PhishFor20

I always remember my mom telling me a goldfish only has a 5 second memory span, is this really true?

richard7467

didnt think it was that long i remember being told 3 secs

sirdarksol

Try "lifetime."
Mythbusters completely busted the 3-second memory. It was likely a story people told to make themselves feel better about keeping a fish in a tiny bowl "by the time it gets to one edge of the bowl, it's already forgotten the other side."
My goldfish and koi are, I believe, about as smart as your average dog or cat. They can recognize my footsteps from my wife's. They act different when I'm around as opposed to when she's around, because I'm the one who feeds them.
They can be taught to do tricks like follow a path through a maze or even leap through a hoop.

PhishFor20

what! how do you achieve that?

sirdarksol

The maze thing is pretty easy. In the Mythbusters episode, Jamie had the goldfish traveling a simple maze in a matter of an hour. (Though they definitely could have used some information on the nitrogen cycle). He just used food to show them where the passages were. By the end of the run (which lasted a week, I think), the fish would travel the entire maze with no aid, just to get a treat at the end.
I'm not sure about the hoop thing, but I'm sure that, as with any other trick with any other critter, food is an excellent training aid.

sjlchgo

Here's an easy way to disprove that theory....stick your net in the tank and watch them run!!

MissMTS

seriously! lol!

COBettaCouple

Fish can easily remember for a long time. They can learn to recognize people, food, etc. and they really seem to remember as much as any pet.

richard7467

lol I like the net theory

Chief_waterchanger

This wasn't a goldfish, but Dino used to have a Blackbelt cichlid in his home, by his back door. If the fish didn't recognize whoever was coming in the house, even if they came in with Dino by their side, the fish would splash them with water... Once the fish recognized the person it was fine and they didn't get splashed anymore, but if that isn't fish memory I don't know what is.

As far as bettas go, I posted in another thread about my dad training his betta to go to one corner for food, and the betta now lets him literally pet him. (Dad reaches into the water and his betta, Homer, floats up to his finger. Dad can stroke him, and sometimes will push him deeper in the water and move his finger, but Homer takes that as a game and comes back to his finger.)

Usually the larger the fish the larger their brain. Some of the larger cichlids and goldfish and carp (koi) could theoretically be smart enough to have complex thoughts. (thoughts that equal more than, "food, sleep, reproduce, repeat.".. Sometimes humans don't show more complex thought than the fish. :O lol.

Neville

That's a false statement, all fish have lifetime memories, they will recognize u when u approach the tank, actually they will start to link u with their food! so how come they have 5 second memory span? they will be afraid of strangers but they will not fear u!

Allie

Fish must have memories, even goldies. All the fish we've had recognize me as the food lady. We trade some angelfish at our LFS and every time I went in they swam right up to the front of the tank to see me. Or make me feel guilty. lol

Narcicius

The net theory is funny but when little kids find it amusing it leads to death from stress, as if a giant square doom is chasing a being around in a cage. But sure that is definitely one example.