Fish Recognition .

Hi guys , I've being doing an experiment with my fish for the past 4 months. As i do all of the maintenance and feeding on the tanks i was wondering if the fish would recognise me. I have kept a strict routine of feeding , cleaning ,maintenance and time in the evening where i will sit next to my Kribensis tank.I feed in the morning at 7am when the lights come on and i feed again at 5.30pm i will usually be sitting next to the tank at 7pm and the lights go out at 8pm and Maintenance is on Saturday morning.

At 7am when the lights come on all the fish in the tank are waiting near the top at the feeding hatch, when i approach the tank at 5.30pm for feeding they will all head towards the hatch even before i reach for the food.If i go to the tank at any other time during the day they will not go to the hatch. If any one else in the family goes to the tank during the day the fish will not go to the hatch.

Between 7pm and 8pm I will be sitting next to the tank and the male and female Kribensis will move to the same side of the tank and just slowly swim up and down. If my wife sits there instead of me they will carry on as they are.

I have tried many different ways to see if i was imagining it but it seems that the fish will only really respond to me.

Is there any studies done on this kind of thing or have any of ye guys noticed similar behaviour from your fish?

One question i have for people more educated in the fish science's , Do fish see in the same way as us? can they see colour? I know they can see out of the tank, but is it just shapes and shadows they can see or do they have the same view of us as we have of them?

Stuart.

P.S, I'm not crazy.

I have a big interest in fish behaviour, and do a few experiments myself.

"Fish" is, I suppose, a term that groups a massive array of different animals with differing abilities.

Different fish perceive things in different ways....eg some have colour vision, some have B&W and some have a split eye that sees B&W in one part and colour in the other.
Some would perceive wavelengths of light that we cannot see (eg Infra Red), and may different contrasts of images due to lacking the ability to see some colours in the normal "visible spectrum".

Most fish have a lateral line to sense vibrations, but Mudskippers have ears that function much like ours (and they don't have a lateral line).

As for recognition, some fish will recognise specific people....but others may simply notice a movement.

Yes...some species of fish can be trained, and I believe that certain ancient species may be more advanced than many more modern species of fish.

ian

When I had African cichlids it was the same. The only got hyper at feeding time when I came into the room. Not when others came in at that time and not when I came in at other times. Cichlids are particularly intelligent

Ah they all like you and no one else how sweet lol sure your not mad
My cold water fish do the same and the young african fry

My Vieja synspilum most often hides when anyone approaches the the tank.
Occassionally he will be out at feeding time but on approach he hides.
I have noticed wearing different colours can allow me to get closer or even
walk across the front of the tank with him not minding as much.

Ok so im not crazy.

In the tank at the moment are a pair of Kribensis with fry and some amber glow tetra's. The Kribs for me seem to be quite intelligent , at the moment they have some fry and are hyper aggressive but still when i sit near the tank either the male or the female will come to the usual spot.As for the feeding behaviour , i think the kribs know the score and the tetra's just follow suit, if the tetra's were on their own i think they would be lost , but thats an experiment for another day.

@Ian can you suggest and good places where i might find more information on this subject?

Cheers Stuart.

My snake head will let me know when she is hungry every 2 or 3 days by floating just under the surface in the 1 spot I feed her at and she will drive other fish away from that spot. Once full she will return to her hide and only surface to breath. Also my silver aro will snap at the water to tell me its dinner time again every 3 days or so. I guess were all just a bit crazy to spend hours online chatting about fish and not a chip in sight.

I have a book somewhere on this subject.
I also have (but possibly lost in the moves from the UK) my notes on this.
Most of my study was on cichlids.

Kribensis are pretty bright cichlids and show some of the most advanced and interesting parental behaviour in cichlids.

In the world of tetras, I would place Emperor Tetras very high in regards to brains.

Lungfish (very ancient fish and tetrapod) are a particular present interest when it comes to behaviour.

But, it could be mudskippers (rather modern fish) that come very high on the list of the brightest fish.

ian

@Ian , when you say mudskippers are a modern fish, do you mean they have only been discovered in modern times ? or they have evolved to their present form in modern times?

I'm gonna try some more stuff with my Kribensis in the next few months and ill update this thread if i find anything interesting. Also at the moment i have neon, cardinal, amber and penguin Tetra's i might try and do some kind of rating system to see if i can grade which one is the most intelligent, or at least the one with the greatest capacity to be "trained".

Stuart.

Mudskippers are perciforms within the Acanthopterygii (spiny finned fish).....like cichlids, perch, marine angelfish, siamese fighters etc. All are quite modern (more recent) than, say, the Ostariophysi (which includes the characins and carp).
That is a morpohological and evolutionary difference.

Very ancient fish would include lungfish.

Whilst there is so much in common between lungfish and mammals (evolutionary), the fact that mudskippers can go on land etc is not an indication of any evolutionary relationship between fish and mammals.

ian

Ive just added a siamese algae eater in with my tetras and corys.
The emporor tetras have come out in strong colouration towards the SAE.
I dont know if its amourous or territorial.
I also added a 3 or 4 inch garra ruffa which seems to have a bit upstairs about him.
It seems to see me more than any of the others can and while settling in to the cocnut cave
at the front of the tank, he still looks out and checks on me.