was really hard when he passed away about 5 years later, and she didn't have fish for a while after that. My mom and I got her the Oranda as a surprise to cheer her up last year, and she loves him <3

All three of the "pond fish" have gone through recent growth spurts, so they can't fit into the pots together anymore, but we're moving them into a huge tank soon and my sister got them a bigger pot, so they should be able to again eventually, haha. I'll try to get a picture of Gabriel being affectionate with me- he's become a lot more so lately. Now he actually swims over to greet me and is very happy whenever I approach, he'll eat out of my hand sometimes, too. He's also developed a new habit of helping the goldfish find food on the bottom of the tank. It's hard to tell if it's intentional or not, but as good as his eye sight is it may be. He'll shove a plant or cluster of rocks aside (he's much stronger than the goldfish) when he spots a piece of food, and instead of eating it he'll wait and let one of the goldfish get it. Of course this means that I have to feed more food than I'd prefer, since he won't eat until after the goldfish do and I don't want him to get thin. 

Once we move them into the bigger tank we plan to add three new goldfish. I'm a little worried about what Gabriel will think of new comers, and Ulfric, actually. Atilla, the bubble eye, loves all new fish, but it took Ulfric ages to accept Atilla, though he took to Gabriel right away. Gabe is pretty attached to his two goldfish, so I really hope he accepts three new baby fish. My mom's getting a baby moor (since she loves Black Moors), my sister wants to get a baby lionhead, and I'm debating eventually getting a telescope. If I can find a good quality one I might, but I think we'll wait and see how it goes after the big tank is cycled and we introduce the two babies (after we get them) to the older fish.


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## Perocore (Jan 6, 2014)

Sorry for the poor quality...anyways, we just moved Ulfric (oranda), Atilla (bubble eye), and Gabriel (koi) into the 55 gallon! They were all really amazed with the sand and the amount of room. Gabe has some security issues (he didn't like being separated from them when they were bagged for the move) so he is sticking really close to Atilla or Ulfric for now. Ulfric went into the new pot to check it out, and Gabriel immediately squeezed in with him. 

Actually, Gabe is just very strange...there are also 6 danios in the tank, and when they swarmed over to investigate the new comers, Gabriel chased them away from the goldfish, then hovered over the goldfish and kept the danios away while the goldfish sifted through the sand.


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