Can any of the fish i own make a noise?

[Talon242]

See my tank description below or maybe im going crazy.

[Fishyfanatic]

Personally, I'm not sure if the fish that you have will make noise, but I do know that some fish do make noises. For example, I know that Bala Sharks sometimes make a shrieking noise. It's not really loud, but it can be heard if they are in a quiet room.

[frog girl]

A lot of fish use sound to communicate. For example a lot of our native sunfish. I know native fish biology better than those in the aquarium trade but it is very possible that one of your fish is making noises. Unfortunately for fish we now have motor boats which totally messes them up.

Usually fish talk is in the very low registers so it would sound like grunting or dull knocking perhaps. When in distress some fish will make a more high pitched sound but it is unclear whether this is just a byproduct of being out of water.

[acronym:63adf2a534="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:63adf2a534]

2 Pearl Gouramis,

Is it a grunting type of noise? It has been many years since I kept any Gouramis, but if I recall correctly, they would sometimes make that kind of noise. (I didn't know sunfish did that, thanks frog girl!)

Please pardon me if this part is obvious, but just about any kind of fish make the "lip-smacking noise" when feeding on the surface. Is it at feeding time?

Please describe the noise, now I'm curious!

[Talon242]

It isn't at feeding time. I usually hear it every once and a while its kind of like a little squeak and it's usually at night time. The first times I've heard it I thought it was something else but I hear it every now and then and it always comes from my tank. The filtration is almost completely silent so I ruled that out. I dunno what it is.

[Fishyfanatic]

It's most likely your fish. I wouldn't be alarmed unless you can start decoding their "speaking" and you realize they are forming an escape plan.

[Lepomis]

I am curious which members of Centrarchidae make noise?

[krap101]

well my emperor 280 sometimes squeaks.. its the spray bar i think

[frog girl]

Lepomis - I am sure many do but a friend of mine did her Ph.D. on communication in nesting long ears. I got to go with her once & listen to the males scolding intruders it was really cool. I believe they also make courting sounds to attract passing females that look ripe. She also had greens and some others in her streams but I am not sure she ever set up to listen to them.

Corvus - The sounds are sort of grunting or croaking noises. Have you ever fished in the ocean?? White croakers croak when you hold them after being caught. There is also some sort of ocean going fish (again not my field so please forgive minor errors) called drums & I believe they actually get together in sort of choruses (like frogs) to attract females. Apparently if you are out on a still night you can hear this weird drumming sound coming from the ocean. I believe the sound is made by deformation of the swim bladder. It is actually much more common than we suppose but our ears aren't really designed for underrwater listening - you need a hydrophone. Unfortunately also such work can not be done in aquariums or indoors because the 60 Hz wavelengths put out by all electrical appliances interefere with the hydrophone & the aquariums are like a big or small echo box.

Talon - I don't know tons about this subject but I have never heard of fish making high pitched noises. High pitched noises are damped out even faster underwater than on land. Of course I am not an icthyologist so there are probably some squeaky fish out there somewhere.

I sometimes wonder if aquarium fish go crazy from all the pump racket (& if they did how would I even know??).

Sad story that has to do with this - the river dolphins (I know not fish but still cool animals) in the Yangtzee river in China that use high pitched noises to communicate are experiencing disruption in their social groups because of the number of motor boats in the water. I think it is impacting their population size too. They are 1 of only 2 species of fresh water dolphins. The others are in the amazon.

[Lepomis]

I was just wondering about the "a lot" comment. I know Gerald (1971) documented sound production during courtship and spawning of megalotis but haven't kept up with anything fish related since 98.