Do fish communicate?

[gadazobe]

I've just spent the last hour watching my new fish integrate with their "brothers". I had 4 red torpedoes and have just added another 2. To begin with the new ones hid, but it didn't take long befgre they found the others and formed a shoal of 6 - swimming to and fro across the tank. I always feed my fish between 5-6 in the evening after I return from work. These new two have never been in my tank before this afternoon, yet gathered with the rest in the "feeding" corner. When they tried to swim to the other side of the tank the "leader" swam over to them and brought them back by actually nudging them lightly on their side. All six are now waiting to be fed along with the other tankmates.

At the same time as buying the torpedoes, I bought a pair of neon dwarf gouramis - the only pair of it's kind in my tank. Now all the "old" fish are in the feeding corner but these new gouramis are on the other side of the tank. Not one of the fish have been over there to "call" them over for food. Is this because they're still "strangers" or do different fish communicate with each other in different ways. The new torpedoes were "told" about feeding time, but with no other gouramis in the tank, the "newbies" were left out in the cold.

Is this pausible - what do you all think?

 

[ryan]

I have experienced the feed gathering to. I has a shoal of Golden Rudd in a pond and they would never come to the surface to feed then I added two Golden Orfes and the next time I feed them they were all up feeding as if they had been doing it for years. My tropical fish also do the same thing, it does make you wonder how clever they really are and do they communicate?

 

[wuvmybetta]

Ya know, it's a very interesting topic. I believe they DO communicate with each other (same or similar species). It's noticable with my bettas at feeding time, for example...one of my males will see me coming and the female will be so busy flirting that she doesn't notice me...I can actually see the male say "look,there she is" and the female will (in body language) say "huh?..oh ,hey,she IS here!" and she'll spin around to look.

I had (bad mix, it was only temporary) some African cichlids living with a pair of gouramis. The cichlids would communicate and understand each other but when the gouramis would try to get involved..the cichlids looked absolutely dumbfounded, like they couldn't understand a word the gouramis were saying

 

[JAYJT]

Fish communicate by farting .

SCIENTISTS IN THE United States have discovered that fish communicate with each other by farting.
It sounds just like a high-pitched raspberry 

The biologists have linked a mysterious underwater bubbling sound to noise coming from a herring's rear.
And now the scientists think this is what keeps shoals together at night.
Ben Wilson, from the University of British Columbia in Canada, said: 'It sounds just like a high-pitched raspberry.
'It's only a theory but the fish are more noisy after dark and the sounds might allow fish to detect one another when they can't be seen.'
The team of experts named the noise Fast Repetitive Tick (FRT) but unlike a human fart, the sounds are probably not caused by digestive gases.
A theory that the fish were farting from fear, perhaps to sound an alarm, was quashed because when fish smelt a shark scent, there was again no change in the number of FRTs.
Wilson suggested fishermen might be able to exploit the discovery to locate shoals or conservationists could use it to prevent underwater noise upsetting fish.


Sorry I have just copied this from an e mail i got it linked to a web site, I saw the fish communicate title and thought Id share this with you!!! If yopu want to to know the page i copied it from let me know

 

[dbollack]

Fish have neuromast organs which can sense the displacement of water, these organs are centralized in the lateral line and otoliths(ear bone). Schooling fish have many more, and that increases their ability to pick up displacement of water which is why they know when others in the school turn so that they do as well.

 

[JAYJT]

SEE HERE FOR HOW FISH COMMUNICATE!!!

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Cichlids in particular are very expressive with their body language.

The will turn certain ways, shake, and swim funny to express warning to other fish or try to attract females to mate. Their colors and markings will darking or lighten accordingly, and their fins will be put on display or clamp up. With many species two contending fish of similar size will have a 'yawning' showdown to see who has the bigger mouth, and if they still can't sort things out it will resort to a test of physical strength - hence the lip-lock.