Smartest fish?

[Doctorgori]

I’ve always wondered this as it seems some species appear smarter than others.... just curious about others experiences and observations .... (I did a search and found a previous thread on lion fish )

 

[SyracuseMatt]

Not sure there is a 'smart' fish. I think that people think some are smarter than others because: 1) some are more responsive to us than others, begging for food, etc., 2) some appear to be doing 'complicated' things like building burrows, rearranging things to their liking, etc.; and 3) some seem to do things which appear 'logical' to us and we attribute this to intelligence rather than instinct. Having said that, fish with 'character' like blennies, clowns, jawfish, make a tank more interesting to me. Not sure they're smarter but, they're more interesting to watch their behavior.

Matt

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not so much smarter but quicker
Many will have personalities such as Puffers rather than smarts

 

[AdamB]

I’ve always wondered this as it seems some species appear smarter than others.... just curious about others experiences and observations .... (I did a search and found a previous thread on lion fish )

I’ve wondered the same . I have freshwater and saltwater setups on and off growing up and I have noticed and experienced the cichlid species are more advanced than other freshwater fish I Would assume like every animal species that some sub species are smarter than others.

 

[Jesterrace]

I’ve always wondered this as it seems some species appear smarter than others.... just curious about others experiences and observations .... (I did a search and found a previous thread on lion fish )

Obviously fish are individuals but for me it's my Melanurus Wrasse. By far the most impressive thing I have seen from any fish was when mine got stung by my foxface and couldn't close it's mouth for a few weeks. While many fish would struggle to feed and possibly starve to death, it figured out how to swim around with it's mouth wide open and basically filter feed on the smaller bits until it's jaw could heal. Also "Dances for it's dinner," Runs off with Seaweed and leads fish on a chase around the tank, etc.

This is the guy in question:

 

[PatW]

I had a hairy blenny. She was a terrible swimmer. But she got more than her share of food by figuring out the system. She recognized me..... she did not react to my wife who was did not feed fish. She also knew the fish feeding routine. I placed the food in saltwater in a plastic measuring cup and would place the cup slightly into the tank and dribble out food. She would swim right in.

 

[Sailfin11]

My cream angel is the smartest fish I have. I had a divider in my QT tank and he figured out that he needed to swim sideways to get over it! He also eats out of my hand!

 

[Doctorgori]

Not so much smarter but quicker
Many will have personalities such as Puffers rather than smarts

Yeah like a fire fish seems more cookie cutter and instinctive in behavior than say a puffer or wrasse which appear to behave more individualistic... not sure if that relates to intelligences per se but as a human I can relate more ...

and yeah a cichlid seems more personable than a killifish or neon tetra et et

 

[sfin52]

It's always the one that I'm trying to catch

 

[Jesterrace]

It's always the one that I'm trying to catch

Sad but true.

 

[AdamB]

I was at Pet smart last week looking for some more Haps for my Malawi cichlid tank setup I started talking to the employee there and he said last week that this one particular cichlid was jumping from tank to tank fighting and killing some of the smaller cichlids . They don’t have that fish now . it was sold . The young employee didn’t know what kind of cichlid he was but said that was the craziest thing to see. Pretty smart.
I have a melanurus wrasse in my tank and that is one smart fish .

 

[Matt Carden]

It may come down to the difference between individual swimmers like Wrasse and Schooling like Tangs.

 

[Doctorgori]

It may come down to the difference between individual swimmers like Wrasse and Schooling like Tangs.

I was thinking the same thing ...baitfish vs predators like groupers ... and again excuse any retread on fish intelligence

 

[flagg37]

For an animal to be considered a fish it needs to have gills and fins. That would exclude dolphins and octopuses even though I’d consider them to be the smartest animals in the ocean. Sharks are fish though and they are pretty intelligent.

 

[ReefBeta]

Technically, smartness of animals are measured by brain weight percentage to body.

For me, I consider finicky eaters to be dump fish. Basically they failed to learn about new foods. We always used term "training" for food. So they're the ones that failed the training the most. It kinda much our definition of stupid ... Not saying it's a fair standard to judge them, but that's the closet analog I can think of.

So I consider my red dragonet to be pretty smart, as it learn to eat frozen mysis without me training it.

 

[ScottR]

I’ve wondered the same . I have freshwater and saltwater setups on and off growing up and I have noticed and experienced the cichlid species are more advanced than other freshwater fish I Would assume like every animal species that some sub species are smarter than others.

I have to agree with this. I had an Oscar way back. He always came up to me when I was by the tank. Probably wanted food. But he wouldn’t do it with anyone else. So he could recognize me. He also would furiously swim at my dog when it was near the tank. Smartest fish I’ve ever had. I find saltwater fish to have their own instincts built in and they don’t seem to be too individually different. Maybe others have had special experiences with their saltwater fish. But a six line behaves like a six line. A yellow tang behaves like a yellow tang and so forth.

 

[S.Pepper]

I don't know if they are the smartest fish, but puffers seem to have the best personality. They seem to interact with their owner, and occasionally spit water at them. Heck yeah, I'm going with puffers as the smartest fish. lol

 

[Hemmdog]

Puffers are known to be the “smartest” fish. Personally my wild Moyers leopard super male is super smart. My dumbest fish is my foxface.

 

[S.Pepper]

For an animal to be considered a fish it needs to have gills and fins. That would exclude dolphins and octopuses even though I’d consider them to be the smartest animals in the ocean. Sharks are fish though and they are pretty intelligent.

You forgot killer whales (orcas). The most intelligent animal in the ocean. If reincarnation were true, and I had to be a creature of the sea, it would be an orca.

 

[ReefBeta]

You forgot killer whales (orcas). The most intelligent animal in the ocean. If reincarnation were true, and I had to be a creature of the sea, it would be an orca.

Orca belongs to the dolphin family.