Do fish bond? Can they miss each other?

I have two fish, Very unlikely mates Yet they seem to have a very strong bond.
They always spend the day rubbing against each other & the smaller one more than the large seems to get emotionally down when they are spilt up?!?!?!

Do fish feel/think this way?
Do they make friends & miss each other & what if they are not fish to be known to be together & yet act this way?

Before I tell you what kind of fish they are I want some input on the mental thinking of fish in this matter?

 

I have heard accounts of goldfish getting depressed when their friend died.

 

I like to think they do, mabey because they don't have such a big school of friends and only have a few mabey they do recognize each other as friends, I believe they remember stuff longer than just 3 seconds ago
Make sense?

 

Both my wife & son completely say yes these two fish love each other & don't want me to split them up.
Even though I realize they an Odd Couple, it was only meant to be temporary that they were in the same tank & I added a bigger tank to my collection & watched for a bit & it was hard to argue how sad the smaller one seemed without the other & how much happier they both seemed when put back together in the bigger tank?

 

The animal lover in me would yes that fish do bond. Just like my two dogs ;-)

 

I'd say so considering my JD manages to remember which objects in the tank he likes best no matter how much I move them around. He always remembers to harass the convict anytime he sees him in a place he doesn't like...which isn't just his territory. I haven't figured out the pattern yet because sometimes they will hang out just like friends. Following each other calmly, doing fishy things! They always remember where they feel safe and go running to those places..fish that do well in schools don't do well outside of them. Surely they must feel something when another fish they've been around a long time suddenly disappears?

 

Surely they must feel something when another fish they've been around a long time suddenly disappears?

I suppose that does make sense being they are naturally in schools & not loners?

Well the Odd Couple I'm talking about is a Carp & an Albino Oscar.
They are so close, is this normal for these type of fish?

 

I'm sure you know this, Oscars are really really curious fish. They get along with others as long as they're too big for the Oscar to eat and/or they respect the territory. When they're small they love to be in small schools...it's curious considering I've not seen many other cichlids act in that way.

I imagine the carp is big enough that the Oscar might see him as a threat. I'd also imagine the carp doesn't have much sense of territory. Likely easier on them both if they just get along. I have no doubts an Oscar could kill a carp, but you might just have one with a good temperament.

 

My Carp is about 4 times the size if not more than the Oscar.
I'll post a picture tomorrow.

 

That could definitely play a huge part in it! I have also heard of Oscars being sad/grumpy/depressed as an only fish. Other times I've heard of them killing off all their tank mates. I think it goes back a bit to disposition and in this case...definitely size.

 

I remember seeing my guppies play a 'game' together, (don't doubt me yet ),
I have a filter that makes a strong current in one direction, they will swim up to the filter out of the current, next to where the water comes out, then suddenly they'll swim right into the current and let themselves get pushed to the other end of the tank, then they'll swim back and do it all again! Then they take turns, sometimes they will let some of the other fish have a turn!

Lol, is it just me or are they actually 'playing'?!
I like to think they are friends

 

Good morning,

Here is a thread along the same subject, sort of, that you may find interesting:


Ken

 

coryandme-My platies do that too! Especially my 2 littler ones. It's really cute and fun to watch

 

Wow, if that thread was still open I would have gone NUTS!!! (Animal lover here)

Haha yeah I love to watch them enjoying themselves, Lol

 

Many solitary/aggressive fish school when they are young - it's a protective mechanism - as the fish grow they become more and more independent until they leave the group.

 

I have heard accounts of goldfish getting depressed when their friend died.

I believe so. I used to have 2 goldfish and the white one would always follow around the orange one. The orange one eventually died...then the white one acted funny. He eventually died too

 

coryandme-My platies do that too! Especially my 2 littler ones. It's really cute and fun to watch

My platy plays this game of sorts too.

Rules:
1. Swim a few laps of the tank
2. Swim straight up and down at the front left corner exactly twice
3. Swim through the crocodile skull ornaments teeth
4. Swim up and down exactly twice at the back left of the tank
5. Ride the bubble stream over to the right side of the tank
6. Repeat as desired.

Also, I have another platy and a guppy in a quarantine tank right to her tank. Sometimes it looks like they're watching each other. But that's probably me projecting.

N

 

Id say it depends on the species and what you define as "miss". Ill be the first to say, Anthropomorphism is something we in the animal hobby do often, and its something that may cloud the better judgment of an animals well being for some. Such as the idea that baby oscar and a baby angle fish are best friends and they always hang out together and never will hurt each other because they are firends! Because truth is, that oscar grows up much faster then that angle and it becomes lunch.

 

My platy plays this game of sorts too.

Rules:
1. Swim a few laps of the tank
2. Swim straight up and down at the front left corner exactly twice
3. Swim through the crocodile skull ornaments teeth
4. Swim up and down exactly twice at the back left of the tank
5. Ride the bubble stream over to the right side of the tank
6. Repeat as desired.

Also, I have another platy and a guppy in a quarantine tank right to her tank. Sometimes it looks like they're watching each other. But that's probably me projecting.

N

Hahaha lol, sounds like fun! XD

 

One interesting thing I read about zebra danios that seems apropos to this thread on fish missing each other:
"A unique quality of the Zebra Danio is that as they are quite loyal to their chosen mate. Mated pairs remain together for life, and rarely spawn with others, even if one mate dies."
Copied from

 

I had a very odd couple an oscar and a angel fish. I bought them when I was new to the hobby and they were both young and small my Oscar loved my angelfish would always rub against and swim by the angel fish. When I learned more about them and the oscar got much larger I tried to separate them into correct types of tanks when they got seperated the Oscar would go crazy in the tank frantically swimming and I mean frantically! it was weird. He did this for a week, Until I put the angelfish back in then he would calm right down rubbing against and swimming around his much smaller..... friend I guess is the best way to describe it. They were friend till the end even when the Oscar was clearly large enough to eat the angelfish there was never aggression between the two and the Oscar would make sure no other fish messed with the Angelfish. A big exception to the rules I know. it sure was cute though.

 

Makes me wonder if this is an Oscar thing?

 

That's really awesome and completely opposite of everything I've heard about Oscar and Angel fish relations. Usually it goes more like:

Next to a peacock bass my Oscar pretty much eats anything smaller than his mouth my wife added an angelfish not knowing she needed 1 that was big enough by the time I got home from work all you could see were fins sticking out of his mouth I hope he enjoyed his 15 dollar snack all I could do was laugh

 

I recently moved 7 female guppys into their new home and left behind the male guppys and one male platy'''the platy always swam with the females and seemed to hang out with them....so....after the girls left, he looked well...unhappy....after one day went by, he still looked...unhappy so I put him in with the girls....you should have seen him perk up ....this guy was as happy as a fish could be ( other than if he had been a male guppy)