Do fish have feelings?

[john.m.cole3]

Can your fish recognize you?
Are they overwhelmed with joy when you walk up to the tank?
Does your hand being in there agitate them?
Do you think your fish miss you when you are on vacation and someone else feeds your tank?
Have you ever seem your fish look sad?

I think my oldest clown has facial expressions. How about your fish?

 

[justingraham]

I agree with u
My wife always feed the fish as I am at work every night and in the morning I am the one who puts the nori on the clip.
When I walk up to the tank my fish swim to the side of the nori clip
When she walks up to the tank the always swim to the top and wait for her to drop in the food.
They are smart very smart they know when I'm doing a water change and when ever they see me walk in the room they swim to the front of the tank

 

[john.m.cole3]

I wonder if a wrasse feels pain when they carpet surf?

 

[jsker]

Check this out here

 

[john.m.cole3]

Check this out here

That was a neat article. Especially the experiment done to prove that fish can feel pain and pleasure. This article answered all of my questions. Thanks man!

 

[mlivvy]

My clowns have a gangster feeling when I rearrange stuff near their turf.

 

[justingraham]

That was a neat article. Especially the experiment done to prove that fish can feel pain and pleasure. This article answered all of my questions. Thanks man!

Yea I like the article too
But now we don't only have people addicted to pain meds we also have zebra fish.

 

[Paul B]

My fish feel remorse, jealousy, contempt, and claustrophobic but I don't think they feel pain as we do. Of course I could be wrong and I hope I am correct because virtually all fish in the sea die by being eaten while still alive or suffocating in the hold of a ship. Fish in my tank die of old age but that is a very rare thing for a fish.
I didn't come to this decision overnight. It came from almost 50 years of SCUBA diving with fish and keeping them longer than that.
I have seen a shark that another shark tore out his guts and his intestines were trailing behind him. The injured shark only seemed interested in eating his own intestines. If he felt what we think is pain, I don't know but if it was me, I would be more interested in yelling OMG, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOW.
Another example is when I kept a hippo tang and I also had a triggerfish. The tang was eating a worm and the trigger grabbed the worm and tore off the tang's jaw. The tang didn't seem to notice and kept trying to eat. He lived for a few days and acted quite normally.
One more example is if you have ever gone flounder fishing and caught a flounder that was too small so you removed the hook, and maybe ripped half his mouth off, then threw the fish back only to catch the same fish five minutes later.
I can't read a fishes mind, but I really hope they can't feel pain. I know they feel something, just not really pain. I hope anyway.

 

[jsker]

Happy fish, happy tank:)

 

[justingraham]

My fish feel remorse, jealousy, contempt, and claustrophobic but I don't think they feel pain as we do. Of course I could be wrong and I hope I am correct because virtually all fish in the sea die by being eaten while still alive or suffocating in the hold of a ship. Fish in my tank die of old age but that is a very rare thing for a fish.
I didn't come to this decision overnight. It came from almost 50 years of SCUBA diving with fish and keeping them longer than that.
I have seen a shark that another shark tore out his guts and his intestines were trailing behind him. The injured shark only seemed interested in eating his own intestines. If he felt what we think is pain, I don't know but if it was me, I would be more interested in yelling OMG, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOW.
Another example is when I kept a hippo tang and I also had a triggerfish. The tang was eating a worm and the trigger grabbed the worm and tore off the tang's jaw. The tang didn't seem to notice and kept trying to eat. He lived for a few days and acted quite normally.
One more example is if you have ever gone flounder fishing and caught a flounder that was too small so you removed the hook, and maybe ripped half his mouth off, then threw the fish back only to catch the same fish five minutes later.
I can't read a fishes mind, but I really hope they can't feel pain. I know they feel something, just not really pain. I hope anyway.

Where can I buy ur book Paul? Is it only on the interweb?

 

[revhtree]

Interesting discussion.

I would love to think that my fish know me and are happy to see me. I think they are! :p

 

[becks]

My blenny watches me, when I come up to the tank he swims to the highest point and perches on the rock and as soon as I slide open the lid he gets excited and swims to the top awaiting food, so he's intelligent enough to recognise my face and know I'm not a threat and cleaver enough to remember that I bring him food.

My two baby clownfish will come to the top and they too are not one bit bothered if my hand is in the tank and will swim right past me.

He also don't get scared if my hand is in the tank, he ignores me and won't hide.

My koi recognised my wife and I as we both would feed and watch them swim, but when friends would look they would not come to the surface. Oddly enough they also came up to greet my dogs when they drank from the pond and would literally swim under their tongues.

 

[Paul B]

When I am away for a few days, my fish text me so I know they know me. But they prefer to stare at the Supermodel who comes over to take care of them.

 

[Baby Ray]

Check this out here

Very interesting article. I remember seeing that book in Barnes and Noble and I almost got it. Now I HAVE to read it :p :D

 

[jsker]

When I am away for a few days, my fish text me so I know they know me. But they prefer to stare at the Supermodel who comes over to take care of them.

Web cam :D

 

[john.m.cole3]

When I am away for a few days, my fish text me so I know they know me. But they prefer to stare at the Supermodel who comes over to take care of them.

You must trust your fish well enough to give them underwater cell phones.

 

[masssnapz]

Fish are friends, not food. ;) but all jokes aside, I do believe my fish know me, especially my wrasse, they come to the glass and show off whenever I am watching. I am the bringer of food and light. I wonder what it must feel like to the fish when I rearrange the scape and they head home only to find it nowhere to be found.

 

[brucea]

Of course fish have feelings. They feel slimy! (Not my joke.)
But seriously, I think they probably feel fear, but I am not so sure they feel love, happiness etc.

Bruce

 

[Cory]

Of course fish feel. If its living, it feels. Feelings= pain and pleasure.

Even a bacteria feels.

Possibly they feel different emotions than us though.

A simple bacteria probably cant feel much pleasure beyond the sensation of food. But it reacts to pain.

 

[Cory]

Of course fish feel. If its living, it feels. Feelings= pain and pleasure.

Even a bacteria feels.

Possibly they feel different emotions than us though.

A simple bacteria probably cant feel much pleasure beyond the sensation of food. But it reacts to pain.