Fish Smarts

[ya_boii]

Hello! I'm sort of a lurker here on R2R, but I recently had a funny thing happen that got me thinking. As someone with a degree in Psychology, I've really enjoyed having fish that really have personality and really do show a lot of intelligence.

Recently, I realized that I had classically conditioned my fish. I went to feed my bearded dragon, who live in the same room, so they saw me grab something out of the fridge. I was getting ready for work shortly after, and saw all my fish gathered on the opposite side of the tank from my gyre. My one greedy eating wrasse started attacking the surface a bit, too. I realized that I had conditioned them to expect food after I get in the fridge, as I drop the cubes in and let them float around and get blown around by the gyre.

This is interesting for a few reasons, the primary of which is that most fish in the hobby aren't captive bred, meaning that they are learning new behaviors based on environment alone. They haven't been around humans for generations, like freshwater fish have been. To be able to be classically conditioned is a huge mark of intelligence in adaptation in these little guys.

That all being said, what are some smart things your fish do? I wanna hear about all of it

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Same here, every time I go to the kitchen they all gather to the corner and watch me, I can feel them watching lol

 

[SurfTrack]

Yes yes yes! Fish are much smarter than most people think.

I had a yellow tang for a few years in a large tank in my bedroom. Most mornings I would get up, and then feed him a dry algae sheet on a clip. I started to notice that the second I would sit up in bed, the tang would DART around the tank and then closely watch me while pressed up against the glass. I must have inadvertently conditioned him. The trigger for food was literally me waking up and getting out of bed. I fully believe that fish are much more aware of cues than we give them credit for. Kind of amazing

 

[SurfTrack]

I've noticed this type of behavior with many marine fish over the years but my yellow tang by FAR was the most 'trained'

 

[ya_boii]

Yes yes yes! Fish are much smarter than most people think.

I had a yellow tang for a few years in a large tank in my bedroom. Most mornings I would get up, and then feed him a dry algae sheet on a clip. I started to notice that the second I would sit up in bed, the tang would DART around the tank and then closely watch me while pressed up against the glass. I must have inadvertently conditioned him. The trigger for food was literally me waking up and getting out of bed. I fully believe that fish are much more aware of cues than we give them credit for. Kind of amazing

I love that. It's really amazing how aware they are about things outside of their tank. Like, I think they watch us more than we watch them

 

[ya_boii]

Same here, every time I go to the kitchen they all gather to the corner and watch me, I can feel them watching lol

My freshwater fish just crowd around whenever someone walks by. They aren't as discriminating about who or what happens first

 

[SurfTrack]

I also had a Saddle Valentini Puffer and that fish also specifically seemed to be very aware of food cues

 

[Macropharyngodon]

My grandpa's powder Blue tang was kind of territorial, but exclusively when he came with food to the tank. A completely model citizen when food wasn't around, but when he came up to the tank no one else was allowed up front and center lol.