Thoughts on smartest saltwater fish

[Tripod1404]

Hi guys,
In your opinion, which are some of the more intelligent fish we care in our tanks. By fish I mean real fish, not cetaceans, other marine mammals or cephalopods...

In nature, social animals are generally smarter than solitary ones. Carnivores/omnivores are also mostly smarter than herbivores.

 

[CSalty]

Puffer fish- Can recognize human faces
Clownfish- Can remember their mate after 30 days of separation


SSgt Saltwater

 

[jr999]

The ones that stay in the wet side of the tank.

 

[nereefpat]

I had a fuzzy dwarf lion in college that would swim back and forth in the tank as if it was following me. It even spit water at me a couple times.

 

[Jeremiahinsc]

Do octopuses count?

 

[Alexraptor]

I had a similar experience with a juvenile Volitans at the LFS, he would check me out, follow me around and spit water at me through the corner of the tank. Funny stuff!

 

[Maritimer]

Plectognaths like puffers and triggers are certainly very bright (as fish go...), but let me tell you about a wrasse I had as a kid . . .

My parents allowed me to keep a ten-gallon tank, and I couldn't afford "expensive" fish. In those days, seahorses weren't too pricey, and I had a pair in the tank, feeding on live brine only. Then I saw the most beautiful green fish with a blue head, offset by two bands of black and one of white - a Caribbean bluehead wrasse.

Needless to say, my seahorses didn't get a lot of their allotment of live brine shrimp that evening!

Over time, I trained the bluehead to spit a brine shrimp off of the tip of my finger. Each day, he'd take a few (3 or 4) brine shrimp that way, but that was it. He'd take flakes all day long, but when the brine went into the tank for the ponies, he left it alone!

Of course, being a horrifically overstocked ten-gallon tank powered by a HOB and an air-driven undergravel filter, I don't remember it all lasting terribly long . . . (;_

~Bruce, who still loves wrasses

 

[CStrickland]

My fish are the smartest. Everyone else's are dumdums

 

[SeattleReefer]

my fish are so smart they have trained me to feed them and pick up their poop.

 

[codydemmel4]

my fish are so smart they have trained me to feed them and pick up their poop.

hahaha i like this :beer:

 

[karimwassef]

Predators: Triggers and wrasses.

Goatfish and catfish are social and hunt in packs, but I wouldn't consider them intelligent.

 

[MarkW64]

My fish are the smartest. Everyone else's are dumdums

my fish aren't the smartest -- but they are ALL above average.

 

[bat21]

It's very obvious that at least of my 10 fish, my yellow banded possum wrasse is drastically smarter than the rest. He studies things intently, he breaks up fights, he welcomes new fish, he tries to calm scared fish, and if I put my face up to the glass he plays peekaboo. It's really remarkable. Every other fish is clearly just reacting to stimuli but he seems to be thinking.

 

[CStrickland]

my fish aren't the smartest -- but they are ALL above average.

And all my worms are strong and my crabs are good looking

 

[karimwassef]

And all my worms are strong and my crabs are good looking

Awww... You beat me to it.

Brought to you by the new tartar sauce catsup.

 

[Potsy]

I suppose my clownfish pair have the most varied set of behaviors and are trusting of me. I would bet that it's the case that any fish like a puffer or trigger that has to do some work to break open a shell or carapace to get at their food probably has better problem solving skills than planktonic feeders or grazers.

Smartest fish in the aquarium hobby? Goldfish. They can be taught to perform some pretty complex tricks like nosing a little soccer ball into a goal, playing fetch, pushing a sequence of buttons for food. You can buy the training kits on amazon. I've kept a lot of fresh and saltwater fish over the past thirty years, and my favorite are the fat silly oranda goldfish we currently keep. Great personalities.

 

[karimwassef]

Hmmmm that brings up an interesting question... What is "intelligent"?
Problem solving? Ability to learn ? Adaptability to environment? NPR had a whole show yesterday on fish sentience and the ability to "feel", so someone cares

If it's an adaptive genetic survivability in changing conditions, the goldfish must win. That gold scaled carp hybrid went from being a genetic mutation to the most popularly bred species in the aquarium hobby. The progenitors' color change was responsible for humans adopting them as pets while the silver and black varieties were left in mucky ponds. That's an alternative survival "intelligence"?

Maybe that's too far, but being loved by humans enough to be bred by humans is an excellent survival tactic in a world where humans control the changing environment.

 

[scooter31707]

I say Triggers

 

[C.Eymann]

I say Triggers

+1. Triggers always seem to be thinking. It's especially apparent when diving, big queen triggers will come up and check you out and eyeball you, all the other fish simply treat you like a possible predator. Triggers however, are usually intrigued by your presence.

 

[Bent]

Not a fish, but I'd say an octopus would be the smartest.