Do your fish have personalities?

We have a new fish tank, about 3 weeks old now. My kids and I are having a blast watching them. I'm so impressed with the different personalities the fish have!

guppies - These guys are super curious, come up to my hand or the siphon or whatever is in the tank immediately. They go down to the cory cats on the bottom and eat their food, they also eat the zucchinI I have in there for the snail. They are nosy. They sit and dare each other to swim through the current made from the filter, dive in and get thrown around and then swim back out and dare each other to try it again. They are so funny!

cory cats - We have six of these, its fun to watch them swim together, then go their own ways. They love veggie rounds (and shrimp pellets) and go crazy when its time to eat. They have cute little faces/ mouths. Watching them sift through the sand is great.

mystery snail - Everyone said these were cool and I wasn't quite sure how they could be, but we got one and he's our favorite part of the tank! So much fun to watch his little mouth slurping away on stuff, watch him gobble up zuchinnI or just cruise around. He is really active. He likes veggie rounds and when I put one in, he'll go sit on it and take it from the corys. He's getting huge and just goes around slowly like "I'm the boss of this tank." lol

What type of fish do you have and what are their personalities like? (I'm putting this in the beginners section because I'm a beginner and because I think it would be great for other beginners to hear about different fish people have and their quirks.)

 

My tanks are currently in storage, but I've had some real characters.

My goldfish was like a dog. When I lived in my studio apartment, I used my 55gal as a room divider to separate my "bedroom" from the entrance/"living room." Every day when I would get home from work, my goldfish would be hanging out on the entrance side of the tank, watching for me. When I'd go up to the tank, he'd swim all crazy and come up to the top. His name was "Indie" because I was on an Indiana Jones kick.

I had an angelfish named Caius (yes, after one of the VolturI vampires from Twilight) who would come up to the front of the tank any time he saw me and would follow me.

I also had a GBR who, if I sat in front of the tank, would sit there and stare back at me.

 

My fish are generally just pigs. They're all peaceful and get along, but when the food goes in, the gloves come off. Especially algae wafers. My male dwarf gourami will drag it into one of his caves and guard it viciously, even though he's normally peaceful. My platys and cardinal tetras will dart into the back entrance and steal a bite, then dart back out.

 

Well, I don't notice too much personality from my fish except for my betta lol.

My first betta (and first fish), was bursting with personality. He would bite me in anticipation for food, and he loved to surf the current of his tank. He would even chase away all the other fish from the front of the tank when I was watching so he could be the star of the show! He was very gentle otherwise though, he never "snapped" or killed anyone, he just liked being the center of attention and was happy with that. He liked to act tough, but he wasn't really too tough, just a big ol' softie. On his last days, when he was old and sick and could barely move, he let me gently lift him in my hand to eat his last meal. I miss my dear little Neptune, R.I.P. my sweet love. <3

Dreamer, my current halfmoon betta, will swim back and forth excitedly when I come in to feed him in the mornings. He likes lying in weird positions, too, like floating on his side or even upside down buried inside his plant! I tell him good morning every morning right after I wake up, but usually I'm up too early for him lol. And I tell him good night every night right before I go to bed, but again, my schedule is different from his and he's usually settled down for the night! He jumps up a little when I'm offering him food, and he eats every last bite of it, too! I even have conversations with the little guy, but I doubt he listens. Oh well lol.

Anyways, I luv my bettas' personalities!

 

Each of my bettas has had a different personality and I had a comet goldfish once that classmates threw in another student's ornamental pond knowing he hated goldfish. That fish won him over though and would come racing up whenever he was doing maintenance and they'd "play"

 

My fish always free me when I come home. I also say hI to them. And bye when I'm leaving.

My puffer watches me when, I move around the room, more than the other fish.

My platies are super skittish, though. They freak out and hide when they see me. Sometimes the red one will come out, but he soon zooms back under cover.

 

Ha, my platies are the exact opposite, if I go anywhere near their tanks there are all these little colorful faces wiggling around hoping for food, lol. My mystery snails are my favorites (no surprise if you've seen me on here at all, hehe), they come to the surface on the front glass hoping to be hand fed flakes, enen the babies have learned to make little funnels out of their feet and crawl all over me if my hands are in the tank. My pleco is quite the character, he's my gentle giant of the lot, he let's me push shrimp pellets under his nose. My cories are spastic and hilarious, they spend a good solid couple hours every evening surfing the current from my canister, it's very cute! My betta is like a puppy, he wags his little butt when he sees me hoping for food.

 

That is really cool that you hand feed the snail! How did you get it to do that? I don't think ours really notices us all that much.

 

I can hand feed all of my adults, some took longer than others to warm up to me. They just get used to your smell I think, all of the babies that were born here have crawled on me happily since they were a couple weeks old. Since my pleco likes to uproot my plants I have to move the snails to replant them so I think they just decided I was OK, lol. Plus I'm the bringer of food.

 

What do they like to eat? Ours eats zucchinI off a veggie clip that I put in the tank, but he ignored carrot peel and a couple of other things that we tried.

 

Mine eat zucchini, spinach, frozen (thawed) green beans and peas, canned no salt added green beans, kale, flake food, shrimp pellets and bottom feeder wafers. Along with snail jello that I make for them. Both kinds of green beans and the jello are their favorites.

 

My betta is soooo docile that it is amusing. We have never seen him flare and we have tried, poor betta. Mirror? You can almost see him shrug! We had to temporarily house a male guppy with him once (long story)... I watched so closely the whole time because I was worried..but nothing. He swam up to him once to check him out and then he didn't care.

I have a male guppy that loves the ladies, like all do, but he is very fond of one in particular and follows her constantly. He hid for days (pouting, I assume) when she was removed to give birth. When she returned, he was right back at her side. And he has had many others to choose from.

I used to have a platy that thought she was a guppy.. she much preferred the company of my guppies over the other platys.

We have a ghost shrimp that loves to hide.. we always eventually think he finally got eaten or something, and then he pops back up.

Other than those, nothing remarkable.

Edit: My betta also comes when I call! I've been told it isn't possible so maybe just a coincidence but it happens every time. I walk into my daughter's room and he usually swims up to greet me. If he doesn't, I call him.. and he comes.

 

I interact more with my 2 goldies, and my bn pleco, more than with my schooling fish, because the schoolers are more into each other than they seem to be with humans.

My one goldie, Sparky (my avatar), has a personality of an oscar. She's a foodhog, begs for attention, and I think she is amazingly bright. She watches my every move, (her tank is next to my recliner, and wiggles like a puppy whenever I look at her.) It is probably only "feeedme love" but I don't care. It makes me feel good to be around her.

Grover, my Bristlenose, looks like a muppet with his droll little mug, and he is growing like crazy . He has only recently recognised me as The ZucchinI Goddes, so instead of hiding he is right there when I bring him his treat. Watching him defend his prize from my cories is downright funny. His dorsal fin gets real stiff, and I swear his eyes bug out as he gives them The Look that says "Don't even think about putting those barbels on my veggie!"

My other goldie, The Flash, is very shy. He lets Sparky push him around, and follows her around the tank all day. I think he's madly in love with her.. And only thinks of me as a dinner bell. I think I am jealous of his devotion tto his girlfriend. But how can he help himself. She's a glamour girl, LOL!

 

I love all the fish stories!

I fed my snail an algae wafer tonight! I just put it right by the snail and held it and he sucked on it from the other side. So cool!

 

Wait until they rasp on you, that feels so cool!

 

Does it feel like a cat's tongue?

 

My fish have BIGTIME personalities. Red cap orandas have distinct personalities from one to another. I also have black moors, but they have less discernible personalities than the red caps do. They just seem kinda cute and clueless. The red caps, though are hilarious. The guy is a toughguy - really rude, the girl is graceful and quirky.

Here's Scotty. Swim at me, bro.

 

Does it feel like a cat's tongue?

It feels like a very tiny cat tongue moving in a circular pattern, it's hard to describe, lol. It really tickles though!

 

Rocco, that pic of Scotty is priceless! Really exceptional!

 

I tell him good morning every morning right after I wake up, but usually I'm up too early for him lol. And I tell him good night every night right before I go to bed

Aww! I say to my fish "Good night, babies" every night when I turn off the light. Sometimes I say "Morning, babies" when I turn it on in the morning, but I am usually groggy and often forget