Do fish think?

[Naiad]

Here is an article I found that discusses the mental capacity of fish. What do you all think?

Fish are smarter than non-aquarist think ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[Tahoe61]

There is no doubt in my mind and never has been. When my male clown died the female did not eat for 2 weeks, I was sure she was going to die.

When I open the cupboard 100 ft away to get the fish food out my fish go crazy, it might be the sound but they know.

Certain clown fish types such as Skunks click and chirp at each other.

 

[Pete polyp]

I can stand in front of my tank all day and the fish don't notice.... But once I pick up the food cup they're at the front of the tank going nuts!

 

[mcarroll]

How much thinking appears to be going on definitely varies with the fish - some appear to have no outward personality at all, so are hard to judge. Some, like tangs and freshwater cichlids almost posses pet-like personalities...dog-like, even! My 15-year old oscar would do loops (not rolls) when a woman would be around the tank. (Rare back in the day!! LOL.) Others have trained theirs to push balls around the water surface or other things.

 

[Sully]

FW clowns do the same thing and it can get loud!

There is no doubt in my mind and never has been. When my male clown died the female did not eat for 2 weeks, I was sure she was going to die.

When I open the cupboard 100 ft away to get the fish food out my fish go crazy, it might be the sound but they know.

Certain clown fish types such as Skunks click and chirp at each other.

 

[Paul B]

The only reason fish don't do well on standardized tests is that they don't have thumbs to hold a pencil. As for pain, I personally don't think fish feel what we think of as pain, and I really hope not because a fish is an animal that never dies of old age in the sea. They are always eaten live. The rest of them suffocate on the deck of a ship. I have seen sharks with their guts ripped out and they were swimming around in circles eating their own intestines. That, to me doesn't indicate a fish in pain. I also had a hippo tang once and a triggerfish ripped off his entire lower jaw because he had some food in his mouth. That hippo tang continued to try to eat just like nothing happened even though he had no way to injest food.I have also spent my life flounder fishing. (I even used to date a girl who looked like a flounder) I can't count the times I caught a flounder that was to small, removed the hook and did major damage to the fish, threw him back and caught it again 5 minutes later. These things don't prove what fish feel or if they feel pain, but it is all I have to go with. Maybe they also feel remorse, anger, and flatulence.