Do Fish Remember Each Other From The Fish Shop?

[N0body Of The Goat]

Over the past few weeks, I've reunited a group of Denisons Barb (bought in two groups of three) and a complete group of Yellowtail Congos (bought remaining 7 today to make group of 12, sadly one of original 6 died within 48 hours).

Its something I've wondered recently... Do the newcomers think "Oh there's Bill, he left our shop tank two weeks ago!" or "Oh, there's some fish like us already here" or something completely different?

Whatever the answer, the second batch in both cases for me have settled within minutes of the drip acclimitiastion!

 

[james_fish]

This made me laugh, I read the title and thought to myself 'hey bill' just like you did.

Some of my fish have been reunited with each other over a period of time, My brother gave me some of my stocking. But I didn't add it all at once so I didn't put to much on the filter. I even thought about it when I introduced the Ram's with the Kribs. They say fish forget really easy, but who knows? I mean c'mon, they remember when its feeding time!

6 Denisons? I bet thats a nice group to watch!

James.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

6 Denisons? I bet thats a nice group to watch!

Yep, the second batch of three made all the difference, as they started to often school together (great sight even with 5cm babies) and the initial three seemed to redden up rapidly upon the arrival of the latter three. All six loved the transition to the 240l, after a three hour drip acclimitisation from QT (apprarently they are really sensitive to changes in temp and pH, even if gH and kH remain the same).

 

[BethK]

I think they do, unless they are 'Dori', out of finding nemo

I brought 4 of my bettas from the same tank but at different times, they were fine once reunited.

 

[JoshuaA]

Or perhaps, whether they know they're related?

 

[james_fish]

Or perhaps, whether they know they're related?

Thats a good point, I wonder if fish once seperated from siblings then realise upon reintroduction they are brothers/sisters?

6 Denisons? I bet thats a nice group to watch!

Yep, the second batch of three made all the difference, as they started to often school together (great sight even with 5cm babies) and the initial three seemed to redden up rapidly upon the arrival of the latter three. All six loved the transition to the 240l, after a three hour drip acclimitisation from QT (apprarently they are really sensitive to changes in temp and pH, even if gH and kH remain the same).

They are a nice fish that have tempted me before, i'd rather have a bigger tank than a 200 litre though in order to keep a nice shoal like yours.

James.

 

[Lacuna]

Or perhaps, whether they know they're related?

Thats a good point, I wonder if fish once seperated from siblings then realise upon reintroduction they are brothers/sisters?

Yeah, fish are like, 'Hey brother/sister, I've really missed you. You know what would be good? If we mated and had lots of babies'.

 

[Wills]

I got my Severum from a local fish collector a few months back, then the other day I went to an LFS and he had off loaded tons of his fish to them and I got a Guinacara from his old tank and I knew the sev the gui were in the same show tank not long ago and Im not sure if they remember each other or not but they are both about 3 years old so I assume they lived together a long time so see how it goes they do play a little together now and again though?

wills

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

This is getting quite deep now... What if one the male Yellowtails in the second batch recognised the first batch added to my tank and thought "Oh wow, if Bill's here, so is Tracy... The love of my life!" ...

Except Tracy was the Yellowtail that sadly passed away within 48 hours, presumed to be down to stress of leaving shop tank after so long...

 

[CrystalClear16]

This is getting quite deep now... What if one the male Yellowtails in the second batch recognised the first batch added to my tank and thought "Oh wow, if Bill's here, so is Tracy... The love of my life!" ...

Except Tracy was the Yellowtail that sadly passed away within 48 hours, presumed to be down to stress of leaving shop tank after so long...

...

 

[`Peter]

Very interesting. Wondered that this past week too when I bought a new batch of cardinal tetras.

 

[GAB99]

what if we accidently sperated a couple at the lfs? thatd be so sad "no! dont go! i wuv youuuuuuuu..."

and what if one of them dies? is the motive to eat stronger than a previous connection? "im so sad bob is dead... but he tastes soo good"

i guess we'll never trully know till we find a way to insert our brains into fish bodies kinda like avatar lol

 

[Anna Robinson]

Fish which have been separated certainly can recognise each other again, but it would depend on things like the species, the sex, and the length of time involved. But it is proved to happen (there's been a lot of work on female guppies in this field).

 

[Twinklecaz]

This is bad. When I bought my Honeys there were 3 in the tanks. I've been convinced that I have the father the daughter and now I feel bad that I've left the mother alone in the tank!

 

[JoshuaA]

Well don't Bolivian Rams pair together really well? If you were to buy one in the store and then later on you introduced the other mate in the pair say a month later or even two months later. Would they remember each other?