Paul B
Premium Member
Yes I know it's a stupid concept but if we keep fish we should try to know whats going on in their head.
For instance, do they think? Are they awake? Do they feel fear? how about pain? Are they smart?
Do they recognize us? etc. Of course I don't know the answer to any of these questions but I have an idea about many of them. No I can't read their minds but I have spent quite some time with them in their home and in mine.
If you want to get to know fish, you have to hang out with them. You have to dive to do that, and I don't mean in a tourist resort where you swim along following a guide and he slows to point out a shark or moray eel. I mean lay on the sand for an hour or so near some interesting fish so they get to know you. Then see how they make their living.
If we know what they are supposed to do, where they prefer to live, what they like to eat, how they catch their food, what they are afraid of, how they find a mate etc. maybe we will be able to house them more comfortably where they will be less prone to stress which in a fish is a major cause for disease.
I found that when I go to a tropical location I don't follow the crowd. I ask a local where I can find a person with some equipment that I could rent and someone who can take me to a decent dive site where there are no tourists.
I always find a good dive site that way away from any crowd.
Amazingly, fish are not like us. Like Duh, A lot of people mix up what a fish "likes" and what we like. Fish also have more senses than we do. We have five but fish have six. They have what some people call a remote "feel". They can actually "feel" objects that they are not touching.
They do this through the lateral line. All fish have this, it is just more pronounced on some fish than others. It starts on the head near the eyes and if you look close you will see a definate line that goes all the way to the tail. This line is actually a bunch of nerves that allow the fish to feel much better than we can with our hands.
It also allows fish to school right next to each other without ever crashing. It lets them practically fly into a coral head at the slightest provocation without getting the slightest scratch. A fish can easily swim around a tank in total darkness and not crash into rocks or even the glass.
We all know how easy they can evade a net dragged behind them. A fish with one eye has no trouble at all and gets along just as well as a fish with both eyes.
This system works like all nerves on electricity. But it is preasure that activates the nerves in the first place. Some fish have evolved to use this electricity to stun pray like stargazers, and electric eels. Other fish use it to locate food under the sand like elephantnose fish and rays.
But all fish use it for navigation, like a GPS, OK maybe not.
This reminds me of a story. I used to go to work with a blind man. He was much older than I was but totally blind. I used to meet him on the train and it was hard for me to comprehend how he walked alone to the train from his home about 1/2 mile away.
When it would snow, Jimmy would not go to work. I just figured he was afraid of falling in the snow.
One day I had to go home with him to repair something in his house and I walked him home from the train. I had never been to his house so he led the way.
As we walked past about 15 homes, he suddenly turned to walk up his walkway to his home. I had to ask him how he knew this was his walkway.
He blew me away when he said that he could "hear" the trees. I said, "excuse me". He told me that there are five trees that we passed on his block. As we pass he could hear an echo from them. After the fifth tree it is fifteen steps to his house.
When it snows, he can't hear the echo's from the trees because the snow muffled the sound and he can't go out.
Jimmy got me to think about how fish sense their surroundings. Jimmy also had no trouble helping me get around in Penn Station when the lights went out.
Anyway, thats my fish story for today. And, No, I am not the God of fish. You would be amazed at the vast almost un believable amount of information I don't know :bum:
For instance, do they think? Are they awake? Do they feel fear? how about pain? Are they smart?
Do they recognize us? etc. Of course I don't know the answer to any of these questions but I have an idea about many of them. No I can't read their minds but I have spent quite some time with them in their home and in mine.
If you want to get to know fish, you have to hang out with them. You have to dive to do that, and I don't mean in a tourist resort where you swim along following a guide and he slows to point out a shark or moray eel. I mean lay on the sand for an hour or so near some interesting fish so they get to know you. Then see how they make their living.
If we know what they are supposed to do, where they prefer to live, what they like to eat, how they catch their food, what they are afraid of, how they find a mate etc. maybe we will be able to house them more comfortably where they will be less prone to stress which in a fish is a major cause for disease.
I found that when I go to a tropical location I don't follow the crowd. I ask a local where I can find a person with some equipment that I could rent and someone who can take me to a decent dive site where there are no tourists.
I always find a good dive site that way away from any crowd.
Amazingly, fish are not like us. Like Duh, A lot of people mix up what a fish "likes" and what we like. Fish also have more senses than we do. We have five but fish have six. They have what some people call a remote "feel". They can actually "feel" objects that they are not touching.
They do this through the lateral line. All fish have this, it is just more pronounced on some fish than others. It starts on the head near the eyes and if you look close you will see a definate line that goes all the way to the tail. This line is actually a bunch of nerves that allow the fish to feel much better than we can with our hands.
It also allows fish to school right next to each other without ever crashing. It lets them practically fly into a coral head at the slightest provocation without getting the slightest scratch. A fish can easily swim around a tank in total darkness and not crash into rocks or even the glass.
We all know how easy they can evade a net dragged behind them. A fish with one eye has no trouble at all and gets along just as well as a fish with both eyes.
This system works like all nerves on electricity. But it is preasure that activates the nerves in the first place. Some fish have evolved to use this electricity to stun pray like stargazers, and electric eels. Other fish use it to locate food under the sand like elephantnose fish and rays.
But all fish use it for navigation, like a GPS, OK maybe not.
This reminds me of a story. I used to go to work with a blind man. He was much older than I was but totally blind. I used to meet him on the train and it was hard for me to comprehend how he walked alone to the train from his home about 1/2 mile away.
When it would snow, Jimmy would not go to work. I just figured he was afraid of falling in the snow.
One day I had to go home with him to repair something in his house and I walked him home from the train. I had never been to his house so he led the way.
As we walked past about 15 homes, he suddenly turned to walk up his walkway to his home. I had to ask him how he knew this was his walkway.
He blew me away when he said that he could "hear" the trees. I said, "excuse me". He told me that there are five trees that we passed on his block. As we pass he could hear an echo from them. After the fifth tree it is fifteen steps to his house.
When it snows, he can't hear the echo's from the trees because the snow muffled the sound and he can't go out.
Jimmy got me to think about how fish sense their surroundings. Jimmy also had no trouble helping me get around in Penn Station when the lights went out.
Anyway, thats my fish story for today. And, No, I am not the God of fish. You would be amazed at the vast almost un believable amount of information I don't know :bum:
A lot about how best to care for fish in captivity can be learned from observing them in the wild. 
