General Fish Behavior

[robertmarda]

What fish have really neat behavior and/or personalities?

For example the tiger oscar and red devil can easily be trained to take food from your fingers?

Some fish pace the tank with you when hungry, such as the molly. Other fish will gather where you are once you open the tank lid in anticipation of food, such as the platy. Some fish don't even notice you; seems to me the zebra danios seldom pay attention to what goes on outside the tank and many tetras don't care either.

What kind of behavior makes the cory so desirable?

What about loaches?

The reason I am asking all these questions is to try and plan how I will populate my next community tank and I like fish that don't just swim around mindlessly like the zebra danio.

 

[still]

my fantail goldfish moves around fast when i approach near tank,, & she nips on my
fingers or hand asking for food! ,, she also eats from my fingers..

 

[LittlePuff]

If you change your mind about the community thing, puffers are awesome. Some of them act like puppies.


Kim

 

[trent]

my pleco is about 9-10in and is a carector all his own. when it feeding time he goes up along the wall until his about 2-3cm out of the water. when i feed the fish he will put his whole head out of water and take food from me without me having to put my hands in the tank. then he skims the top water surface in front of the filter where it will push the floating food in his direction. what a blast, the plec always make me laugh.

 

[unicorn2tears]

My favorite in my tank is my black ghost knife. He (she?) is such a sweety and goes completely against all the advice I was given on them. Not a bit shy, he'll zip about and even though I have tons of caves and hiding places, he's usually out and about 80% to 90% of the time. He will eat from my hand and takes any type of food, although blood worms seem a favorite. He explored the whole tank poking and proding, sometimes swimming slowly on his side, other times fast about the bottom or vertically "hanging" out or zipping backwards and bumping into other fish. Of course, they get big (real big) so that's something to take into consideration.

Aside from that, I've always had a soft spot for south american cichlids.

 

[robertmarda]

trent: that is cool about your pleco. I have wanted to feed my 12 inch long pleco by hand but that fish always moves away from my hand. It comes to the surface once in a while, but usually it just waits for the sinking food to fall on its head.

unicorn2tears: That is cool about your black ghost knife. I think I had heard they preferred to hide out.

still: I didn't know goldfish would eat from a persons hands.

LittlePuff: I have considered puffers before. So what exactly does he do that is like a puppy?

Also, I didn't mean to imply to limit this thread to community fish only. I am interested in all fish behavior. I have an aggressive tank right now and plan to keep it. In it I have a red devil that takes food from my fingers.

If it didn't take so long to get a degree I think I would enjoy being a marine biologist.

 

[Menagerie]

Cories are fun for a few reasons~
~they are little and cute (this may not be a reason for everyone)
~they are always active looking for food in the substrate
~they eat off the plants--not the plants themselves--it's fun to watch my little guys go back and forth along a leaf

Loaches are inquisitive. I currently have yo-yo and khuli loaches. Yo-yos are more visible in the tank and chase each other around. They also have great feeding behavior. With their long mouths, they can get into the gravel unlike the other fish. Khulis are less visible in the tank and generally a bit timid. However, it is wonderful to see them slide along the bottom of the tank amongst plants and other fish to get what they want.

I do not keep fish for their interactions with me, but their interactions with each other. Dwarf cichlids have a great way of socializing with each other. My larger cichlids are fun to watch as they find thinks to fight over and chase each other around. I love when the chasee becomes the chaser.

Finally, a bit on Badis badis. They love food (all fish love food, but these guys are funny). In the wild they eat things that hit the water's surface. Therefore, they spend the majority of their time near the top of the tank swimming almost vertically.

Oh! And I won't get started on bumble bee gobies!

All of these fish can be seen in my gallery~pics do not do their personalities justice, but they sure are pretty!

 

[robertmarda]

Due to the recent loss of fish in our 20 gallon tank at work (which I am sure is due to my lack of checking parameters on a regular basis and something I plan not to repeat) it appears I will be getting community fish sooner than I thought.

A coworker of mine suggested gobies too. He says the use two of their fins to perch on a rock like a bird.

It appears the only fish that is going to survive in this tank is the molly.

Can I keep gobies and cories together in the same tank? How long can badis badis grow?

Can dwarf cichlids be kept with convict cichlids?

Do I need live plants for any of these fish that you (Menagerie) have mentioned?

 

[Menagerie]

Bumble bee gobies are brackish water fish. You can keep them and Mollies in the same tank. The cories would not do well.

Badis badis only get 1-2" I have seen some sites say they get up to 3" I'm not holding my breath with mine. Badis prefer soft water. My Badis tank is full of natural wood and low light plants. I am really impressed with how easy low loght plants are to keep alive! Dwarf cichlids like planted tanks as well. I would not mix convicts with dwarf cichlids.

A Badis tank with cories would be fine. I have pygmy cories with my Badis.

 

[BASSNMAN]

I have a 6 inch pleco in one tank that will swim upside down on the surface, vaccuming up the flake food. None of my others(5) do that.

 

[cheezysquirrelz]

Bettas are awesome!!!!!!!! 8) Whenever I walk by all mine do the "happy dance" They are so interesting and all have unique crazy personalities.


Angelfish are also great. i had 2. I just had to put 1 to sleep due to Tuberculosis. He was the best!!!! he would jump out of the water to take food from my fingers. He was always hungry and would even eat shrimp pellets (whole!!) that I put in for the loach. I'll never forget my best buddy Calvin the calico angel.

 

[trent]

I have a 6 inch pleco in one tank that will swim upside down on the surface, vaccuming up the flake food. None of my others(5) do that.

isnt it the funniet thing.