Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
Just a curiosity thread, but which do you think are your most intelligent or stupid fish and why? You don't have to list all the fish you have which you think have the best brains or not, but i'm interested in your reasons why you think certain fish of yours are particularly intelligent or stupid, especially if you have stories or example to tell?
I would that some of my most intelligent fish are my guppys, for the reasons below;
a. When i used to have more male guppys with my female guppys, when i sat down and watched them in the tank for ages i would notice that there are definately some males that are a lot more popular with the females in general than other males. Some of the males which didn't seem to get a lot of action in with the ladies would try to use certain tactics to get a sneaky mating in with the females.
For example, some of the males seemed to realise that it was often a fruitless venture trying to chase the females around trying to either impress them or just mate with them. But some of the males seemed to realise that during feeding sessions when i fed my fish, the female guppys would be too obsessed with food to concentrate on the males. So some of the males would often try to mate as much as posible with the females only while they were concentrating on food.
b. In my all-male guppy tank where i keep lots of hillstream loaches in, i often supliment their fresh algae diet with TetraPro vegetable flakes by sticking the flakes just above the water level where the hillstream loaches come to nibble on them. The guppys eventually realised that i do this on a regular basis, and so have figured out that if they splash the glass above the water level where i stick the fish flakes for the hillstream loaches every night, they can splash the flakes off the glass and into the water for them to eat.
I think that my hillstream loaches are also very intelligent too in their own way. I only started giving them fish flakes as treats when one day i noticed one of the hillstream loaches nibbling on a couple of fish flakes that had accidentally got stuck just above the water line on the glass/side of the tank. Ever since then, i have always put some fish flakes out for them almost every night (they have lots of algae growing in the tank to eat as well, but they seem to really like the fish flakes too), but i don't think they are just eating them by chance. They seemed to have noticed that everytime before i start plastering fish flakes to the side of the tank, i clean and wet the glass first by swishing and rubbing some water on the glass first so the flakes stick to it. Everytime i do this now the hillstream loaches quickly come to the front of the tank and wait patiently stuck to the glass for me to put the fish flakes out for them.
I think they must be intelligent because of this because it takes at least some brains to connect that me swishing the water in the tank on the glass equals/means that i'm putting food out for them.
I think one of most least intelligent fish has to be my RTBS (red tailed black shark), (no offence to him, he's a really nice fish, but doesn't seem to think things through much like the guppys and loaches etc). Every night and day i put algae wafers or catfish pellets out for him and the pleco's in the tank. He's not a very agressive fish, but can get quite short tempered with the platys and guppys when they try to steal his food- he often goes off to try and chase one platy or guppy off his wafers, but this only ends up with more guppys and platys swarming around his food while he's trying to deal with one fish. If he spent less time chasing individual fish off, he'd probably get a lot more to eat
.
So how about you guys/girls- which fish do you own that you think have the most or least brains and why etc
?
I would that some of my most intelligent fish are my guppys, for the reasons below;
a. When i used to have more male guppys with my female guppys, when i sat down and watched them in the tank for ages i would notice that there are definately some males that are a lot more popular with the females in general than other males. Some of the males which didn't seem to get a lot of action in with the ladies would try to use certain tactics to get a sneaky mating in with the females.
For example, some of the males seemed to realise that it was often a fruitless venture trying to chase the females around trying to either impress them or just mate with them. But some of the males seemed to realise that during feeding sessions when i fed my fish, the female guppys would be too obsessed with food to concentrate on the males. So some of the males would often try to mate as much as posible with the females only while they were concentrating on food.
b. In my all-male guppy tank where i keep lots of hillstream loaches in, i often supliment their fresh algae diet with TetraPro vegetable flakes by sticking the flakes just above the water level where the hillstream loaches come to nibble on them. The guppys eventually realised that i do this on a regular basis, and so have figured out that if they splash the glass above the water level where i stick the fish flakes for the hillstream loaches every night, they can splash the flakes off the glass and into the water for them to eat.
I think that my hillstream loaches are also very intelligent too in their own way. I only started giving them fish flakes as treats when one day i noticed one of the hillstream loaches nibbling on a couple of fish flakes that had accidentally got stuck just above the water line on the glass/side of the tank. Ever since then, i have always put some fish flakes out for them almost every night (they have lots of algae growing in the tank to eat as well, but they seem to really like the fish flakes too), but i don't think they are just eating them by chance. They seemed to have noticed that everytime before i start plastering fish flakes to the side of the tank, i clean and wet the glass first by swishing and rubbing some water on the glass first so the flakes stick to it. Everytime i do this now the hillstream loaches quickly come to the front of the tank and wait patiently stuck to the glass for me to put the fish flakes out for them.
I think they must be intelligent because of this because it takes at least some brains to connect that me swishing the water in the tank on the glass equals/means that i'm putting food out for them.
I think one of most least intelligent fish has to be my RTBS (red tailed black shark), (no offence to him, he's a really nice fish, but doesn't seem to think things through much like the guppys and loaches etc). Every night and day i put algae wafers or catfish pellets out for him and the pleco's in the tank. He's not a very agressive fish, but can get quite short tempered with the platys and guppys when they try to steal his food- he often goes off to try and chase one platy or guppy off his wafers, but this only ends up with more guppys and platys swarming around his food while he's trying to deal with one fish. If he spent less time chasing individual fish off, he'd probably get a lot more to eat
.So how about you guys/girls- which fish do you own that you think have the most or least brains and why etc
?
