Clicker Training & Tricks

[fishweed]

Clicker training was designed for dolphin training. I know that it is used for a number of different species including children, dogs, horses and rats. Has anyone tried training their fish to do anything?

 

[azn dreamer]

8O ...Haven't even tried, i think that fish have a really bad memory so i dunno if they can be trained :?

 

[RogerMcAllen]

They can be trained to come for feeding. My dad had the idea of banging the food container on the concrete before feeding the comets in my pond. After a while, they would start to come to the surface after the banging even if no food was given. Nowadays when they see me comming they all go to the surface expecting food.

 

[ShyGecko]

When my husband and I were dating, he had a pet Pirhana, and he had it trained to do a trick although I don't think he used a clicker to do so. Anytime he brought a box of Cocoa Puffs to the tank, the Pirhana would flip upside down and float like it was dead, until you threw a Cocoa Puff into the tank, then he'd flip out of the water and grab it. It was impressive. He surely was coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs! LOL He loved those things. LOL

 

[Allivymar]

It should work, at least in the case of coming up to feed. Sort of a Pavlovian response (like Roger mentioned). Auditory and visual cues work well. My guys (angelfish) know the diff between my husband and I and act accordingly. I feed them; whenever they see me they rise to the top of the tank. He smooshes snails for them (or did till I got clown loaches *grin*). When they saw him they would swim towards the nearest snail and "point it out".

I would love to know how your hubby trained the piranha to flip over tho ShyGecko! Its one thing to train to a natural behavior, LOL but flipping over? Thats pretty amazing LOL

 

[azn dreamer]

I would say that the fish coming to the surface when its feeding time is like a routine not really a trick :?

 

[d9hp]

Ya, thats not a trick, it does not take training, just time

 

[Allivymar]

But that IS training Most animal tricks (and some human LOL) are. Positive reinforcement of a wanted behavior is how most animals are trained. They do a behavior you want, you reward it. They learn to connect the behavior with the reward and you can control the behavior. They do a behavior you don't want, and you ignore / don't reward it.

I work with handicapped kids, and we use a similar system to teach them basic skills (like drinking and eating and writing and such). We take the behaviors they already have, guide them into more appropriate and proper ways of doing things, and reward them (praise, a game, a cookie, whatever it takes). If they revert to the inappropriate way, no response.

Its all a matter of association. My ex had a 95 gallon tank he was setting up for a salt tank and had some mollies in there. He would always peer into the tank before feeding them. They learned a face at the tank meant food, so if *I* put my face to the tank they'd swarm over. If I ran to the other side of the tank and stuck my face there they'd swarm back. I never fed them, but they learned to anticipate a reward if they saw the trigger (a face). Clicker training is the same system; when they start clicker training it is combined with a positive reinforcement; usually food. The food is phased out and the clicker remains.