Fish Intelligence

[FishHeads]

In my 100 gallon long tank I have 21 comet Goldfish, 2 fantail shubunkin goldfish, and 2 comet shubunkin goldifsh. I belive that they do not live in their own little word within the tank. They are VERY interactive with what is around the tank....especially me. Neo, my solid white comet (about 5 inches long) with orange-red upper 'eyelids" the only color on him, will watch me with almost an odd obssession whenever I come within 4 feet of the tank. He will follow me, stare at me, wiggle his head at m, and yawn at me. In fact ALL my goldfish do that. My Bed is right next to the tank and every night I lay down to watch them with their light on until I am ready to sleep. I always have 25 pairs of wide-eyed goldfish staring at me as if to say "what are you doing? Pay attention to us!" Neo will even turn belly up when I lift the tank lid and let me run a finger down his belly....At first this scared me....I thought he was sick or something...But the second I 'pet' him, he flipped back over and started kiss-attacking my finger! Honestly Neo will turn up so I can rub his belly. The others let me hold them in my hands and they will just lay there. They also interact to music. When I turn on my music they swim around together in a huge school back and forth, 'dancing' up the corners and 'blowing' kisses with big lips.

I also have my tropical tanks. Bill my Male tri-spot Blue Gourami, will touch the tank glass constantly as if to try and touch me. That tank is right next to my computer where I sit and he is the only one that seems to enjoy interacting with me. Mandy, his girlfirend, is too shy. My Mollies are very boring. Then there are the Betas....They all have their seperate personalities...Beta owners will agree with me.

 

[OscarCichlid]

I to think that it has to do with the species. My Guppies, Tetras, Swordtails, Pl*cos, Cats, and Loachs dont care about the outside world. But My Gouramis, and Cichlids will watch me for hours. It is amazing, every time i look at them they are staring right back at me.

 

[Cian McLiam]

I think this whole fish interacting with the outside world is getting to be a bee in your bonnet.

This is the point of the excercise. I think its wrong to write off fish just because they live in water, obviously some people do get very attatched to their pets and some transference of human traits to the animals is inevitable, but it is also true that fish do have the mental capabilities to learn, store and recall information, what would be the point of this if the fish is not able to associate things remembered with the world outside?

Some fish have shown superb learning ability, like the archer fish which has learned how to shoot a jet of water from below the water surface hitting its prey some inches away. This involves great skill and even calculation as anyone who tried to catch a fish by looking into the top of the tank will know, the refraction of the waters surface makes it very difficult to judge the exact position of the fish in the water. So what the archer fish sees has to be translated into a target which is
not where it appears to be and of course depends on the angle and depth from which the fish is sitting.
In the real world, fish will scan their entire habitat for prey and predators and will learn to distinguish between the two, in a home aquarium, I think fish will also examine all their surroundings, regardless of the pane of glass enclosing them. It is see through after all.

What I am wondering is what do they make of it? And even more importantly what is there to stimulate them? If fish can get excited when they a certain container which they know contains food, isnt it also possible for them to be bored and listless if lacking the natural interaction with prey and predators and even members of their own species?

A lot of time and effort is given to make sure our fish are physically healthy, all I am trying to point out is that very little consideration or concern is given to the fishes other needs. If they can be shown to interact then why not exercise this. I dont mean that I sit and have a chat with blank faced fish but little things like signals at feeding time and making them search for their food not just dumping it on their heads could perhaps keep your fish a little happier and maybe even healthier.


Ken

 

[nightlife20]

my betta 'george' will always squeeze past (as in big gap but he still goes to my hand) when im doing my water changes.
my kissin g's i agree always seem to be lookin at me... its kinda creepy...

and as if by reading my thoughts the other day my kuli loaches came out with the light one, i was muttering to craig about not seein my loaches much when all of a sudden they came out an did a 'performance' right in the center of the glass then wnet their seperate ways

also they must have some inteligence cause they all know when im about to get the camera out as they all hide.... make me sit there for about 20 mins before i get to see them through the lense!

Dawn xx