Most Intelligent Species In the Hobby

[IHaveADogToo]

What species do you believe are the most intelligent that can be kept in the home aquarium?

Of course in saltwater there's some really super intelligent species, like cuttlefish and octopi. But what about in freshwater?

Bettas tend to have a lot of personality, and can be trained to do tricks. Same with goldfish. Some people say cichlids are particularly intelligent. Others say pufferfish.

What do you think is the most intelligent species in the hobby? Have you personally kept any fish, or aquatic animals, that you feel are exceptionally intelligent?

 

[King puff]

I feel like something like the mubu puffer is one of the post intelligent fish out there. They do get huge so are not suited for the home aquarium.

The closest you could get to a mubu is probably a green spotted puffer or the fahaka puffer. The fahaka puffer is completely freshwater while the GSP is not. Though, the Fahaka puffer needs something like a 125 gallon tank while the GSP could go a bit smaller.

You could always just go with a nano tank with a pea puffer which is featured on my profile.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Can you tell me more about what makes puffers so intelligent? I honestly don’t know. I’ve always kept bettas.

 

[Kazzaye]

I can only talk about my own fish but I had a few flame tetras which eventually passed away. The last one was quite entertaining and was the smallest fish in the tank but he was in charge. He also used to enjoy the hose in the tank and would almost play in front of it when the water came out. I've had clown loaches for over a decade I don't think they r particularly smart but they can be amusing to watch. Angel fish are pretty interesting and like to stare me out - I think they're quite intelligent. Rainbows just want to be in charge they look great but they're uninteresting. Gouramis no personality

 

[seangee]

When my community tank was in my study one of the peppered corys always used to come and perch on one of the filter pipes next to my desk and watch me.

My Koi recognise me (or more likely my footsteps) and always come up in a feeding frenzy when I approach their pond. They don't do this for anyone else. I feed them at random times so its not just routine.

 

[Colin_T]

Dumpling Squid. Intelligent, interesting and really cute

They are saltwater but they really are cool. The females carry sperm packets from previous matings and can lay eggs months after they bred, a lot like livebearers do. They hunt and change colours and are amusing to watch when they have too much food to choose from.

I caught one when I was collecting shrimp and had it in my tank. She was about the size of a golf ball. I would add 20 or 30 glass shrimp to the tank each and week and she would zip around and grab the shrimp with her arms/ legs, whatever you want to call them. She would catch about 10 of them and be swimming around the tank chasing more but couldn't grab them because her arms were already full of shrimp.

Sometimes the shrimp would be on the glass and she would shoot her arms out and grab it, but she also grabbed the glass. Then you would see her pulling each arm off the glass. I could imaging the noise of little suction cups popping away as she pulled each arm off the glass.

She use to check out my hand when I was cleaning her tank and would hover near my hand flashing colours, presumably trying to hypnotise it so she could grab it.

Eventually she laid a bunch of eggs and ignored them, which was standard for them. Unfortunately the shrimp that she ate, attacked and ate her eggs. So call it karma or justice, she ate the shrimp but the shrimp ate her eggs

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Dumpling Squid. Intelligent, interesting and really cute

They are saltwater but they really are cool. The females carry sperm packets from previous matings and can lay eggs months after they bred, a lot like livebearers do. They hunt and change colours and are amusing to watch when they have too much food to choose from.

I caught one when I was collecting shrimp and had it in my tank. She was about the size of a golf ball. I would add 20 or 30 glass shrimp to the tank each and week and she would zip around and grab the shrimp with her arms/ legs, whatever you want to call them. She would catch about 10 of them and be swimming around the tank chasing more but couldn't grab them because her arms were already full of shrimp.

Sometimes the shrimp would be on the glass and she would shoot her arms out and grab it, but she also grabbed the glass. Then you would see her pulling each arm off the glass. I could imaging the noise of little suction cups popping away as she pulled each arm off the glass.

She use to check out my hand when I was cleaning her tank and would hover near my hand flashing colours, presumably trying to hypnotise it so she could grab it.

Eventually she laid a bunch of eggs and ignored them, which was standard for them. Unfortunately the shrimp that she ate, attacked and ate her eggs. So call it karma or justice, she ate the shrimp but the shrimp ate her eggs

That sounds an awful lot like a cuttlefish, Colin.

 

[King puff]

Can you tell me more about what makes puffers so intelligent? I honestly don’t know. I’ve always kept bettas.

Its the way they interact with their surroundings. They seem to be very aware of them, looking around at different objects while moving their eyes around. I feel like seeing them move their eyes makes them seem slightly more intelligent as fish like tetras, danios, etc. dont do this. Or it could just be the person you ask!

 

[Colin_T]

That sounds an awful lot like a cuttlefish, Colin.

They are cephalopods and are related to cuttlefish, octopus, squid & nautilus but are small and more suited to aquariums than the others. Squid need lots of swimming space, octopus climb out of their tank and go exploring around the house, small species of cuttlefish do well in aquariums and nautilus need big tanks.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

I can only talk about my own fish but I had a few flame tetras which eventually passed away. The last one was quite entertaining and was the smallest fish in the tank but he was in charge. He also used to enjoy the hose in the tank and would almost play in front of it when the water came out. I've had clown loaches for over a decade I don't think they r particularly smart but they can be amusing to watch. Angel fish are pretty interesting and like to stare me out - I think they're quite intelligent. Rainbows just want to be in charge they look great but they're uninteresting. Gouramis no personality

Gouramis have no personality? Dunno what you are talking about there. Mine has loads of personality. (Blue 3 spot). Watches me alot. Watches my cats and dogs. Sort of plays with the cats when they are watching him. It's funny. And most of the time I feed him twice a day. And if I forget or just don't do the 2nd feeding? All he will do is stare at me from across the room! Lol.

To the OP. Not saying these are the most intelligent....but they are intelligent in my opinion. Lol.

 

[Gruntle]

Oscars are the most intelligent fish, hands down. A friend says his Oscar used to flip the lid of his tank when he was in the room just to get attention, and would stalk him through the apartment, swimming in the tank along with him when he moved around. But the fish never did anything unusual when visitors came to see him. He'd open the fridge and nothing would happen. But when he opened the freezer (where the fish food was stored) his Oscar was like a puppy who just heard "walkies!"