Gourami Recognizes Her Owner

[Briarmoor]

The heat and air repair guy was out today. He stopped in front of the 20g to talk to me. Immediately here come the neons and a cory thinking food might be coming! Sal, the gold gourami, came over too until she saw that the man was not me. Then she quickly hid in the log decoration and just poked her head out. I am pretty sure she knows the difference in people because of this. I don't know if the neons and corys do or not, maybe they do but just like all people.

 

[sylvia]

That's interesting. I know most of my fish recognise me but some - like the cories for example - don't seem to have very good eyesight and only actualy know they are being fed when they feel the hood open. Also, tetras don't seem particularly intelligent to me - much less so than gouramies deffinately - they don't even swim forwards when they feel (or hear if you preffer) the hood My gouramies all come forwards right away when they see me. Many will take food from my hand. I've never realy noticed how they act with other people but I would think they can tell the difference between two people. Fish don't rely only on eye-sight so I'm sure even a difference in the way you walk or your weight would make them act differently (because the vibrations are different).

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

It doesn't suprise me at all. All my gouramies recognise the difference between me and my children. In much the same way cats do imo. Same with the catfish, especially the synos. You can see their brains ticking over when they look at you. To get my Ollie (One of my male bettas) to show off when my Dad took a pic of him I started talking to him. He gets very excited even if he knows it isn't food time. It isn't a begging for food act, just a communication/play thing. And here is one of those pics.

I've found the more you interact with any fish the more they will respond to you. With the exception of maybe tetras and danios. They just seem rather brainless, bless 'em.
I recently moved Queenie, my very active egg producing girl, into the fry tank with some of the fry from a spawn a few weeks previously because she was very tired from recent spawnings. She is now back with her regular group and will respond to my voice, even allow me to touch her without spooking or any fear that I might hurt her. They really are very quick learners. All the more reason to treat them with the upmost respect.
Hugs,
P.
Edit:This is my Queenie.

 

[Briarmoor]

I was pretty sure the gold gourami was acting as she was because she didn't know the man but knew me. I don't know if she based it on his looks, his voice, or as mentioned by one of you, the weight difference? I have to agree that I don't give my smaller tetras as much credit for brains as I do the gouramis and other anabantoids and the pleco. That said, my girlfriend has a betta who is not the sharpest tool in the shed, so maybe it is individual based on the fish secondary to breed.

I am not sure how the fish in the 55g and the 10g would react since they are in a bedroom where there is not much traffic, other than us. I do know one of the felines got jealous of them when I was talking to them while feeding and he jumped up on the dresser edge. None of them were scared of him and he was not interested in them, just getting me to give him attention instead of them!

If I sweet talk Sal or any of the fish, which I am prone to do with the betta, Maury, and Paris, the paradisefish, the cats will come running and meowing to get me to pat them instead of mess with the fish. They don't seem to mind when I feed the fish or change water, just if I start talking to the fish.

i think I just hijacked my own thread! B)

 

[Fizban]

seems abit like what happens to me i have my tank in the middel of the room and peepl pass by it from time to time but when i go by it they all gather to the side of the tank looking for food and realy only the gouramis in mine do that but a gold fish i have thats a pig copys them and some times i look in near the glass and the big gourami comes over and we just look at each other for a fair time or i move i think its probly a game to him so i think there very smart

 

[Weaver]

Sal was probably hiding in case you gave her the bill!
I do think gouramis are among the smarter fish except for my flames who swim straight into the net whenever I put it in the tank.Though even they are geniuses compared to guppies and glowlight tetra.

 

[Ferris]

All my Mbuna appear at the front of the tank when one of my cats jumps up onto the desk the tank stands on. The daft fish think the cat will feed them.

 

[zendarx2]

intresting, I will have to get some smarter fish. My Guppies are smart but I have noticed when im at the LFS that the meet eating fish or just more aggresive ones tend to be smarter. I saw some puffers onces that just looked at me so cute and they really did seem to "think"

My guppies will swim right upto my hand and will even let me touch them when I am moving things around in the tank, I "lightly" tap on one corner of the tank and they call come over there to eat. I can tell they know me from my wife but maybe I just have some smarter ones idk

darn now I want to start a new tank

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Just starting a new tank.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Kopix Nation]

That is so cute how she knows who her owner is... My oscars do the same thing only they are agressive toward other people... Which is not really a good thing.

claire