Comunicating with your fish. Anybody?

by **Peterkarig3210** » Tue May 06, 2008 4:48 am

I know my fish can see me as well as I can see them, and I've noticed that if I spend some time every day looking at them and moving my mouth and head as if talking, or actually talking, and getting my face and eyes really close to the tank and following them with my face as they move around the tank, that they become much more friendly toward me. My pleco actually comes to the front of the tank when I start making mouthing gestures toward it and the pleco does not associate me with food as the other fish do.

The pleco is about 7 inches long and actually seems to notice when I am looking at him/her as opposed to looking at another fish in the tank. It gets exited and moves in a more animated way.

The gars are even more sensitive to my eyes. They have a black stripe going horizontally though their eyes and it's hard to see the actual eye ball, but when I do focus on the eye ball they seem to realise they've been "spotted" and are not fooling me and they usually come out of whatever hiding place they may have been in if they are in an "ambush" like place.

Anybody else have interactions with their fish like this?

by **Tmercier834747** » Tue May 06, 2008 1:22 pm

Blimpie never fails to give me the indication that his smaller-than-a-pea sized brain is on par with the ''personality'' and ''intellect'' of many chiclids. I've never dealt with chiclids myself but as I understand it they're very personable fish. My girlfriend and I are entertained and shocked by this little fish almost every day. There's the simple moments when you know all that's on his mind when he see's me from 8 feet away with the tank light off as I walk in from work (no joke) and propels himself up to the glass and waves side to side frantically he's saying 'FEED ME' but that's just the tip of the iceburg. He'll actually watch and inspect my actions when I siphon the tank now, just to make sure I'm doing it right and the same way every time.

by **Peterkarig3210** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:52 pm

Blimbie is a great name for a puffer. I like to see the different temperaments and maybe different levels of human/fish interactions each kind of fish has.

by **Snowboss4492** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:56 pm

my 3 clowns just kinda do their clown thing unless i get up in the glass then they start doing their clown dances "up" "down" "up "down" and they will follow my finger left, right, up and down ..... i can even drop a pellet or two in there and they stay interacting with me until i back up a little then its a race to the food......Ean, Amillia and Mo are their names .....great litte fish .....and my hermit just wants to kick my ass most of the time................he comes up to the glass and raises the claws as if to let me know that the wet areas are his ......lol

Snowboss

by **gumbii** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:47 am

i don't talk to the fish... but i had a flying fox that would love attention... he would chase the other fish away from the glass so he would get all of the looks and swim around all happy...

by **Zambize4899** » Wed May 07, 2008 6:18 am

Yep, I seem to develop relationships with Bettas. They look me right in the eye and follow me carefully. If I really interact, they will sometimes flare and wrap their fins around. Most of them can tell if I'm approaching with food, or without. Some people think it's a creepy relationship with a fish, but it's certainly no worse than dying your poodle pink.

Zambize

by **Peterkarig3210** » Wed May 07, 2008 6:00 pm

I don't think it's creepy at all. I think it adds to the fishes lives to interact with humans.

by **Ryule1105** » Wed May 07, 2008 6:50 pm

I talk to my fish, and particularly my snail, an awful lot. I watch them for hours, so its natural that I will talk to them, even its as simple as something like "You're a crazy bugger!"

My betta (Joejoe) and my snail (Lewie) are the two I talk to the most. Their tank is right beside my computer screen, so they often get a lot of my attention. Lewie is definitely my favourite animal I own. Snails move and act on a totally different level than fish.

by **Peterkarig3210** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:31 am

I lost my biggest ramshorn snail last night, but it died saving others, so though I'm sad, I guess I can say it led a good life. It was the sole ramshorn left in my aqua worlds and it gave birth to the population I have now. The sponge filter fell off the canister filter intake in my new hight light planted co2 enriched tank and there was a big open intake that could have sucked in many fish by the time I found it this morning, but the old ramshorn got sucked in and it plugged the pipe. Problem is, the other line going into the filter was a co2 line that goes to a gallon jug full of yeast, sugar, and water. With the main pipe plugged the filter sucked at the co2 container and sucked half a gallon of the mixture into my tank. This morning I woke to a tank full of bubbles smelling like beer! At least everybody was alive and the only death was the poor snail.

Anyhow, I like this topic.

My 100 gallon gar tank is right next to my computer too, and there's always a 12 inch alligator like gar keeping it's eye on me. The other 2 usually are around too, but they're not as focused on waiting for me to feed them as the big one is. It's probably a female, and it wants food now but I'll wait till tomorrow to feed it. I let them have their fill every 2 days and I think that's about right for them.

by **Tmercier834747** » Sun May 11, 2008 2:37 pm

Heh, it'd be fun to see your gars in person PK. They seem so out-of-this-world, stone-age-ish. Let's hear some accounts from folks with cichlids. I'm sure someone must have some inteteresting Jack Dempseys or Convicts with some attitude and personality. :)

Comunicating with your fish. Anybody?

14 posts • Page 1 of 2