Intelligent Fish...?

Sounds as though he wasn't pleased with his tank having more than himself as the one male platy in it.

I've always thought that fish are more intelligent than given credit for. Additionally, it's amazing how much human behaviour (eg office politics) resembles what goes on in a fishtank. I strongly recommend you read this http://jonathan-balcombe.com/what-a-fish-knows/

I know I read somewhere that it was shown that goldfish have more like a 3 month memory than the commonly thought 3 second memory...

I used to feed my goldfish frozen food, until he was gravely ill / almost at death's door one time and the only reason I could put it down to was the frozen food; anyway, I never fed it to him again. Several years later, he heard the sound of a blister pack opening and went into a frenzy of excitement, presumably remembering it as the sound the frozen food blister pack made. Poor lad, as it was simply a paracetamol tablet I was retrieving for myself. For that reason, I strongly believe goldfish's memories are far longer than even the 3 months which I've read mentioned as well.

I love the story about Sue and her son swapping their clothes to see how the betta reacted... A little hunt on the forum might find that one.

I love the story about Sue and her son swapping their clothes to see how the betta reacted... A little hunt on the forum might find that one.

My first betta used to flare at my son, who was in his 20s at that time. The betta only flared at him, no-one else. My son swore he had done nothing to upset the betta. From the tank position in the kitchen the betta could see the back door, and I can only assume it was the outside light, triggered by IR, that turned on as my son returned from an evening out that alerted the betta because the betta would be waiting in the corner of the tank nearest the door and flaring as son came in.
We finally worked out what it was. The betta hated black. My son was going through a phase of wearing nothing but black clothes. To prove my hypothesis, I took some washing out of the ironing basket and I put on his black shirt and he put on my brightly coloured blouse. The betta then flared at me and ignored my son.

Hi Folks,

I just discovered this and it's well worth a read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_intelligence

It also has many references for those who want to read more on this fascinating topic.

JPC

I think it would depend on how distinctive particular characteristics are. For example, if a couple lived in a household, and one were extremely heavy-footed and the other very nimble, or one very tall and the other very short, the sound or outline/silhouette respectively might be the cues that the fish picks up on to recognise someone if there is a marked distinction. However, if there isn't much of a contrast, it may well be that the fish picks up on clothing colour as the distinctive characteristic. [Even among humans, people notice particular features of others, and any alterations in those, to greater or lesser degrees than other people do - whether that be a change of hair colour, facial hair, weight alteration, etc.]

I mentioned about swapping some water between tanks in the final few days of quaranting my cardinals prior to the move into the main tank - it was as though the fish detected the presence of other fish and started behaving slightly differently and zooming around to seek out the new fish.

I haven't read the Wikipedia article yet but will do so later. There is certainly some fascinating research in the field e.g. https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/exploring-fish-cognition-using-moveable-fish-tanks/?p107009

I have not noticed that, to be honest. I know I talk to my betta, and even my husband does too. He lives in the kitchen so he's used to people around all the time. I've only had my current betta a week and a half, I'll have to experiment with him.
The main tank is in the dining room. People in there are usually sitting down eating and talking, or just passing through from the kitchen to the hall. It would not surprise me if the fish in the main tank can't tell one human for another. The only time a human is close to the tank is when the food goes in or during a water change. Or when I sit quietly on a chair watching them