PufferofDoom

Yesterday I was innocently watching my new green spotted puffer when my mom walks in, she takes a quick look at the fish, and then after hesitating a bit, she asks. "Michael, do fish sleep?". Well I hadn't the faintest clue of what to tell her. So, do fish sleep? I know,its a weird question.

Alessa

Yeah, they kind of "sleep" in a way... they just look for a quiet place and kinda float there in the night... because they need rest as much as we do

Lucy

Agreed.

PufferofDoom

hmm...interesting,my fish go to the bottom and lay on there belly at night and just kinda stay there, so i guess thats sleeping.

Lucy

My neons get real pale when the lights go out, kind of a suspended animation? lol, Maybe not, but they color up as soon as the light are on and swim around in anticipation of being fed.

PufferofDoom

Dino

Yes fish sleep.
They shut down half their brain at a time, while they do so.
Staying on the bottom and losing color, are their bodies defense mechanisms to help them not stand out to predators while they sleep.

jdhef

Yeah, but do they dream?

Shawnie

my 12" oscars actually lay on their sides on the bottom of the tank..and they ALWAYS are dreaming of their next meal im sure! LOL

Chief_waterchanger

I would theorize that they do.

Dreaming is the brain's outlet for stress. Anything that has a complex enough nervous system to have neurons probably is able to dream.

Angela_96

I wonder if the do dream? Thats a good question... I would think that watching my cat and dog sleep and seeing them dream that fish would dream too but thats just a guess.
I freaked out the first time I noticed the fish in my tank sleeping, it was my first tank of guppies a couple years ago, I woke up getting ready for work and turned on the tank light and the fish were all at the bottom and laying on the gravel. I freaked out thinking they were all going to die! Then by the time I got ready for work they were all swiming around and okay, by then I had figured out they were asleep...
My grandmother was the funniest of them all, My mom takes care of her and they keep bettas at her house, my grandmother is bad for getting up at 3am and wondering around the house, she turned on one of the tank lights to look at a betta and saw it layingin the plant in the tank and almost got it out and flushed the poor fish. She waited until morning and luckily my stepdad explained to her they slept in the tank.

Angela_96

I remember a little from a psych class I took in college that when we dream it was like our brain defragmenting from the day and all of our throughts were filed back into our brain where it should be, thats where we get off the wall stuff in our dreams from stuff we saw that day that we didn't remember seeing.So I wonder if its the same for other animals including fish.

jdhef

Oh believe me, I remember seeing that girl I was dreaming about!

Chief_waterchanger

If you ever watch a dog that is 2 months - 1 or 2 years of age dreaming, often times you will see them suckling as though on the teat of their mother. Older dogs tend to dream of movement or running, often presenting as rapid, jerking leg motions mostly of the back legs (which are used to propel the animal).

I would imagine that fish and other creatures are probably the same.

Angela_96

Its so amazing how brains work!