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Least intelligent? I think you've been keeping the wrong fish, Vic. And I think differentiating color and shape are, in fact, pretty smart - and not the least of what fish can do. Can you blow a nest of bubbles? Spit water and knock an insect off its perch from five feet away? Dig a territory by flapping your tail? Differentiate, in muddy water, between friend and foe, receptive female or dangerous male? Fish have been shown to recognize family members after years apart, which even some humans have trouble with.

-Molly
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what does it matter how smart they are? I think its cool that they know me and don't really appreciate my wife (they have good taste ). don't really need them to jump through hoops, they're fish after all.

"first off no caps second who cares a human is the most intelligent thing on earth"
-Actually it has been proven that Dolphins have superior intelligence beyond that of humans,so much so that we cant even figure out how much intelligence for now. So much for human intelligence.
Look at Wars for example- A prime example of just how Stupid the human race is if you ask me. (no offense to people who fight the wars- they dont choose to start the war in the first place A+ to all soldiers )
Fish have proven to be incredibly intelligent.They have advanced memory's, being able to remember a family member even years after being seperated, can work through puzzles- clearly showing problem solving skills, and have complex social organization. I would say I envy our aquarium kept fish in many ways, such a simple life, just swim, eat, socialize, play with the tennis ball Oscar- good oscar, shake a fin at the other gender now and then, and hope they dont get sick. What more can you ask for in life?
When you start saying fish are the least intelligent, look at some of the Humans you know and compare, Id bet youd would find some people who definetly are lower on the IQ scale than your fish.
I know I can find some around here.
Remember the old saying "Man is the measure of all things" was only outdated about 200 years ago, please, get with the times.
Man sure aint the measure of much, at least not verbs I can think of that are pleasant. And chances are, the fish will still be there, long after we have killed each other into extinction.


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YOUR ALL WRONG THE SMARTEST ANIMAL IN THE WORLD IN COMPARISON TO ITS BODY WEIGHT IS THE ELEPHANT NOSE ITS BRAIN WEIGHS 3% OF ITS BODY WEIGHT AND PEOPLES BRAINS WEIGH ONLY 2.3% OF THERE BODY WEIGHT

first off no caps second who cares a human is the most intelligent thing on earth ALL THESE TRICKS REQUIRE HUMANS TO PREFORM THEM. we dont need fish to teach us tricks. 3rd who cares about body weight besides that could be differnent for other people some may be skinnier than other people and so there brain may weigh 2.7% of their body weight. Same for fish and intelliegence. Most human are intelliegent to some extenent I may be smarter than my friend and mabe only 2.0% percent of my body weight is my brain. Some people are smarter than other some fish are smarter than others.

Fish have been shown to recognize family members after years apart, which even some humans have trouble with.

Like any animal, training a fish to do tricks is about reinforcing their natural behaviour until they do it in response to a stimulus. Same as any animal really. Including boyfriends.

I think there are some benefits to teaching your fish to do 'tricks'. Firstly it's good to give them some challenges and mental stimulation if they're cooped up in their tank all day. Secondly they might actually be training us! If you have a way of positively interacting with your pet, then you're more likely to look after it well and not neglect it. Since a fish in a tank is totally dependent on its human for its needs, it makes sense for it to play with us and keep us amused.

Yes, i keep some pretty stupid fish (common plecos, and gouramis)

Actually, gouramis (and all Perciforms) are very intelligent as far as fish go. Catfish on the other hand seem to be pretty dumb...

I've "trained" a couple of fish at the store (and they only do it with me). I've trained a South American leaf fish to take guppies out of my fingers, and I've also trained some peacock gudgeons to jump out of the water to take food out of my hand (they also let me pet them).

It might not sound like much, but just remember that these fish have many millions of years worth of evolution telling them to flee from creatures our size! I consider it a major feat that these animals overcome that fear and learn (yes, learn) to respond to us in a positive manner.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I've heard Paradisefish can be trained to jump thru hoops

Generally fish are a bit smarter then we think, but it almost always comes down to food.

Mine learned pretty quickly the sound of the aquarium stand drawer opening meant dinner time. If I open the drwaer they swarm to the surface from all over the tank. But then I noticed that they would congregate at the surface at about 7am each evening and 7am each morning (usual feeding time) and stare up at the surface waiting for the food, so they seem to have some kind of internal biological clock. They now also react (in a happy way) when I open the door and enter the room at anytime regardless of the time of day.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Least intelligent? I think you've been keeping the wrong fish, Vic. And I think differentiating color and shape are, in fact, pretty smart - and not the least of what fish can do. Can you blow a nest of bubbles? Spit water and knock an insect off its perch from five feet away? Dig a territory by flapping your tail? Differentiate, in muddy water, between friend and foe, receptive female or dangerous male? Fish have been shown to recognize family members after years apart, which even some humans have trouble with.


I have watched and read on subjects like this.

Yes, i keep some pretty stupid fish (common plecos, and gouramis)

Anyways, what you said.. it is the fish's way of life. It was the way it was built.

the thing is, instincts are what teach any animal to do "tricks." look at herding dogs - they're bred to do just that. Shaking, begging, or sitting on command, that is all trained because they want a treat or play time. tricks are pretty much bringing out whatever trait in an animal that you want by giving it incentive. a cat sits all the time, right? but it wasn't until i taught my cat to sit on command that it counted as a trick. does this make sense?

The pottery that growls!

As far as intellegence goes, in refference to brain size, it is not the size of the brain that determines this, but the amount of wrinkles and ridges on the brain. The more wrinkles, the more intellegence.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Anyone who own's Oscars will disagree with the first statement. However, are we truely training them to do tricks? It may be that most "tricks" are in fact their natural instincts. For example, my 12" Oscar and I play catch using a ping-pong ball. Pretty cool. However, if you look at that action a bit closer....something floating on the surface of the water appears like food and they HIT it hard causing the ball to fly out of the tank.

No for the other side. Do fish have a personality - absolutely - again just ask an Oscar owner. My Oscar certainly recognizes and greets me when I enter the room. Again - could this be instinctive? Are we just a source of food? Hmmmmmmm......

So do I believe in teaching fish tricks - hmmmmm....wellll maybe.

Afterall, they don't call Oscars "Waterdogs" for nothing.

Hmmmmmm....

Fins

Hi, just wondering what ppl have taught their fish to do. My rams and angels are eating out of my hand which is kinda cool so it got me thinking about what else you could teach them. Thanks!

i didnt argue against their intelligence, i just said that they are the least intellegent.

No offence, but i dont call holding a cap to the fish a trick. But that is my opinion.

Er ... OK. First off, while brain size does correlate to intelligence it's not by any means the be all and end all. Plus, who measures Elephant Nose brains? And of course, only one response argued against the intelligence of fish; most of us were on the pro side. No need to shout, we agree fish are smart!

-Molly
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YOUR ALL WRONG THE SMARTEST ANIMAL IN THE WORLD IN COMPARISON TO ITS BODY WEIGHT IS THE ELEPHANT NOSE ITS BRAIN WEIGHS 3% OF ITS BODY WEIGHT AND PEOPLES BRAINS WEIGH ONLY 2.3% OF THERE BODY WEIGHT

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

I've trained my bettas to come to the top front part of the tank when I tap on it three times quickly. They know that I'll feed them every time I do so.

I used to have a JD that was always scared of people he didn't know, and he wouldn't accept food from them unless I fed him while they were in the room first...then he'd accept food from them even when I wasn't in the room.

It's not too hard to train fish to do things...it's just like training a dog

I had a 2 ft lererius memorantus cat, if you knocked on the tank/pond would sit with its mouth out of the water so you could pour pelet food or bag feeders right in, it would sit there until you stop feeding it.

I have a friend of mine that has a breedin pair of Dovii (wolf cichlid), that do tricks. But they are said to be the smartest of all fish. Anyhow, he has a little red light weight ball about 2 inches in diameter, that he throws into the top of the tank. The male always, and the female sometimes, will hit it out of the tank using their mouth. They will do this for hours. At first they had no control, and the ball would go anywhere, but after a lot of training, they now knock it right out of the tank, and back towards my friend.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I wouldn't call this a trick, but Zoe, the angel here at the office can tell certain people from others. 2 of the guys come in and talk to her and she gets all excited to see them and does what I call a shimmy. One feeds her (on the sly) and the other doesn't so it isn't always about food. The other 8 guys come in and she could care less and usually hides. There has to be some intelligence there.

Steph

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Well, that's not true ... first off, they recently proved (I'll look up the article) that in certain capacities the intelligence of a Blind Cave Tetra, not exactly famed for its brain, surpasses that of a dog.
Cichlids are famously intelligent, from raising their own young to building nests to interacting with their owners.


Here's a fun trick for the Angel and Ram: learning colors and shapes. The basics are, you hold up two different lids (or whatever) every day before you feed them. When they swim towards the correct lid, you feed them. Eventually you wait until they're touching the glass where that lid is before you feed them. Now switch up the positions of the lids and see if it still works.
Research says they can differentiate between colors and shapes but can't count - that is, they can pick out a red lid, or a round one, but not three little lids versus a single big lid, or something like that. Try and disprove that!

-Molly
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