Fishy depression, is it real?

Campfiregirl · Jun 21, 2020

Our Clown fish had a buddy, a Blue Chromis. An odd match I know, but they did everything together, swam ate, slept..even gave a little chase now and then. Well, we lost the Chromis, and now the Clown is eating less and acting as I see..depressed.

Mastiffsrule · Jun 21, 2020

Hi,

Sorry you lost the chromis. I am not 100% sure about am emotional aspect but there definitely can be a behavioral aspect involved. If they are used to a certain feeding routine and the dynamic has changed it may take a while to restructure.

Campfiregirl · Jun 21, 2020

Mastiffsrule said:
Hi,

Sorry you lost the chromis. I am not 100% sure about am emotional aspect but there definitely can be a behavioral aspect involved. If they are used to a certain feeding routine and the dynamic has changed it may take a while to restructure.

I see what you mean, the competition for food is no longer there.

proxy001 · Jun 21, 2020

Get the clown a toadstool coral ...

Daniel@R2R · Jun 22, 2020

I've read accounts that indicate that there is at least sometimes a reaction that appears to be a form of "grief." Although like others, I would challenge the emotional language used as fish don't experience emotions in the way we do.

ca1ore · Jun 22, 2020

I think you should not anthropomorphize your fish LOL. They certainly can exhibit stress-related behaviors, but once the stressor is removed the fish rapidly recovers. I have never seen any evidence that fish get depressed.

Ardeus · Jun 22, 2020

I prefer to see it as we don't experience emotions the same way as fish and each person also experiences emotions differently.

Many emotions were created long before humans came to existence and the intensity of those emotions has little to do with how similar an animal is to a human.

Many animals can experience boredom and develop psychological problems from having little stimulation.

To make things worse, fish don't express their feelings (especially pain) the same way we do.

Angel_Anthias lover · Jun 22, 2020

I had a pair of pink steaked wrasses a couple of years ago. One day the male jumped on top of some equipment and sadly passed away after me saving him. The female didnt know he had died, and she refused to eat for about a week and wouldnt stop searching the rocks for him after he died. After a week i think she accepted he was gone, and went to normal, and began to transition to male i believe. I believe she was depressed, to what extent i cant say, as ive never been a fish. But i imagine she felt something.

Nick Steele · Jun 22, 2020

Not reef related but I had a pair of German Blue Rams that would build nest in my sand quite frequently. The male disappeared one night and after that the female never was the same. She sat in the nest not moving for anything (I had to pick her up during a water change) she died herself after about 2 weeks.

Tahoe61 · Jun 22, 2020

I am one of those that cringes when I read post or threads that compare human characteristics to tank inhabitants.

But after my male clown died several years back my female clown did not eat and stayed on a crevice for over a week, definitely not her normal behaviour. I was sure she would die. It took her over two weeks to return to normal.
The male clown had jumped so a disease process was not a contributing factor.
I believe animals do grieve, not like humans but experience some sense of loss if they have an established relationship with another.

Treefer32 · Jun 22, 2020

Interesting. My black tang and fox Face rabbbit fish had paired, whever the tang went the Fox face followed. He got fat, and couldn't swim as far or as fast as the tang so it would swim back to him urging him on and he'd follow. Something happened to the fox face, swam with his head down all the time. Couldn't right himself. I think he had a swim bladder infection. He jumped out of the tank. The tang seeemed lost about a week. Constantly wondering where his buddy was, but eventually moved on and seems to just enjoy being his dominant self. I have a chocolate tang and caribean blue tang, they all battle for a cave now and then but for the most part, the black always wins any domination battles and the rest just leave him alone.

My smaller fish actually socialize with the black tang, He tends to protect them a little bit and they just follow him around. For some reason they just know that the big black fish is untouchable so they submit and follow and the rest leave them alone as long as the black tang is nearby. Love fish culture and socio behaviors. As to emotion, it's survival at a basic instinct. Who competes for my food, who is a ******* and who helps me.