Puffer fish

[blackfinshark_3]

Everyone has told me that puffer fish are extremely intelligent.

well im getting a dwarf puffer for a 10g on wednesday and can i train him?

i read about someone making there betta jump out of the water to hit a bell.

since puffers r smarter then bettas what could i make him do?

what have you all done in the past with your puffers?

how can i achieve training with a fish?

with my cat i use treats and a little nudge on the head if its wrong.

with my budgies i give them treats

with my dogs i give them treats and a chew toy.

whats the trick to obediance and a puffer?

maybe i can start an obediance school for puffers

 

[Erised]

when we say puffers are intelligent, most of us mean:
"They're great fish, they notice when you're around, they'll beg for food and know the difference between feeding time and water changes, they recognise you as the owner, and sometimes they'll even follow you around and chase your finger!"

I don't think any of us here are talking about teaching them tricks, nor do I believe any of the oddball owners around here know how to teach them tricks.

I can tell you however, that it will be a bad thing to let them jump out of the water, seeing as puffers have a underdeveloped swimming bladder (I believe that's what caused it) and can (and often will) die from swallowing air.

You might be able to teach it hide and seek? Put your finger on the glass and wait till he/she comes towards it, then put it somewhere else and get him to follow ... but that's as far as I think you can go

Perhaps someone else will be able to offer you more help.

 

[blackfinshark_3]

im determined to teach it the point and go to trick.

maybe i can teach i to fetch a rock?

anything else guys?

 

[SirMinion]

Martha comes when called.
Where ever she is in the tank she will move to the front right hand corner if I call her name.

This was acheived by always calling her name before feeding her then placing the food in that same spot every time.

At the moment we're trying to teach her to show us her teeth on command, a useful trick that would allow us to check on her dental health on demand.

Fahaka puffers habitually exercise their jaws and lips every few hours, exposing their fearsome beak-like teeth, so we've been trying to drop her a treat (pond snail) everytime we see her do this while at the same time saying TEETH! in a loud voice.

So far we've not had much success because we don't catch her doing it often enough with a snail and command for her to make the intellectual link between action, command and reward.


Meanwhile our Dragon Puffers have learned that 'food comes from above' and will stand on their tails staring at the water's surface when they're hungy, waiting for a tasty mealworm or shrimp to drop in for lunch.

 

[blackfinshark_3]

cool.

that sounds hard though.

anything else that martha can do?

 

[SirMinion]

anything else that martha can do?

[snapback]852271[/snapback]​

Yep, but she can't be trained to do this!

 

[Opcn]

Incidentaly dont sugest training your puffer to puff up, someonew ill misquote you and a whole load of people will get angry and insinuate that you torture small animals.

*speaks from personal experience*

 

[pnyklr3]

Seeing that pic will never get old for me.

 

[@ombomb]

Martha comes when called.
Where ever she is in the tank she will move to the front right hand corner if I call her name.

How about fetching your slippers...?

 

[blackfinshark_3]

nice pic of martha!

i just made it my background if you dont mind?