I love this! I am sure fish are tremendously underestimated in what they think and feel.
I am fascinated by fish intelligence. I know I've written here a million times about my aquabridge between two tanks and how I consider it a measure of a type of intelligence. I am convinced, for example, that tetras and corycats are less intelligent than bettas and gouramis, since they never learn to use the bridge (with the exception of one very smart neon tetra who would go back and forth and rejoin his group).
Anyway, I had a disaster during the winter--lengthy power outage and lost a bunch of fish, so most of my remaining fish are all living in one tank now, a 55-gallon. I still have the two 29-gallons running, though, connected by the bridge. A couple of months ago I rescued two gold algae eaters. I initially put them in the 55 with the other fish, but they have a troublesome habit of trying to attach to the sides of the fish. I am trying to rehome them, but, in the meantime, I put them in the bridged tanks with some snails who live there. I was surprised that they immediately figured out the bridge--in fact, faster than any other fish I've had. They saw it and began using it right away, and very purposefully. Every fish I've had until now has taken a while to explore it warily (maybe the wariness is a sign of intelligence itself...) and then figure out how to use it. I would not have guessed that algae eaters would be so smart.
