What do fish think of us?

[AKL1950]

May seem a little far fetched, but I’ve spent a lot of time interacting with different animals, fish included. They are a lot smarter than some could imagine. If you give them FaceTime, just like you would your pet dog or cat, they will react to it. Yes, I talk to my fish. The main thing they react to is “are you guys hungry?” When I say that, they will all come out and swim to the feeding location. Repetition is the key to get them to connect the sounds to the action. Just like saying walkie to your dog. They know what it means because they can match up the particular sounds to the event. Same as when you put your pumps in feed mode. They know (assume) it’s feeding time.

 

[Slocke]

They love me but its definitely Stockholm syndrome!

I think this question is most fun when considering foxfaces. Mine get so excited when they think I'm feeding but as soon as they realize I'm there for tank maintenance or whatever they completely freak out and are terrified!

 

[dstockwell]

Well they know when it’s feeding time. And some think that’s the only thing all the time, or swim and hide unless I sit and don’t move.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

those three angelfish would be on the other side, watching me. What did they think of me? I dunno, but to this day I'm convinced I was being studied.

You probably were being studied, and remained a little wary.

Fish are smarter than we think, they live in a huge 3 dimension world, with very little land marks, and not much light. Yes their instincts and reflexes must help them, but I am sure they have more than that. Just see how some cleaner fish acts in the wild, treating their regular customer nicer than some stranger fish passing by. That is what I read one time.They only pull parasite from neighbors, but cheat a little and pull a little skin along with the parasite on passer by, because they like eating the skin better.
Fish can recognize the different persons in a household, and know which one feed them and which one ignore them, though we do not dress the same every day, and only see part of us thru their little window, they still know who we are and react differently to different persons..

 

[AKL1950]

I tried an experiment one time and it was pretty interesting. BBC made a video years back of reef sounds that was about an hour long. The gist of it was not only are there various ocean noises, but like all creatures, there is a tremendous amount of communication going on among all the reef inhabitants. When I put it close to the DT so the noises could penetrate, there was a marked change in the activity of all the fish. They all seemed more lively, but actually more calm at the same time. It was like soothing music to them. May be though, it just sounded better than the constant high pitch humming of all the pumps. Better sounds of a natural reef.

 

[Paul B]

Some fish may be smarter than many of us. The only reason we don't know is because they don't have thumbs so they usually don't do well on standardized tests.

 

[AKL1950]

Some fish may be smarter than many of us. The only reason we don't know is because they don't have thumbs so they usually don't do well on standardized tests.

Probaliy think the best answer is always “all of the above”.

 

[Rham1281]

So a question I often ponder is what my fish think of of me when they see me outside the tank. Do they understand I'm a being? Could they possibly comprehend the entire world outside of water? Are we as humans in "water" and don't know of an entire world outside of "water" same as the fish? Interesting fishlosophy going on here. Any thoughts are welcome, keep it friendly.

When I had a freshwater tank it was in my living room and my horde of Cory Cats would immediately come to the front of the tank when the TV turned on.
I'm sure it was just a light thing, but I like to think they were just really interested in what I was watching and didn't want to miss an episode.