Panicky fish

[Louise]

My little school of 10 tilapia used to be a happy bunch, eating from my hand. Since I moved a couple for breeding reasons, they panic whenever I stop near the fish tank. They dont eat very well. At the moment I'm experimenting with a pump and a home made bell siphon, and they hate it.

I don't like having animals that are afraid of me. What can I do?

After I moved them and they started being scared, I didn't do anything threatening for more than a month, but they don't seem to forget easily.

[Chi Ma]

Fish learn that your presence and getting caught correlate. With hold food for a week then feed them. They will associate you with getting fed. Also get 2 nets. One Large and the other a little smaller. Instead of chasing the fish around with a net, herd it with the smaller net into a larger net.

I use The Perfect dip Net. It doesn't injure the fish.

[Jonathan Kadish NYC AA Chair]

They should be afraid of you... you are going to eat them!

[Chris Smith]

After netting at them a few times they become scared of you. I have introduced friendly koi to my tilapia and the koi act scared like the school now. The only time my fish are happy to see me is at morning feeding. If I am too close to my big tank during the AM feeding I will get soaked!

[FormulaX]

fish are smarter than people give them credit,  my favorite fish as an aquarist, were the more intelligent onces, like pacu, or spotted perch

[Jim Hall]

I got two barrels full of tilapia from a place shutting down. I didn't have their home ready for them, still don't, so they are sharing space in three different small, under 30 gallon systems and a barrel. I drove around with them in my truck with an inverter and an air pump going 24/7 parking in town and anywhere I went. So far with a bunch of moves and water changes, they still seem to be eating alright. The few I had before were timid, but the new farm raised ones I can hold in my hand and they are almost like pets. It seem like having a bunch of them in a tank encourages them to eat and compete for the food. My original tilapia I never saw eat. One tank is sharing the space with 3 channel cats two. Being Hawaii, the water is not real cold, but we are having heavy rains and even had hail in parts of Hawaii. The rain is much colder than the tanks. In fact the tanks feel kind of like a bathtub compared.

Any rate, I remember reading Murray Hallam comment on fish being put off their food for various reasons, so I don't get too worried, but this batch is really surprising me.

[TCLynx]

I too have experienced that few fish in a tank tend to be more timid about eating while if you have more fish in the tank they are more aggressive about food.

I have catfish which are really scardy cats and if I put a net in the tank during the day, I don't feed them that evening and they may not eat very much the next day either.