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Thanks Shinigami, I agree with you on that aswell, fish seem to have a sixth sense about them when people are near the tanks. I have friends over who never monitored their children near the tanks (they were soon told) now though whenever kids are around my fish go into hiding even if the kids haven't gone it the room with them. Could they possibly hear them. I know they say that fish only have either 3 or 5 second memory span but i'd swear my fish remember these brats tapping on their tank that time.
Also DaFishMan my glass is constantly clean because i've got a sailfin pleco who devours all in her sight so i'm sure they can see us when their on the right angle as i now know thanks to all you clever people here at FP

Yes, they can. FOr instance, when all my fish are feeding ..a few inches from the glass, and I am sitting motionless in my chair with my face about 1-2 ft from the glass..and I slightly move..the cories scatter. And my oscars I had recognized me..and hid when my son was around.

I do not think you would get so much of a "mirrored" area in the tank. It would just be distorted, and it would be distorted the same amount no matter where you are in the tank.

At one the lfs here in town they have a big tank with random ( I think it is malawi) cichlids. When you stand at one of the tank they all swim toward you and then when you move to the other end all the fish will swim toward that end.

Fish can see through the glass.

I'm sure they can not only see out but differentiate between people. They hide when strangers or non family members walk into the room but let me or my son arrive and they are doing the "feed me!" dance.

mak

Firstly Mn_Rick it has come close many a time to shoving his head in, the only problem being it would probably be dunked 3 times and only bought out twice
Also victimizati0n & Sneaky_Pete i too agree with you my Salmon catfish are always up the top of the tank when i walk into the room and swim up and down the tank following me.
Silverlight thanks for the information on their vision i didn't realise this happened but atleast we still know that to a degree and depending on what angle they can still see us.
So thank you every one for helping to solve this great mystery (well in our home anyway)

There is no doubt whatsoever that fish can see out of the tank. The water-glass-air interface doesn't cause total reflection except at very steep angles.

A fish - or a human - in water, confronted with an infinite glass wall with air on the other side, will see a large circular region of the glass that is transparent, and beyond the circle will be like a mirror. No matter where you went, that circular region would fill the same area on your vision. That's because it's based on the angle at which total reflection occurs. If you could swim freely, it would probably be a very disturbing effect, since the circle would "follow" you around, expanding as you got further from the glass, and contracting as you got closer.

It should be true, though, that a very dark room combined with a very bright aquarium results in fish that see reflections rather than the room, because the aquarium is so bright that even its very dim reflection is brighter than a dark room.


[span class="edited"][Edited by Silverlight 2004-08-18 23:48][/span]

I agree, fish can definetly see, and recognize different people. My Angelfish- Sneaky Pete, sees me, and swims to the glass and waits for food. When my boyfriend comes in the room, Pete zooms over to him and does this cute little dance for him. Its definetly steves fish, not mine! He wont dance for me, unless I show him the frozen food as its thawing, but he always dances for steve.


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when we were cleaning my rugs, and moving my downstairs around, my pleco watched us all night/day.

When we walked near him, he would get scares, and turn lighter in color in some spots.

Stuff Hubby's head in the tank and see if he can see out

and don't let him back up till he agrees.

Jason

ps. j/k

I know how to solve this argument: Stuff Hubby's head in the tank and see if he can see out ]]]

Thanks again at the moment i think we've agreed on a compromise to this debate however every one has given us such alot of information that we hadn't even thought of, that for a while there it did add a bit more enjoyment to an old debate for us.....lol
Thanks again to everyone.

I am 100% sure my fish can see me. I used to have a midas cichlid that would follow me as I slowly moved length-wise from one side of her tank (6' 125 gallons) to the other. She would move as slowly or as quickly as I did.

Jason

Not only can they see outside the tank, my fish recognize me, too. Now, I'm sure they can tell the difference in vibrations between my toothpick of a sister and myself, but once we stop moving, they're all over by me.

My betta girls will watch me if I'm in the room, even if I'm not moving. They see me when I wake up (on weekends mostly, when I wake up late and their tank light is already on) and will immediately crowd over to the side of the tank (the tank is along the wall at the foot of my bed) and check to make sure if I'm really up. They watch me as I move around my room feeding other tanks and will stare down at me if I'm sitting in front of the ten gallon, which is on the lower shelf of their stand. (They get very jealous if I sit down there watching the guppies for too long. )

They also follow my finger along the glass, even if I don't touch the glass. (You can also do this at you LFS, usually with guppies, mollies, swordies...) They can see me as I enter the room, about ten feet away. I don't think this is a result of vibrations, as I can peek my head around the doorway and watch them before they see me. As soon as I actually move into the doorway, they all crowd to the front of the glass.

Of course, this is mostly just my betta girls, none of the other fish seem quite as attuned to where I am. I must admit that it's quite amusing to turn around when working at my computer or elsewhere in my room and see all six girls at the side of the tank closest to me.

So, yes, they can see outside the tank. However, if it's dark in the room and the light is on inside the tank, they get a mirror reflection. My betta boys HATE that.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

lol, I am 90% positive my fish can see me. My Oscars have a fetish of Hikari Gold Cichlid pellets and when I raise the big juicy bag for them to see, it drive them nuts and get them excited. No vibration can do that. Hope that helps

My husband and i have been getting into quite heated discussions lately. Here's how who see's what!
My husband believes that fish cannot see out of the fish tank. His reasoning is that if we lean over the tank and look through all we get is a mirror effect.
I believe fish can see out of the tank, because when i walk up to the tank to them they come to the tank as if to acknowlege me. My husband says this is only because they can feel the vibrations.

Can any one pleassssse help as we get into this debate quite frequently, and have again tonight with visitors here all taking different sides.

Yes, fish can see past the tank wall, but like someone said, it depends on lighting, also how clean the glass is.
My oscar tank is in the living room. The second I walk in the kitchen it knows someone is there and starts to wiggle.
This is maybe a 10 foot distance or so.

The Amazon Nut...

I have been swimming and at times haven't seen the sky. But before i forget thank you for forgetting the formula to where total internal reflection occurs as i'm sure we'd be sitting there tomorrow figuring it out for him to say "there i told you".... with a very satisfied grin

My belief is under most circumstances a fish can indeed see through the glass because they respond to my presence, not my movement.

[span class="edited"][Edited by Shinigami 2004-08-16 12:35][/span]

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.