Funny Question

[Grey Legion]

Was talking about my fish at work today, alot of people have become interested in my hobby. But one person asked a really interesting question and I had no answer.

"If you were able to flip all the contents of your tank ( gravel and plants on the top and light on the bottom ) would you fish flip and swim upsidedown in time"

Now I would never do this nor do I think anyone should do it, but it did get me thinking, we have upside down catfish. So is it possible ??

what do you think ??

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

no i dont think that would work because you wouldnt be changing the way gravity is pulling. i think fish are unable to swim upside down because of something to do with their swim bladder thingos (unless they have an illness of some sort)

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I agree; unless the fish were to evolve entirely new swim bladders or method of getting around or had a swim bladder disorder, there is no way they could swim upside down.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Nope, doubt it. LOL, send it (the idea) to Mythbusters

 

[GSD]

Hmmmmmm,dont think so

 

[Tolak]

I doubt it. I've floated plastic plants on the surface of a bare bottomed tank, the fish swam normal.

What if you were to put fish in a weightless environment, the space shuttle in orbit for example?

Tolak

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I doubt it. I've floated plastic plants on the surface of a bare bottomed tank, the fish swam normal.

What if you were to put fish in a weightless environment, the space shuttle in orbit for example?

Tolak

Hm, that could be interesting
I wonder if the fish would be able to run their systems normally though...I suppose they could swim upside down in a weightless enviroment though; ah, the joys of being a member of TFF! Such interesting topical conversation !

Next: could a fish survive on mars if it had the right atmosphere and enviroment?

 

[Grey Legion]

Well the entire of posting this was to start a interesting topic for discussion..and my ploy worked...

we all no it would not matter because of gravity...but the effect of having the light on the bottom would be interesting to witness, if they had any effect at all...

no fish in space...that would be amazing to watch, poor things would not know what to do ..

 

[CatLover]

Yea, the fish would just swim upright like normal. The way things are arranged in a tank, even if the light was on the bottom, doesn't effect whether or not a fish swims upside down or not. If anything, the fish would be like WTF? What has my silly human decided to do this time? And then just keep swimming along.

And I agree with everyone else - unless the fish is really sick and messed up, or it has evolved to swim like that (upside down catfish), it would be unable to swim upside down all the time. I think maybe a vertical stance with its nose pointing up or down would be as cloe as it could get.

And I don't think UDC evolved like that due to their natural environment being flipped upside down one day

 

[morgan]

The bottom dwellers would burn themselves on the lights.They get hot don't they? Never touched one while it was on so I don't know for sure.

 

[The-Wolf]

actually fish have been in space
the japanese medaka were taken aboard a space shuttle in 1994
you can read all about it here
http/biol1.bio.nagoya-u.ac.jp:8000/space.html
and here
http/130.69.100.13/SPACEMEDAKA/E.html

 

[RYO]

Wouldnt they get a prob with water changes? mmm wonder if the python would work there?

 

[Fishy411]

some cats swim upside down. Some synos even though theyre not Usd's and a species of Mystus.

 

[MsDad]

Hmm. The swim bladder mainly controls bouyancy in the water (gravity) not positional orientation. I don't really think the fish would swim upside down, but it is an interesting question. Since Earth is a sphere, people on the opposite side of the planet are "upside down" to us as, are we to them. Plants would certainly orient themselves toward the light, but would fish do the same if "up" and "down" were reversed? Would the bottom feeders suddenly eat at the "top" and vice versa? Too weird! Knowing human nature, I'm sure someone somewhere has actually done this...

 

[Jer-]

No i dont think they would swim upside down due to gravity as was stated but they are capable i would say.

Not only some synos swim upside down occasionally, apistos and some cave breeders swimm upside down to lay their eggs on the ceiling of their cave. and for a while stay upside down to fan the eggs and keep it clean!