Fishy Feelings

[ElussssvReefSD]

After being thoroughly intimidated by a large Coris wrasse eye-balling me and following me while I was checking out his tank at a new LFS recently, I really got to thinking, "How smart are fish really?". I felt like that fish was basically either trying to intimidate me, "Come at me bro", or trying to figure out if I would feed him haha. (Sidenote: Those teeth on a full grown adult wrasse are impressive! Would hate to be on the receiving end...)

I mean, some fish just to seem to float along and not really "do much", but others really seem to pay attention to you and their surroundings. So did some digging, and found this really neat article that I encourage everyone to read:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/fish-have-feelings-too/
I'd be curious to know what y'all think?

Does your own tank have any entertaining piscine personalities? Do you wish your fish had less personality ? If your fish could communicate with you, what do you think they'd have to say?

 

[ElussssvReefSD]

Ouch. Am I really the only nerd that thinks about this stuff on this forum?

 

[HDaquatics34]

Nope. You are not the only "nerd" that thinks about what decides whether or not a fish has personality. Some fish act as if they are able to "free think" or "have consciousness"; and others act like they do not think about a dang thing.

It is quite a mystery to me. I'm glad you brought this topic up.

 

[av8soulfly]

Fish are definitely sentient beings (they think, react, and feel pain). My butterflies all rush to the end of the tank when I open the fridge. They watch what I'm doing when I'm near the tank.