the age old question....

[gi4get]

after watching my fish most hours of the day , i've noticed that they spend some of their time almost completely inactive. a few times i've startled my betta because of my concern. the age old question is....do fish sleep? am i interrupting their beauty nap? (heaven forbid )

 

[SneakBetta]

I don't think fish actually "Sleep" i know that they rest. my fish will just lye in one spot of the tank. Are your fish inactive when the lights are on?? If they are, maybe you aren't giving them enough off-light time so they are tired and rest during the day. My fish only rest when the light is off and my whole room is dark. My lights are off from 10:30pm maybe 11:00pm to 8 or 9 am.

 

[smb]

Yea, this is an age old question to be sure. Fish definately sleep. How deep of a sleep? We don't know yet. I think they "recharge" their batteries but if in a period of a few days they keep getting harrassed or awakened, then when they do get a chance to rest in safety, they sleep deeper. REM deeper? That's the question that has never been answered. Lot's of good and brilliant people have opinions, but no data that I know of yet for proof.

Hopefully, if there is some data or proof, someone will post a link for us tho.

 

[canis_lupus]

OMG! i wuz gonna ask that question!!!!!!!!! last night my cat got me up and i happened to look at my fish tank but i didn't see any fish so i turned on my bed light so i didn't shock the fish and i saw my 2 guppies and my platy but no betta then there she was in the plant....i thought she was dead!!!! but i wuz 2 tired to really think clearly so i went back 2 sleep and in the morning there she was as healthy as ever!!!!!!!

 

[sandyd]

My fish try to sleep, but once i turn off the lights, my pleco wakes up. They are always moving around in there with him in there. LOL Sandy

 

[-=DG=-]

When i used to have goldifsh, they would every day ar about noon all take a nap! About 15 of them, would all be sitting on the floor sleeping as far as i could tell. Cos if i were to wave my hand around, they wouldnt respond! And another funny thing is that a few of them had their little spot, so i would see them in the same place every day

 

[millym]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......my barbs quite often have a snooze in the middle of the day, well it looks like theyre snoozing...maybe theyre meditating???

 

[PJGuppies]

My poor fish try to sleep, but I have a Pleco "Fred" that NEVER EVER sleeps!! I have yet to see this fish still!!

 

[cool_jool]

Hi I don't know if fish sleep. But when I switch on the light my neons look like they don't have any colour - scared me to death first time I noticed - after a few seconds the colour turns to normal. Can anyone tell me why this is? cool_jool

 

[gi4get]

That's so encouraging to hear. I've also noticed my guppies and swordtail have their own "spots" in the tank as well. Next time I catch my fishies snoring and drooling all over their pillows I'll try not to wake them

 

[smb]

Hi I don't know if fish sleep. But when I switch on the light my neons look like they don't have any colour - scared me to death first time I noticed - after a few seconds the colour turns to normal. Can anyone tell me why this is? cool_jool

I'm not exactly sure. It's true that most fish lose some or most color at night.

This could be totally wrong here as to why they lose color and I've never heard anyone else say this, so it's jmo-- I think it's for camoflauge at night when they aren't as aware of their surroundings. If you fish at night, you know that the easiest color for fish to see is black. So that's why I think that. Not very scientific, I know.

 

[Jht]

yes my neons do the exact same thing they lose their colour at night

 

[Braddah]

my rasboras lose there color at night too...it freaked me out the first time i noticed it i thought they would all be dead when i got home... but they are fine...