What Ever Happened to a Fish Only Having a Five Second Memory

[Uberhoust]

I remembered hearing from a number of people that a fish only has a 5 second memory. Anyone that keeps fish knows that this isn't true, but the video in this article suggests that fish can be quite smart. Envision your fish, maybe named "Klaus" tooling around the living room, or perhaps driving a Tesla.

Scientists in Israel train goldfish to drive on land

A team of scientists in Israel built a 'Fish Operated Vehicle' and taught six goldfish to drive on land.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Mine can't back themselves out of the caves they live in 24/7, let alone drive a Mazda. Maybe if you got enough of them and banded them together like some great big fish mecha, I could see it happening!

 

[Colin_T]

It was on the news in Australia too, just a couple of hours ago

Goldfish are trained to 'drive' a robotic tank by scientists

Six goldfish were trained to use a specially-made vehicle and find their way around a room towards a food reward, say scientists at Ben-Gurion University, Beersheba, Israel.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[FishFriend11]

It was on the news in Australia too, just a couple of hours ago

Goldfish are trained to 'drive' a robotic tank by scientists

Six goldfish were trained to use a specially-made vehicle and find their way around a room towards a food reward, say scientists at Ben-Gurion University, Beersheba, Israel.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Pretty cool experiment. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ClownLurch]

As soon as I saw the title I knew what this was! It was all,over Twitter yesterday.
I also think RCS are a bit cleverer than people give them credit for. I put six in with my Heterandria Formosa last year. TheRed been no problem with them when in the community tank but they ripped five to bits over the first night. One was left sitting in the top corner of the tank on top of suction cupped thermometer, when I dipped the net in below him he jumped straight in to the net. “Get me out of here”.

 

[anewbie]

My female angel remembers me well enough to bite my hand whenever i do work on the tank. Her mate on the other hand is extremely gentle and is the only fish in the tank I can hand feed.

 

[vanalisa]

Klaus

 

[GaryE]

I've had fish that spent the summer outdoors recognize my indoor food container after 5 months.

We used to believe some self serving stuff. Remember the fish don't feel pain? Or the memory myth you mentioned? Turns out they have well developed nervous systems, and indications are that intelligence developed pretty early in evolution. They aren't going to design bridges (they don't need them!) or write poetry, but there's more going on than we thought even twenty years ago. I read some interesting work with Gambusia affinis that says they can do arithmetic, and can do it with abstract symbols when choosing which door in an experiment had more food behind it. I have a feeling that over the next 50 years or so, we're going to learn a lot that will challenge what we used to believe other animal brains can do.

 

[Colin_T]

Remember the fish don't feel pain?

They do feel pain and they remember what caused it. I tried to get an anemonefish (clown fish) out of a marine tank. The tank had heaps of rock in and I couldn't use a net. So I got a tiny little fishing hook and squashed the barb down so it didn't do as much damage. I put some food on the hook and lowered it into the tank. I caught the fish but it got off. The fish wouldn't go near me for the next 3 days and wouldn't eat anything during that time.

Over the next week I managed to get it eating again and tried a second time with the hook. This time I managed to get it out of the tank and again it wouldn't eat for a few days. A big piece of metal going through your mouth or jaw, I reckon that would stop me eating for a bit too.

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Fish are also smart enough to recognise different people. I left my sister to take care of my fish for a few months while I went away. She fed them 2 or 3 times while I was gone and said they hid every time she went into the room. So she didn't bother about it and forgot about it. Most of the fish were fine. But when I got back after 3 months away, all the fish came racing over to the normal feeding area as soon as they saw me. They were hungry and got fed.

When I moved house I had the tanks in the lounge room and everyone walked past them. The fish didn't react to anyone but me. As soon as they saw my bedroom door open, they all raced over to the side of the tank that was closest to my room. As I walked past the tanks they all followed me as I went by. They would take food from me but ignored food from other people.

 

[Oblio]

The Pointless Forest denizens come greet me when I come near the tank, and especially so when I come armed with a turkey baster.

 

[Uberhoust]

When I moved house I had the tanks in the lounge room and everyone walked past them. The fish didn't react to anyone but me. As soon as they saw my bedroom door open, they all raced over to the side of the tank that was closest to my room. As I walked past the tanks they all followed me as I went by. They would take food from me but ignored food from other people.

My fish are the same. They ignore my wife. I look after the fish my wife looks after the backyard feeders.

 

[Colin_T]

We had a guy in fish club who used to tell us about his fish. He would go on about this breeding and that breeding. One day we found out his wife did all the water changes and fed the fish. She even picked eggs out of spawning mops and fed the fry. The fish wouldn't normally eat if he fed them. From then on we used to say "whose fish are they". He might have bought them. He might say they are his. But they were hers

 

[anewbie]

Fish are also smart enough to recognise different people. I left my sister to take care of my fish for a few months while I went away. She fed them 2 or 3 times while I was gone and said they hid every time she went into the room. So she didn't bother about it and forgot about it. Most of the fish were fine. But when I got back after 3 months away, all the fish came racing over to the normal feeding area as soon as they saw me. They were hungry and got fed.

I think that might be my problem. I've put a jacket on a few times just before leaving and then gone into the room with the fish tanks and dang my angels are like frighten out of their wits - I mean they really scatter like no tomorrow and run and hide in the plants. I'm presuming they don't recognize me in the jacket... because normally if i just walk in the room they all perk up and say hi.

 

[Colin_T]

It might be the colour of the jacket.

I freaked my dogs out once. I had long hair and a beard and went to the shops. Got my hair cut and had a shave. When I came home I opened the door and the dogs came running up. I said "Hi dogs, it's just me". They stopped and turned around to walk back to their beds. Then the kelpie cross stopped, turned around and looked at me for a moment. I said "it's ok, it's just me without hair". She then turned and continued back to her bed.

She did a double take to make sure it was me. I sounded right but there was something different, no hair

I used to give my papillon a hair cut in spring and summer to reduce the number of prickles she picked up. I'm sure she deliberately walked into the prickles so we would have to groom her and pick the prickles out. One day I shaved her all over and we went to the dog park. The other dogs came running over and then stopped and looked at her. She wagged her tail and then they realised who it was. They all came over and said hi to her. From then on I didn't remove too much hair at once.

 

[anewbie]

Aren't fishes colour blind ?