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Have I got a question for
you!! (fish training) 7/30/09
Hi there crew member!
<Hello,>
I bet you have never been asked this, actually I looked.
<Oh?>
I am really involved in operant conditioning (so-called clicker
training-- gradual shaping of a trick with food rewards) and I have
clicker trained my dog and my cat. I have heard about something called
the R2 Fish training kit. http://www.r2fishschool.com/
<Have seen this... no idea whether it works or not, though Goldfish and
various cichlids are used for animal behaviour experiments in labs, with
success.>
Anyway, you use operant conditioning to train fish. Sounds like fun.
Eventually they can do soccer goals, retrieve, etc. Anyway, they use a
goldfish.
<Indeed. Contrary to popular myth, Goldfish have comparatively good
memories and are fairly smart animals, as you'd expect for an animal
that can live over 30 years.>
But hey, I am experienced and have kept saltwater fish, soft corals and
now have mudskippers. (They and my 1 foot tall mangrove trees are fine!
:-))
<Would fully expect Periophthalmus to respond well to training; they are
very curious, visually-oriented animals that feed on a wide variety of
food items.>
I would like to keep something a little more "interesting".
<Than Mudskippers? Hard to imagine what's more interesting that a fish
that lives out of water!>
I don't think this would work with mudskippers as they don't actually
swim and most of the tricks involve swimming.
<But you could train them to come to a combination of a flashlight and a
morsel of food, or tapping certain bits of bogwood and then depositing a
food item, or whatever. The basic premise is that you display a stimulus
(in the R2 kit, a coloured stick) and then you present a reward (in the
R2 kit, a food pellet). This has been done for decades on all kinds of
animals using all sorts of stimuli. With your Mudskippers, colours or
lights would be obvious stimuli to try out, and the presentation of a
small piece of seafood, like a chunk of prawn or mollusk, would be ample
reward. Since they're extremely alert animals, I'd fully expect them to
be trainable.>
I also don't know what effect the salt would have on this stuff either.
<Probably little to none, especially if you removed the stuff after
'playtime'.>
So I am looking for a small fish (under 3-4 inches), could be kept in a
10 gal tank, with current equipment (Whisper hang on the back filter). I
want something not too skittish, and doesn't require live food or other
fiddly things-I mean reasonably hardy. Or yes, can be fresh or brackish.
Brackish is good as I could do immediate cycling. One water change of
the other tank and bingo.
<Hmm... dwarf cichlids would be an obvious choice, but a 10 gallon tank
would really only be suitable for things like Apistogramma, and they're
definitely on the skittish side. They're also less interested in pellet
foods than Goldfish; while they'd eat them if nothing else was present,
they prefer live and frozen foods. Florida Flagfish would be another
option, but they're herbivores, and how interested they are in pellets
depends on how hungry they are. Dwarf puffers and other Carinotetraodon
species could easily be trainable, my Carinotetraodon irrubesco quickly
learning to come to the top of the tank and feed from forceps, but they
have zero interest in pellet foods.>
Also I want a smart fish. :-)
<That's the tricky bit! Learning behaviour makes more evolutionary sense
in animals that live a long time, and long-lived animals tend to be big
animals, hence it's fish like Koi, Oscars, and Triggerfish that have the
reputation of being intelligent "pets" in the full sense of the word.>
I have thought of, but then I am not a fresh water keeper, dwarf puffer
(are they too skittish?), dwarf cichlid, or perhaps I could save a Betta
from its life as a houseplant (though how is the water quality they keep
these things in?).
<A female Betta would be quite a good choice perhaps; they seem rather
smarter, and certainly more mobile, than male Bettas. If you could get a
wild-type Betta, or some other Betta species that hasn't been inbred to
death, like Betta pugnax, then so much the better.>
But am clean out of other ideas.
<Actually thing the Mudskippers are your best bet.>
So any and all ideas welcome. Thank you for taking this nutty question,
your nutty fan,
--Desdemona
<Cheers, Neale.>
Black calvus breathing really
hard for air 03/19/2008
I bought a black calvus and it is breathing really hard for air.
<... Mmm, all fishes (in fact all livestock) is damaged, stressed in
shipping/moving... hence one part of the suggestion to quarantine, allow it to
"rest up" before being placed in a community setting where it may be harassed,
have to compete too hard for food...>
I put him in well established tank, 80 degrees PH 7.9 nitrites and nitrates are
in a normal parameters.
<... need data, not subjective evaluations>
The other cichlids he is with are doing fine and breathing normal. He just sits
on the substrate doing nothing. He does not have any signs of disease no white
spots or no cloudy eyes all fins are good he sits right side up no swaying or
anything what do you think
Troy
<... Read more widely on the Net re fish physiology, husbandry, particularly the
value of quarantine... there is very likely nothing "wrong" with this Cichlid
than that it's new. Bob Fenner>
Night time fishes, lighting, eating,
beh. 1/29/08
hi bob and friends I just set up a 20 gallon tank now cycled for 3 months. I
just added in some nocturnal fishes and I was wondering, do I have to cover the
tank up with a blanket or something to make the tank completely dark.
<Blankets are a bit extreme, but obviously if the tank gets bright sunlight, the
nocturnal fish will stay hidden. If the tank is in a dark corner things might be
different.>
I wanted to know because I don't want my other fishes taking all the food and
leaving none for my nocturnal fishes.
<They won't. Daytime fish won't feed at night, so food put in at night will only
be taken by nocturnal fishes.>
Also can daytime fishes smell the food and eat it?
<Not really, no. Some fish such as Corydoras feed both day and night, but things
like tetras and cichlids are daytime fish and hunt by sight. In the dark, they
sleep.>
Or is it okay to leave some light in it to create a moonlight effect for the
fishes.
<There are indeed moonlight tubes available for just this effect, though low
wattage red tubes work just as well.>
Last, how will I know when my fishes are sleeping?
<Sleeping fish look dozy. Some retreat to favoured burrows or nest, while
midwater fish often drift about among the plants. Several fishes change their
colours at night when they are sleeping, most famously the Pencilfishes.>
Thanks for your help. Thank you.
<Cheers, Neale.>
Is it true that if you raise
an aggressive fish from little to old it will be less aggressive?
1/1/08
<No, aggression is largely genetic.>
For example instead of raising a 10 inch aggressive fish you raise it since it
was 1 inch and it will be less aggressive.
<Nope. Obviously not all fish are aggressive at all. But most territorial fish
are aggressive to some degree, and in general they become aggressive once they
reach a certain level of maturity. The classic examples are things like Mbuna,
which as fry can be quite sociable, but once they become sexually mature the
males especially can be ferociously hostile to one another.>
This was a argument me and my friend had and I really wanted to prove him wrong.
<"My friend and I"...>
:) Anyway, thanks for replying.
<Hmm... arguments on these sorts of topics can be fun, but I think whoever said
that raising fish from babies makes them less aggressive has lost. At best, if
you raise a juvenile territorial fish, say a Red Devil cichlid, from a baby in a
tank with a bunch of other cichlids, say Convicts, often-times the Red Devil
will "accept" the Convicts in the tank as part of the scenery. Provided the
Convicts don't stray into the Red Devil's patch, they'll be largely ignored. But
if you were to dump a different fish into the tank once the Red Devil was
mature, say a Firemouth, the Red Devil would immediately see this as a threat,
as something new, and chase it around the tank. Cheers, Neale.>
Fish staying near top of the tank
Good morning,
I have been reviewing your site and I am trying to find an answer to why my fish
have decided to stay near the top of the tank. I have a 30 gal tank with 2
Mickey mouse platys, 2 neon and 2 gold tetras, a 6 inch pleco, 1 2 1/2 inch
clown loach and recent addition of 3 high fin black tetras (2 days ago). I
recently had some problems with nitrites spiking, about 2 weeks ago, (my theory
is the person who looked after my tank for a weekend overfed them as she also
majorly overfed the cat and rabbit we also have!). I resolved the nitrite
problem with frequent small water changes and the levels are back to 0 (as are
the levels for ammonia and the ph is also good, these were never an issue). The
platys (they are moving around a little more everyday) and the black fin tetras
are all hanging near the top sort of hiding in the floating plants and are
relatively inactive despite the levels being okay. The tetras which were
hanging near the bottom while the nitrites were out of whack seem to be fine and
are swimming around at their usual level of activity. Is there something else I
should be checking or is it that perhaps these fish just like the top of the
tank.
< High nitrogenous wastes may damage the gills and affect the fish's ability to
absorb oxygen. Day by day they are probably slowly recovering. Keep the tank
well oxygenated, keep the tank as clean as possible and feed only enough food so
that all of it is gone in a couple of minutes each day.-Chuck>
Thank you for your help.
Midnight massacre - help!
This last week I have been losing my albino Longfin and zebra Danios during
the night. In the daytime these mainly occupy the top layers of my aquarium, but
ay night sleep in the cover of numerous plants and rocks. Each morning I find
their numbers diminished and some with their tails completely chewed off and
bloodied stumps. There is no indication of the culprit during the daylight
hours, but I am wondering if my golden algae eaters are to blame as they seem
very protective of their personal space.
My tank: 300ltr (80gal) with mix of artificial and live plantings
Temp: 21oC (70o F) as I have a mix of goldfish and
semi-tropicals
PH: 7.0 - 7.1
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Fish: Comets, Shubunkins, Calico Ryukins, Fantails
Buenos Aires Tetras, Black Widow Tetras, Bitterlings
Golden Algae Eaters, Chinese Algae Eaters
Peppered Catfish, Tandanus Catfish
Albino Longfin Danios, Zebra Danios
I have suspected the Tandanus Catfish, but there is only one, a juvenile, no
larger than the Danios.
Until now, these fish have been socializing quite happily since installing this
tank about three months ago. Can anyone enlighten me please?
< My money is on the Buenos Aires tetras. These tetras are quite active and have
appetites to match. I suspect they are out looking for a little midnight snack
and find these albino Danios easy to find in the dark and easy to catch when
they are asleep. As these tetras grew larger they have found that they can now
eat at least part of these Danios when they catch them.-Chuck>
Who's the Culprit?
Hi,
<Hi! Ananda here tonight...>
I have a healthy well-established freshwater aquarium, with red serpae tetras,
dwarf neon gouramis, bala sharks, sucking loaches, 2 monodactylus, and two
upside down catfish.
<Ah...the monodactylus are brackish fish, needing more salt in their water than
any of the rest can live with now, and needing full-strength saltwater as
adults. They should be in their own tank.>
Recently I was given 6 Neon Tetras, and one disappeared quickly. I assume one
of the larger fish ate it, but don't know which is the culprit. Before I got the
Monos, one of the red serpae tetras also disappeared, so I'm wondering if the
upside down Catfish are the predators. Any ideas?
<Those catfish are omnivores, but then, neither grouamis nor bala sharks are
vegetarians, either... hard to say who the culprit was. --Ananda>
Thanks, Eleanor
Carbon
Hi there,
I have two questions for you:
1. Can I use carbon to break up the bond between chlorine and ammonia rather
then using conditioners (de-chlor)?
<Yes>
And how long should I wait, 24 hour?
<Should be sufficient.>
2. My brother asked me a silly question, do fishes know their owner (I think he
meant the person who feeds them)?
<Fish can definitely learn who feeds them and respond by coming to the top of
the tank. -Steven Pro>
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