Can Fish Swim Backwards?
- Thread starter fitzyboy
- Start date
The April FOTM Contest Poll is open!
🏆 Click to vote! 🏆
also some of the fish seem to be breathin quite fast i was wondering if that is normal? thnxsquishy_1984
Fish Crazy
i know swordtails can swim backwards, very quickly at that
Phoenixfish
Fishaholic
ive heard that sharks cant they suffurcat or drown or something
my sword tails are fine i was just wondering if they was il
blitztidus
Spirited Away
If the fish are breathing that fast, is their enough bubbles in the tank for them to breath in?
andywg
Bored into leaving
Most fish can't breathe air from bubbles and obtain oxygen from either passing water over their gills, or through taking air on from the surface and utilising internal organs.
bubbles are not great for oxygenation as they are not in contact witht he water long enough to allow a gas exchange. They create some surface agitation to aid gas exchange, but this is far better achieved through the placement of a powerhead or a filter outlet.
:
Iron Man
Fish Addict
When I first put my Silver Dollars in the tank...they did both of those things!
They would slowly go through caves to see if they could fit, and if not...would slowly and carefully back out. Also..they were really panicked when first letting them out into the tank (Silver Dollar just naturally panic over things) and I've never seen fish breathe so hard.
But if your fish have labored breathing all the time something is wrong with the oxygen consentration in your water....or you might have a sick fish, or both.
They would slowly go through caves to see if they could fit, and if not...would slowly and carefully back out. Also..they were really panicked when first letting them out into the tank (Silver Dollar just naturally panic over things) and I've never seen fish breathe so hard.
But if your fish have labored breathing all the time something is wrong with the oxygen consentration in your water....or you might have a sick fish, or both.
guppies can to try and impress the female
Fish swim by passing a wave through their bodies. In 1960, Lighthill showed, in some simplified analysis, that in order for a fish to move at speed x, the wave in their bodies has to move at speed (5/4)x.
What is really interesting is that in this analysis, the fish is treated as just a flexible line, what that really means is all the fins, including the tail, are not needed for locomotion. There are a few species of fish that are pectoral swimmers, but most fish use oscillations. In fish, they are side to side oscillations, dolphins use up and down oscillations.
Finally, back to the original question, sure fish can swim backwards. The analysis by Lighthill does not presuppose a direction. All the fish has to do is make the wave travel in the opposite direction along its body.
What is really interesting is that in this analysis, the fish is treated as just a flexible line, what that really means is all the fins, including the tail, are not needed for locomotion. There are a few species of fish that are pectoral swimmers, but most fish use oscillations. In fish, they are side to side oscillations, dolphins use up and down oscillations.
Finally, back to the original question, sure fish can swim backwards. The analysis by Lighthill does not presuppose a direction. All the fish has to do is make the wave travel in the opposite direction along its body.
my gouramis swim backwards
with "breathing" alot (looks more like alot of gasping) i had one bad incident at the start of my aquarist hobby that turned out to be mouth fungus.
however, common ones are temperture too high, resulting in lower oxygen content in the water for the particular species or not enough surface agitation to promote carbon/oxygen transfer.
Upon saying that, my female gourami breathes alot more regularly than any of my other fish, inc the male gourami but seems in perfect health, has been for 2 weeks now. so im no longer worrying so much. i continue to watch though for any changes. though he is causing a more pressing moment by stealing my plants and taking them into a cave to munch on *grr*
with "breathing" alot (looks more like alot of gasping) i had one bad incident at the start of my aquarist hobby that turned out to be mouth fungus.
however, common ones are temperture too high, resulting in lower oxygen content in the water for the particular species or not enough surface agitation to promote carbon/oxygen transfer.
Upon saying that, my female gourami breathes alot more regularly than any of my other fish, inc the male gourami but seems in perfect health, has been for 2 weeks now. so im no longer worrying so much. i continue to watch though for any changes. though he is causing a more pressing moment by stealing my plants and taking them into a cave to munch on *grr*
The degree of the ability to go backwards (and willingness to do so) is going to depend on the species, and the level of the species' requirement to go backwards in it's natural environment.
It would seem on the surface of it like a bit of an evolutionary mistake to have absolutely no way at all of going backwards- one wrong turn and it'd be the end of you! There might be a fish somewhere that 100%can't though. Anyone?
@ Bignose, that's very interesting information!
On the topic of oscilliatory (sp?) vs pectoral swimming, and purely from my own observation, it seems to me that most fish in the aquarium trade are incapable of reversing the oscillations along their body (presumably due to muscle structure), and do resort to pectoral swimming (or at least a combination of the two methods) in order to reverse- the knife fish being an obvious exception, and they do spend as much time going in one direction as the other.
It would seem on the surface of it like a bit of an evolutionary mistake to have absolutely no way at all of going backwards- one wrong turn and it'd be the end of you! There might be a fish somewhere that 100%can't though. Anyone?
@ Bignose, that's very interesting information!
On the topic of oscilliatory (sp?) vs pectoral swimming, and purely from my own observation, it seems to me that most fish in the aquarium trade are incapable of reversing the oscillations along their body (presumably due to muscle structure), and do resort to pectoral swimming (or at least a combination of the two methods) in order to reverse- the knife fish being an obvious exception, and they do spend as much time going in one direction as the other.
ramaseseniblikxviii
Fish Fanatic
Bristlenose cats can kinda wiggle backwards(it's swimmin jim, but not as we know it) and clown loach seem to be able to swim backwards ,upside down , at 45 degree angle , inside out, you nome it
prankster705
trolololol
Hmm, some can, some can't. I know glass catfish can (at least mine did), quite good at it, many others can tho (some better, some worse). Sharks can because they have to keep moving forward or they suffocate.
Most reactions
-
274 -
236 -
154 -
142 -
136 -
135 -
111 -
110 -
95 -
95 -
92 -
82 -
78 -
67 -
58
