Fish are smarter than us
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Liquid360
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I hate when my fish stare at me... those beady little eyes looking at me... judging me... you can't judge me stupid little fish! There are reasons for the things I done! You don't know me! You just swim around thinking you're all special and pretty! You're nothing special! I could order 1000 just like you online! Try to do that with humans and suddenly you're a human trafficker! Wait... what was this thread about again?
-Logzor
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My fish are just as bad as the cat. The cat rolls around in a specific spot on the rug every day when I get home from work. Meanwhile, the fish have heard my car pull up and they're already at the corner of the tank nearest to the basements steps waiting for me...
Tom Does Disney
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Reef forums need more people like you !!!
bullet reef
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OMG this thread is full of awesomeness! Lol
Too bad there's no way to subscribe to a specific member's topics/posts!
Too bad there's no way to subscribe to a specific member's topics/posts!
Tom Does Disney
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Fish can be pretty smart !! If you are a student, take a marine biology course !! there are great adaptaions and types of symbiosis happen in the ocean..
For example check this out.
Male angler fish look nothing like the angler fish you automatically think of when the word hits you...you see the long "lure" that it can light to attract prey to its huge jaws and teeth...
No, the male angler fish is more of a parasitic creature than anything. When it finds the female, it attaches itself to her like a tic. It grows into the actual circulatory and digestive system as the female. So now, in the deep ocean, only one fish needs to expend energy and take it back to to provide both with life.
Or out favorite, clowns and anemones !! Isn't it amazing how Damsel fish have adapted this incredible ability (that we just so happen to not be able to get enough of as hobbyists lol ). In the wild, the clown fish in particular really needs to take advantage of this symbiotic relationship. Because the reef is full of predators who are truly hydro-dynamic. This is not the case with clowns !! They are awful swimmers (comparatively)and to protect them they produce a mucus that creates a barrier between the fish and the -anemone's stinging nemocytes. The clown, in return, cleans and brings good to the anemone.
Or watchmen/prawn gobies and pistol shrimp !!! What an amazing combo, the watchmen, enjoy the ability to go underground. Jawfish have to do this themselves, but watchmen gobies decided they would use the holes already belonging to pistol shrimp. After hundreds of thousands of years, pistol shrimp and watchmen gobies would spawn in the same holes, therefore inducing hundreds of generations to the idea they had come up with. Eventually the settled into their hole peacefully together
For example check this out.
Male angler fish look nothing like the angler fish you automatically think of when the word hits you...you see the long "lure" that it can light to attract prey to its huge jaws and teeth...
No, the male angler fish is more of a parasitic creature than anything. When it finds the female, it attaches itself to her like a tic. It grows into the actual circulatory and digestive system as the female. So now, in the deep ocean, only one fish needs to expend energy and take it back to to provide both with life.
Or out favorite, clowns and anemones !! Isn't it amazing how Damsel fish have adapted this incredible ability (that we just so happen to not be able to get enough of as hobbyists lol ). In the wild, the clown fish in particular really needs to take advantage of this symbiotic relationship. Because the reef is full of predators who are truly hydro-dynamic. This is not the case with clowns !! They are awful swimmers (comparatively)and to protect them they produce a mucus that creates a barrier between the fish and the -anemone's stinging nemocytes. The clown, in return, cleans and brings good to the anemone.
Or watchmen/prawn gobies and pistol shrimp !!! What an amazing combo, the watchmen, enjoy the ability to go underground. Jawfish have to do this themselves, but watchmen gobies decided they would use the holes already belonging to pistol shrimp. After hundreds of thousands of years, pistol shrimp and watchmen gobies would spawn in the same holes, therefore inducing hundreds of generations to the idea they had come up with. Eventually the settled into their hole peacefully together
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Paul B
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The best way to learn about fish is to go and hang out with them in the sea. Not at a tourist resort with 50 tourist divers, but go find a guide with a boat, pay him and he will take you to some great places not seen by tourists. I tell the guide what I am looking for and get taken to a place where the guide knows I can find that animal. Then I want him to leave me alone and I will just lay near this animal for an hour or until I run out of air. That is the way I like to learn about a creature. If you are going to jump in the water with 20 novice divers from a tour group, you are missing out on some great sights and great learning opportunities. That is how I learned about moorish Idols. I went to Tahiti, got on a small Zodiac with my wife and one other couple and just spent the day following Idols. Virtually all of the information written about that fish is wrong. Most people who write books get their information from researchers and other authors so incorrect information is passed along.
I have a cousin who is a marine biologist professor and for that title he had to spend 30 minutes underwater. Thats it.
In 30 minutes you can learn how to clear your mask and cut fishing line from around your neck, thats about it.
I have a cousin who is a marine biologist professor and for that title he had to spend 30 minutes underwater. Thats it.
In 30 minutes you can learn how to clear your mask and cut fishing line from around your neck, thats about it.
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Paul B
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I feel it does. If I know what an animal eats in the sea, how it makes it's living, what type of envirnment it likes to live in, I can better know how to keep it alive in a captive envirnment.
For instance I discovered that moorish Idols eat almost nothing but sponges. I found a similar sponge growing here in NY and I collected a bunch, froze it and my Idol loved it for 5 years. I also discovered that they mostly live in mated pairs and eat constantly so I built a feeder that fed him multiple times a day. Five years is not very long for a fish that size but for a moorish Idol that is practically a record.
I have dove with almost every fish I have ever kept and I feel that what I learned from watching fish in the sea would never be duplicated by seeing one in a tank. Of course we all learn about fishes behaviour from looking at them in a tank, but spending time with them in the sea greatly advances our knowledge.
For instance I discovered that moorish Idols eat almost nothing but sponges. I found a similar sponge growing here in NY and I collected a bunch, froze it and my Idol loved it for 5 years. I also discovered that they mostly live in mated pairs and eat constantly so I built a feeder that fed him multiple times a day. Five years is not very long for a fish that size but for a moorish Idol that is practically a record.
I have dove with almost every fish I have ever kept and I feel that what I learned from watching fish in the sea would never be duplicated by seeing one in a tank. Of course we all learn about fishes behaviour from looking at them in a tank, but spending time with them in the sea greatly advances our knowledge.
Liquid360
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Couldn't agree more. I've done some diving as well and while it lends to a more complete understanding and appreciation I feel it's done little, for me anyways, to improve my aquarium. I've learned FAR more reading about others experiences. You can never see the ocean and still build/keep a beautiful successful aquarium. I grew up with my father, a chemical engineer, working on his 500g reef in the 80's, pre-Internet. He used his knowledge of science to figure it out on his own. I've been around it my entire life. I'd never sway anybody from exploring the ocean but the aquarium trade, IMO, is just a different animal so to speak.
bfam4t6
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Haha exactly....kinda like politicians...although I may not call politicians "smart."
Great thread!!
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Paul B
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When I started my tank in 1971 there was nothing to read, no books or magazines. There was only freshwater books which I had. There was also no stores that sold salt water animals so I had to learn on my own. Of course, no internet, cell phones, IPods, MP3 players, Paris Hiltons or anything else, not even ASW, powerheads, frozen fish food, etc. So I learned from keeping (and killing) fish and from SCUBA diving.
I have my own boat and equipment. Now, with the internet, it is easier but much of the information on the net is wrong.
I cringe when I read much of this stuff but keep my mouth shut for the most part or I would be in an argument every day.
:tape:
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Liquid360
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Lol yeah but everybody must learn in their own time and in their own way. Like I always say, if there was a sure thing we'd all have the same setup on different scales. It's as much art as science although many cringe at the thought.
Liquid360
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No matter how much experience one may or may not have, the bottom line is there are many, many paths to the same destination. Wrong or right, I'm extremely wary of those quick to spout their credentials and experience as a way to legitimize what ever advice their spouting... claiming their way is the best and you're ignorant and inexperienced to see it differently. This is the Wild West still. Ya know some of the worst advice I've gotten here has been from those claiming experience. If it was a science, packed packaged and sold it wouldn't be any fun. A tank would be decor, pets, and nothing more. It's an ongoing experiment... I hope never ends.
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Paul B
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This is true, I would never advocate my methods because everyone already thinks I'm nuts. I use a UG filter, I add water, mud, amphipods and creatures from the sea, I never quarantine and I use a swing arm hydrometer. :loco:
