Fish Recognizing me

[ConanTheLibraia]

My Rats, are directly across from my aquarium. Whenever I walk in my room my rats normally start squeaking for me to feed them or play with them, but I have noticed, that when I come in my room, my fish do the exact same thing. Do you think my fish actually know its me, or have they just memorized that I feed them about 5 every day?

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

Oh yea thats one of my rats, Bill.

 

[reefrunner69]

They recognize the bringer of food, they can't tell time, so they should react that way whenever you walk in the room.

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

I hear that a goldfishes memory is somthing like 7 seconds, is it similar with other fish? If so then I doubt they could remember whats what.

 

[Jacob Morgan]

isnt' that temp mem, if u pound it in there head enuf times they remember for good

Our fish seem to know when we are fixen to feed, he (the big oscar) Sees the bag and gets all anxious. My dad also used ot have htem trained he'd tap on the lid and all the lil fish come up to the top to get food.

I think they do remember you.

 

[shawmutt]

I always question the whole memory thing. How does someone go about telling something has a memory for 7 seconds, or a minute, or an hour? Maybe the fish just decide there's not many things important enough to remember. I know that everytime I came near my tank in the past, my fish used to hide and keep hidden until I fed them and left, now when they see me they rush to the right side of my tank, where my powerfilter pushes the food down. I also watched this show on animal planet where sharks (I know, there not fish, but...) would hear the sound of a powerboat and rush over because they "knew" people were diving to feed them. I'm pretty sure that takes some kind of intellegent memory. I like to think my fish actually have a religion where they worship me as the Food Bringer, and gather at the holy place at the prescribed time to recieve food from heaven. " (OK...so I have a very active imagination )

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

I know this is going off topic but just thought I would share, just the other day I heard about these crows in Japan, they were so smart that they would drop their nuts on the road for cars to run them over and crack them, and at a red light they would swoop down and recover their food, fully prepared for them.

 

[alrmc4]

maybe they can't read a clock but mine swim straight up looking at the top of the water at 7 they know it is feeding time. maybe like us they get used to eating at a regular time? don't know but happens everytime.

 

[littlelouie]

My exp is that fish know what's doing. I even have my platy that is in a bowl practically yell at me if I go 1 minute past 8am. I am on a strict feeding program

Even my new tank of fish are beginning to get used to the feeding time.

MHO
Louise

 

[fishfreek]

The fish might be reacting to vibration or just movement in the room. One way to test this would be to have the lights in the room totally off and the only lights on are those in the tank.

This in essence should blind the fish from seeing to far away from the tank. Kind of like if your on stage and you cant see the audiance cause of all the stage lighting.

then you can leave the room and walk back in like you normally would after a period of time and see if you get a reaction. You could repeat this step with the room lights on to see if you get a different reaction. You could try to have your dad or someone else enter the room like you would and see if they react to the vibration of the steps on the floor or the movment of something infront of their tank.

I think fish are like the dogs in that socology expermint by pavlov (sp?). They get trained to respond to a condition. You or anyone else for that fact infront of the tank usually = food so they act accordingly when someone is infront of the tank. This is possibly one of the reasons beginners always feel their fish are hungery cause every time they look at them they are all over the front of the tank and top.


Note: these are just my observations and views. They may hold no water at all. (pun intended)

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

I heard fish can't detect red light, is this true? If it is then that would be useful during an experiment like what fishfreek was suggesting.

 

[fishfreek]

Well usually the red light is used to look in the tank at night when the lights are off to observe night time behavor. Not sure how a redlight would be used in my experment.

For those of you looking for science fair projects this might be in interesting one to do.

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

For your experiment, Instead of turning off the lights, you could use a redlight. This nightime redlight thing seems interesting, does it have to be a certian type of light, or could it be as simple as one of those red fiesta lightbulbs they have in supermarkets?

 

[reefrunner69]

I have read time and time again that fish and critters don't see red light. This is not my experience, I have spent plenty of nights watching my fish chase a red laser beam, and when I go night diving with a flashlight with a red lens...everythig seems to be disturbed by it.

 

[rvijay07]

I hear that a goldfishes memory is somthing like 7 seconds, is it similar with other fish? If so then I doubt they could remember whats what.

This is a myth. There has been no scientific research done in this regard. This is not a well investigated rock solid fact. Last, time I heard it, someone said it is like 3 seconds.

If their memory is so short, how come they recognize the person who brings food everyday ? Also, some gold fish know a net and run away from it when they see it. my gold fish recognize treats like worms and are excited when they see them.

This myth in my opinion was started by someone either who had no knowldge about Gold Fish or had them but didn't observe them carefully.
Next time someone comments on the memory time span of a gold fish, challenge them on this fact. Ask them what is the source of this information ?

Vijay

 

[steve-s]

I have read time and time again that fish and critters don't see red light. This is not my experience, I have spent plenty of nights watching my fish chase a red laser beam, and when I go night diving with a flashlight with a red lens...everythig seems to be disturbed by it.

I agree with that one. I have "night shot" on my DV recorder and I tried using it once. Everything freeked, even the serpent star retreated 8O

Cheers
Steve

 

[purplestarfish]

Most fish don't recognize you per se, unless they're like Oscars and feed from your hand. Fish recognize the vibrations in the water caused by your walking (similar to what fishfreek said). Presumably, they increase as you draw nearer to the tank, so that helps. I know this for a fact! My tiger barbs would often get excited when I entered the room because they associated my footsteps with being fed. However, one time, I hurt my foot and was limping, and when I entered the room, they all shied away to the opposite end of the tank. When my walking returned to normal a few days later, they greeted me, waiting to be fed. Fish do have a little biological clock implanted in them, so if you feed them every day at a fixed time, they recognize that time and expect to be fed, even when you're running late. Sort of like my cats . . . one of them rouses herself from her sleep every day a little while before my mother comes home (my mother feeds the cats) or when it's actual feeding time. They come to expect things at a certain time, and the cats are nice and vocal when they think you're not quick enough on your toes to feed them! So the fish are probably doing the same. I can't speak from experience with the fish, though; my school schedule was too hectic to fix a time to feed them. So although they may not recognize YOU, they do recognize the signs that accompany being fed. Unfortunately, I'm stuck on the idea that my fish are actually semi-intelligent . . . At least it's nice to know that they HAVE a memory, however small it may be! And I didn't even know the rumors about red lights . . . I did read, though, that some animals can see only red, black, and white. One time, I was playing a computer game, and my cat was attracted to the red objects and ignored the rest . . . any ideas? I thought they were colorblind! Oh well. All these rumors and ideas and no one to prove them for once and for all!

 

[rvijay07]

My experience has been different. When I am sitting in my chair, but all of a sudden show the food packet to my betta, he gets excited. Other times, I also move in my chair in proximity to my Betta, however, he doesn't respond.

I am sure that fish also respond to vibrations and that they also have a biological clock. (Who wants to be fed late ? )

However, concrete scientific proof would be needed to establish one way or the other. I believe it is a combination of all the factors.

Vijay

 

[Allivymar]

I have no doubts fish have memories, and that their visual systems work pretty darn good too.

I normally feed the fish. The angels see me moving in the room (anywhere) and they're near the top begging for food. Hubby doesn't feed them, but we had a snail infestation a while back. He would smoosh the snails for them. When they saw him, they wouldn't swim to the top of the tank; they would swim up and knock snails off the tank walls. He would smoosh the snails with an old Dave n Busters card (like a credit card). If they saw the CARD they'd go snail hunting.

We got loaches and now no more snails. The angels could care less about the hubby now UNLESS he leans down in front of the tank (the food is kept on a shelf below the tank). Then they get all excited even tho he doesn't feed them.

 

[rvijay07]

Excellent post. Thanks for sharing. Snail hunting is very smart indeed.