Fish and earthquakes

[tttnjfttt]

I know its been said that pets can predict earthquakes, but has anyone seen this with fish? If so, how far in advance?

Here is why I'm asking this question...Yesterday I posted about my fish acting wierd, pale color, very skitish, hanging out in one spot, etc. By this morning, they were still acting wierd, but a little better. This afternoon, they have gone back to their odd behavior. Water stats are where they should be. I found out that today there was a string of earthquakes (about 15 spread over two hours) centered about 20 miles away from me on the other side of Lake Tahoe. The strongest was 4.8, the next strongest was 2.0. Could this explain their wierd behavior?

 

[Ethos]

Sounds a little.....far fetched to me.
But you never know. Fish might be able to feel movement through the water, just like we can hear things louder in the water...

 

[tttnjfttt]

I was thinking the shaking might be noticed. The earth quakes haven't been strong enough/close enough to hear the rumbling sound that goes with them.

 

[daudy_dojo]

there are tiny sound waves launched in an earthquake that travel so fast the human ear cannot hear them... fish have a higher frequency hearing thingy... people can only hear past 20000hertz a fish can hear a much louder noise, but humans cant! your fish may have heard the small sound wave!
school does pay off

 

[tttnjfttt]

Thats very interesting. the earthquake count is now up to 18 small ones, averaging about three per hour for the past six hours.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

Don't you think that the vibrations of the earth quake could be felt through the water? Its possible the waves caused by the vibrations are amplified by the water, as Ethos pointed out with humans and sound.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I think the sound waves are more likely, as most of the earthquakes were pretty small. I've actually been in water swimming durring an earthquake (around 5.0 I think) and didn't feel anything unless I was pushing off the wall, but fish are probably more sensitive to those types of things

 

[pica_nuttalli]

the vibrations of the earth and the vibrations caused by sound waves are essentially the exact same thing to a fish.

and Hz is a measure of frequency (or pitch), not loudness (which is db or decibels) fish can "hear" much higher and lower pitched vibrations, as well as quieter noises. if i recall, the cap on hearing loud sounds is a function organ rupture, not sensitivity. [i'm just picking on you dojo because you're spot on except for terminology; gj! ]

 

[Ethos]

So......whats our verdict?

 

[GuppyDude]

yep, they do. i know i live in wisconsin and earthquakes are something that just doesn't happend here, but last year we had a weak tremer (very weak), and i just happend to be up and near my fish tanks. the tremer was not enogh the disturb the water at all but teh fish were still visably shaken <- no pun intended

 

[Synirr]

I imagine it is very well possible. Considering that even our highly domesticated canine and feline companions sense earthquakes and such far in advance, I should think fish would certainly be able to do the same.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Well, all but one fish are back to normal. Their color has returned, most of the tiger barbs darted to the top when they saw their food being taken out, my bettas are more active. I think the earthquakes was the cause. Today, we had a total of 18 earthquakes, most of which were very small. The last one was over 6 hours ago, so i think it finally has calmed down.

 

[annka5]

I lived in Tokyo for a while, and my fish definitely didn't like earthquakes - I am convinced they could feel even minor ones, even if you couldn't see any effect on the water.
Dunno if they "predict" them or not, that would seem a bit far-fetched to me, but they can definitely feel minor tremors.
Mine got over it pretty quick, even larger ones ( though admittedly, they were particularly stupid fish!!).