Fun Activity For You And Your Fish

[Skye_marilyn]

Have you ever wanted to play or interact with your fish without stressing them out? Have you ever wanted make your finned friend more entertained? Well look no further! I have discovered a fun way to play games with my fish without and damage, stress, or the introduction of bacteria.

If you’ve ever owned a cat you may know what a laser pointer is. A laser pointer is basically a small infrared laser that will point to any location you aim it at. They are originally used to entertain cats and watch them chase the dot but the same principle applies to fish. I discovered this when I was checking the temperature of my tank a while back, I use a thermometer gun thing that has a laser and tells an accurate temperature bc I prefer not to use tank thermometers. I was pointing this infrared thermometer at my black substrate when I realized my betta was following it....I then proceeded to allow him to chase the laser pointer in circles, under bridges, and through plants, he seemed to really enjoy it and I feel like it gives aquarium fish the fun of hunting that they’d normally miss out on. The whole concept of being able to chase something really gets them excited and gives them a little work out. You can even make little agility courses having them swim through hoops and such following the laser pointer. The possibilities are endless, you can be as creative as you like. It’s very amusing, it’s a very fun way to interact similarly to playing fetch with a dog. At the end I give him a little treat of a few bug bites and he seems to feel proud of himself (it’s adorable).

Overall I definitely recommend trying it out with your fish, I don’t know how other fish would react but try it and share your experience, I’m sure they’ll react in an entertaining way. One thing I do recommend is to do this when the lights are on and try to avoid shining the laser in their eyes. Also don’t forget to give them a reward after for being such good fish. That’s all I’ve got for today but let me know what you think maybe I’ll attach a video if you guys want.

 

[CanadianFishFan]

Ive heard many bettas like chaseing lasers! They also like playing soccer with a ping pong ball. Thanks for chaseing.

 

[Mcasella]

Pretty much any fish I have tried a laser point with will chase it, they try to eat it so a reward afterwards is a good thing for them.

 

[Ms rose]

ALL my fish love my thermometer just like the one op is talking about. i always thought it could hurt their eyes or something so i stopped allowing the "chase". i will try it out and allow them to chase it lol. then of course give a special treat aferwords. great lil story/activity

 

[Kyleena696]

Ive heard many bettas like chaseing lasers! They also like playing soccer with a ping pong ball. Thanks for chaseing.

I thought the ping pong ball "game" was the fish being stressed about objects on the surface blocking their food sources and so they try to clear their area?

 

[cody2posh]

Rushed to try this, my guppies loved it! My cats were a little bummed when they heard the noise and saw this fish getting all the attention

 

[DuaneV]

My son plays with his bettas with a cat laser pointer all the time. lol

 

[Skye_marilyn]

I thought the ping pong ball "game" was the fish being stressed about objects on the surface blocking their food sources and so they try to clear their area?

Well if that were the case then floating plants would cause fish panic attacks. I think they just push it around to figure out if it’s food or not lol

 

[Kyleena696]

Well if that were the case then floating plants would cause fish panic attacks. I think they just push it around to figure out if it’s food or not lol

I've never done it and have never researched it. I just remember coming across a thread stating that it's actually a stress response of the betta and they do not enjoy it. That was actually the first time I had heard of the ping pong ball game.

 

[skilletlicker]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm writing this a 1 AM and my fantails are fast asleep. Will try this with an infrared thermometer tomorrow.
Regarding ping-pong soccer. What do you use for a goal? I've seen ping pong set-ups that rest on the substrate but a surface game might be easier to control the location and width of the goal.
Are human hands and arms the source of concern about the introduction of bacteria?

 

[Skye_marilyn]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm writing this a 1 AM and my fantails are fast asleep. Will try this with an infrared thermometer tomorrow.
Regarding ping-pong soccer. What do you use for a goal? I've seen ping pong set-ups that rest on the substrate but a surface game might be easier to control the location and width of the goal.
Are human hands and arms the source of concern about the introduction of bacteria?

You could probably make a floating goal net out of balloons or something I’m sure there is a YouTube video for it lol, but I don’t recommend it for goldies since they are prone to bloat and reducing air gulping is probably better. You could try an under water set up and maybe drip some garlic juice on the ball to get them to push it around or maybe figure at a way to make it dispense treats idk. As far as bacteria human arms can be a source of concern but I’m mostly talking about the people who try to pet larger fish or use tools from other tanks there are tons of little things we don’t think about that can cause problems, so I try to keep completely separate tools and avoid directly touching the fish via nets and other equipment as much as possible.

 

[smee82]

My fish are happy to play with themselves they seem to only want me when theyre hungry.

 

[skilletlicker]

Imagining a net mounted on a rod extending from the front and back upper lips of the tank. The net starts out as long as the rod, so no way for Sara & Maybelle to miss. Reward conditioned upon pushing the ping ball into the net and the width of the net gradually reduced.

My fish are happy to play with themselves they seem to only want me when theyre hungry.

Sara and Maybelle are only hungry if they haven't eaten anything in more than about sixty seconds and then they think they are starving.

 

[CanadianFishFan]

I thought the ping pong ball "game" was the fish being stressed about objects on the surface blocking their food sources and so they try to clear their area?

Well it all depends on the fish i guess. I have a betta who gets stressed and loses her color if i walk past....

 

[iancrayguy]

Hum laser pointer huh let’s see how my tire track eel likes it lol how to do post videos?