clownfish are intelligent. watch my video of mine with a puzzle

[Chad Vossen]

i was thinking about how octopus can open a jar to get to the food inside. well, i know fish cant undo a jar lid, but they can push against or tear apart something blocking the opening.

well, i took a small jar and filled it with their favorite food. i took a sheet of nori and covered the opening and used a rubberband to hold it in place. i placed it into the aquarium and all the fish tried to get at the food inside the jar. well after a few trys, the clownfish started to figure it out but my wrasses never seemed to understand the food was in a JAR! the sheet of nori seemed to be strong enough to keep my clownfish out for almost an hour.... and i videoed them the whole time in 5 minute segments..

after an hour the clownfish had their fill, so i just opened up the jar all the way and let the poor wrasses dig in.

i dont know how to post the actual video here on reefcentral, so i will just post a link. please rate my video 5 stars if you like it, or dont rate it at all if you dont like it

clownfish solving puzzle

 

[Chad Vossen]

does anyone agree that this shows clownfish can "think" about a problem?

 

[yellowslayer13]

ya for shure

 

[digitaldego77]

at the least it shows that your clowns are really hungry! Nice video - thanks for sharing.

 

[Bebo77]

lol.. looks like those clowns are the "kings" of your tank...

 

[Chad Vossen]

those two are ALWAYS hungry...

 

[reefman13]

Great pair. And nice fish. Is that your 20g?

 

[Sk8r]

Smarter than your average wrasse. Lol! Good pair of clowns, too.

 

[Chad Vossen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11340691#post11340691 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefman13
Great pair. And nice fish. Is that your 20g?

no, at this time i had them all in a 65 gallon tank. i was forced to downsize and sold my wrasses and moved the clownfish into a 20 Long.

after having the wrasses, i think even the 65 gallon was too small. the male exquisite had to do figure 8s when he was flashing.

 

[Rewd]

I'm not so sure they were picking at the Nori to get to the food inside. My clownfish have learned to recognize nori as just another thing I feed them and will viciously attack it whenever I place it in the tank for my angel/tang. Often they are maulling at the piece on the veggie clip before it even leaves me hands.

 

[Chad Vossen]

if they were going to eat the nori, they would have gone for the easy stuff on the edges. the wrasses took several chunks from the edge while i was watching them. the clowns focused on the center, which i believe they were going for what was under the nori.

 

[Chad Vossen]

bump

 

[Chad Vossen]

my rating went down a lot... all those non reef loving people don't like my video. i need more 5 star ratings! please and thankyou!

 

[BarkingCrab]

I thought that was a great vid. Do the clowns normally eat Nori? Mind don't. I might try this trick.

 

[Rewd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11395474#post11395474 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by armagedon48
my rating went down a lot... all those non reef loving people don't like my video. i need more 5 star ratings! please and thankyou!

LOL. I don't necessarily agree with your assessment on what they are doing but I just rated you a 5 cause it's still a great vid.

BarkingCrab, I don't know if it's normal but like I said in an earlier post my clowns have learned that nori is food just like anything else they get and will viciously attack it anytime I put some in for my tang/angel. This is also true for my falco's hawk and sixline wrasse. Both will pick at the nori on a veggie clip just like they were algae eating fish.

 

[Chad Vossen]

i think it would be safe to say this needs to be done using a different material as the cover. i dont have any other fish other than my clownfish now so its difficult to compare their reactions to a problem.


anyone else wanna give this a try? right now i cant think of anything other than nori to use that wouldnt be a problem for a reeftank.

 

[coralite]

you think you put enough food at the bottom of the Jar?

 

[Chad Vossen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11413756#post11413756 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralite
you think you put enough food at the bottom of the Jar?

those wrasses eat a lot. the tank volume including sump and refuge was about 100 gallons. lots of hermit crabs that need to eat too. i probably could have added more food if i wanted, but i had enough to attract the fish.