Basic Fish Training

Hello all!

I'm not sure if anybody else has done this but I've figured out a simple command I can do with my guppies.

Every day just before I feed them, I will wiggle my fingers in front of the tank. After a couple weeks, they now will move up to the waters surface and search for food upon command

I've found it's reduced the amount they will beg for food throughout the day (guppies are notorious for that), and there's less fighting between the males over food now.

I would reccomend for anyone who's fish won't stop following them as they move throughout the room

I'm sure there's other basic commands you can teach a fish, so Fishlorians, does anyone have any experience with this? Have you trained your fish to do any little tricks?

 

It is actually possibly to train a goldfish to do tricks, so I definitely want to do that lol. I was reading an article about someone who did it and they did things like have him swim backwards on command or swim under a bridge

 

My 10 gallon when it had green neons and 4 fancy guppies would do something similar. The food I use still was a bit big for them to eat whole so I would crush it up and squish it onto my finger then just tap the surface of the water to shake it off. It got to the point that no matter what the fish were doing in the tank I could tap the surface and they would all swarm and look for the food pellets. I think I took a video, I'll try to find it..

There's also ways to train a Betta to jump through hoops. Mines pretty feisty during feeding he often jumps at my finger. I've considered furthering training him for it haha.

 

I've been tapping the stand on my moms tank twice before feeding and that sends them all into feeding mode. For some reason some of her fish wouldn't come out to eat unless you literally shove food at them and now we don't have to worry about some going hungry
My bettas follow my finger around and mess with me when I'm doing water changes but I'm not sure if that counts as a trick

 

I love this idea! Will try the same on my fishies.

Am also very curious about other people’s stories on this.

 

Perhaps not advanced, but I taught a platy fry to follow a stick- whenever I fed him, I would put a bamboo skewer in the midst of the sprinkled food. I guess he associated the skewer with food, so he would follow it as I moved it around!

 

Perhaps not advanced, but I taught a platy fry to follow a stick- whenever I fed him, I would put a bamboo skewer in the midst of the sprinkled food. I guess he associated the skewer with food, so he would follow it as I moved it around!

Hey, this thread isn't called advanced fish training! That sounds like a cool little trick. With some practice you might have been able to get him to go through hoops or weave between obstacles

 

I'm already seeing the capacity fish have for learning and actually they have trained our cats! The smarter fish in the community (plecs and cordys) seem to purposefully attract the cat's attention when they want to play and appear to run them back and forth for amusement. They also hide behind decor until a cat has put their face right up to the glass then pop out at them, this often results in a surprised cat falling off the chair. This has nothing to do with trying to get our attention to beg for food!

 

I'm already seeing the capacity fish have for learning and actually they have trained our cats! The smarter fish in the community (plecs and cordys) seem to purposefully attract the cat's attention when they want to play and appear to run them back and forth for amusement. They also hide behind decor until a cat has put their face right up to the glass then pop out at them, this often results in a surprised cat falling off the chair. This has nothing to do with trying to get our attention to beg for food!

Fish really are smart! And that sounds adorable! I'd like to play hide and seek with my fish!

I don't remember the source, but I read a scientific paper on fish emotions (specifically regular pet-store guppies) and they found that fish get depressed in tanks will less plants or decorations, even if their needs for food and mates and water parameters and hiding places were met.

This means that fish like a pretty home

 

It's lovely, I was worried that the cats would terrorise the fish so really pleased to see them actually enjoying each other's company. You're right, all animals benefit from a stimulating and pleasing environment, clearly fish are no exception

 

I shoe the fish away, with a chopstick or something, when I feed the frog treats like shrimp. Then after a bit hits the ground I let them go at it. I noticed the other day the fish just held back a bit and waited until I let froggies food sink first. Didn't need the chopstick.

 

I handfeed my goldfish, I have a normal fantail and a demekin (telescope eye) who is visually impaired. I tap the tank to let them know food is incoming, that's pretty basic. I handfeed a few bites (gel food) then break up the piece to let it fall to the ground. They learned the pattern so fast! They come up for a few (polite!) nibbles, then just drift on down to the bottom awaiting the rest, hah. It's like they trained me !

 

Aw. That is So sweet!

 

My baby betta I'm raising chases after my finger like crazy. So now that I've got them accustomed to my finger providing food, I make them chase it over to the betta hammock before dropping it in the water. I'm hoping that in time they'll see my finger and go to the hammock for feeding without needing me to lead them over to it.

 

Just got green spotted puffers, all my fish are interactive and switched on but these guys are another level entirely. They've only been here 24 hours but are hand feeding and as voracious and excited as they are they quickly learned turn taking and haven't nipped me on accident yet. When I turned the light off the first night they got all panicy, one actually tried to launch himself out of the water towards me, it was just like new puppies left at bedtime the first night they are brought home. Bit gross but interesting - I've also noticed they have dug a bit of sand out and are using it as a toilet, they only relieve themselves there like cats with a litter box. Can't take credit for teaching them that but I'm grateful as they are messy little buggers needing immaculate water and this will make it easy. I'm looking for some toys for them, they have a nice environment of live rock, soft coral, and macro algae but I they clearly need a lot of stimulation. They seem to purposefully 'surf' in the filter flow lol.

 

I totally want to get the "goldfish training school" kit, mainly for one item: The feeding stick. See, when you are training 'unusual' animals (like, not dogs and cats) one of the most basic things you can do is called "Target Training." basically, you have a 'target' (say, a stick with a red tip, or a stick with a ball on the end or whatever) and when they touch it, you reward them. You step this up to having them FOLLOW the stick to touch, reward. Then you use the 'target' to say, lead them through obstacles or help indicate to them what you want. It's very useful for animals that you can't/don't want to touch, like birds that are in a zoo setting.

I worked at an aquarium with a rainforest exhibit in it; the trainers worked with the parrots for a few basic things so that they could be examined by a vet and not be in distress (or send someone to the hospital for stitches). It was important that they were not hand-tame because they might try to interact with visitors, which would be disastrous for them AND the guests.

 

Lol further to all of this discussion I'm encountering a need to work out some play/training/safety provision for my green spotted puffers. The little guys seem happy in their environment of live rock and macro algae but I'm seeing just how intelligent and playful they are and want to provide them with more stimulation. I can't find much in the way of 'fish toys' so looking at items for birds, rodents, and kittens. As they are only 1.5" most things are too big for them to engage with but I have a few ideas and when they grow a bit there is a lot of choice. The question I have is what materials are safe to put in a tank without concern for leaching chemicals into the water or the puffers biting off and swallowing bits? I'm looking at those tiny hedgehog balls made from nylon at the moment as well as some of the really small bird toys and replacing metal fixings with plastic ones. To be honest if I can work out which materials are safe I can make them toys, a friend has a 3-D printer so I can design pretty much anything provided I know what materials are safe in saltwater and can't be nibbled to create a choking hazard or blockage.

I'm realising I need to put as much thought into their tank as I do with the cats around the house, the naughtiness is on the same level. I caught one little guy sitting on top of a filter so he was just about under water and nibbling at the electric cord. I'm hoping they're too small now to get through that and shock themselves but I clearly need to work out some safety features as they grow. A HOB filter for when their tank is upgraded and a cage around the heater and its wire, etc. - probably a mesh barrier in the filter opening as well so they don't swim up into it! Lol they're little buggers, really impressed with their naughtiness and problem solving ability

 

This is a really interesting topic, and it made me think about something I might have inadvertently trained my Betta to do. When I first added ramshorn snails she was very aggressive and would try to bit their bodies (not their shells) but I put my scaping tongs in near her to scare her away until she stopped doing it. Now she's very nice to snails. I recently used the same technique with the tongs to get her to leave a new Amano shrimp alone. She's not the most aggressive Betta as it is, but I wonder if the tong trick ( just putting them near her but never touching) has helped her learn not to threaten her invertebrate tank mates.

 

This is a really interesting topic, and it made me think about something I might have inadvertently trained my Betta to do. When I first added ramshorn snails she was very aggressive and would try to bit their bodies (not their shells) but I put my scaping tongs in near her to scare her away until she stopped doing it. Now she's very nice to snails. I recently used the same technique with the tongs to get her to leave a new Amano shrimp alone. She's not the most aggressive Betta as it is, but I wonder if the tong trick ( just putting them near her but never touching) has helped her learn not to threaten her invertebrate tank mates.

Hey, that's a cool idea! Training fish not just new things, but to unlearn old habits too!

Recently my guppy has become a little more aggressive towards my baby red cherries. I happen to have a pair of long tongs too.. maybe I should try this on him!