Fish Capable of Human-Like Logic?

[AquaScaper]

Came across this interesting article using Cichlids as test subjects.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16796139/

[mixixe]

that is interesting! Thanks for that :)

[Fugu]

I was whatching mythbusters a few weeks ago and they did an experiment on if goldfish had a three second memory.They biult a rig with onage coloured rings and put food on them so the fish ascociated the orange ring with food.It tuned out that they diddnt have a 3 sec memory,just that some where more attentive than others.Cool

[mixixe]

I always wondered if that were true. Fish are much smarter than we give them credit for!

[Melody]

Anyone who has ever fed Goldfish knows they have a memory when it comes to food....lol....mine spotted me from a mile away, but they were afraid when anyone else approached the tank. Its cool that they proved that 'officially'.

I think that how people judge fish intelligence is the problem. Its not the same as human intelligence, as in they think differently than we do and for different reasons, so we write it off as stupidity. A closed mind is the epitamy of stupidity.

One of my fave quotes is by Mr. Forest Gump - "Stupid is as stupid does". I don't think I've ever heard it defined any more simply and accurately than that. :D

[AquaScaper]

I think my Betta can count LOL

Feeding time is always exciting for her and she will chase everyone away from her feeding spot soon as she sees me coming. She always gets 6 crumbles dropped right above her. I decided to do a little test this evening and only threw in 4...evil I know but it had to be done in the name of science:yes:

Anyways......

Wouldn't you know it she circled her spot about a half dozen times looking for the missing crumbles then swam over to the corner closest to me sat there staring at me for about half a minute then swam up to the top again where her food should have been and started circling for the other crumbles. I threw in 1, she grabbed it and kept looking for more so I threw in the last one thinking that I'd given her too much credit b/c now she'd just wait for another but instead after she ate her 6th crumble she went off to pester the Mr.Ramshorn as she usually does after a meal.

I'm thinking her knowing how to count may be stretching it but, I fully do believe that she has actually over the last few months been conditioned to know exactly how many crumbles she's supposed to get......

She has developed a ritual, eat then pester, eat then pester she never ever deviates from this and when I failed to give her the whole meal rather than eating the 4 and moving on she waited to get the other 2 lol.

So there ya have it...maybe there's something to this fish smarts thing?:err:

[Melody]

Very interesting! Bettas are definitly creatures of habit. When I still had the CAE in a community tank, he was nasty. Yet a female Betta used to DELIGHT in the fact that he hated her. She'd swim down to him and flutter her fins until he went after her. Bratt.

When I first got the male Betta from the BC_Krons, every time he saw me he would go to the surface, mouthing away at it like he figured he had to train the dumb human to feed the fishy....lol.

Zap, the Electric Yellow Cichlid, plays with my Son but even after years of me looking after her, she still hides when I approach. All the kid has to say is "Hi Zap, wannapellet? Huh? Wannapellet? Do ya?" and out she'll come, dancing and performing for him. She'll follow the direction of his eyes, up, down, left right, which he thinks is her trick so then she gets the pellet.:rolleyes: Granted, I do the same thing when he has chocolate Easter Eggs :DevilGrin:.

Some fish are definitly not as obvious in their brain activity.... but then again, so is it also with some humans. ;)

[fishykisses]

cichlids are amazingly interactive with humans...even more so than bettas i think.
They are great fun to have! My africans keep me entertained for hours.

[mixixe]

at night, sometimes i light a tealight candle next to my bichir tank and now my senegal bichir waits there for me to light then candle whenever I pick it up. I watch his head bob up and down while i light the match and then the wick :) and then he stares at it for a bit mesmerized. :)

[Melody]

Its nice that we've had this research article posted so we don't have to think we're crazy when we notice these things :laugh: