There are some fish that don't get along with others, and I am wondering if it's possible to train them to tolerate the others. From my own experience, I have an algae eater that loved to chase the other fish and bother them, especially the Dalmation Molly. Every time I saw this occur, I would tap on the glass and get him to stop. He doesn't really bother them anymore, and if he does, it's very rare. Am I imagining that I trained him, or is this possible? I was thinking that in the future (I will be getting another tank soon) I could use this to train other fish to get along as well. Any feedback?
2006-08-01 18:42:47 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Fish can be trained (or more accurately, 'conditioned') to a degree. I turn off my filters when I feed them and they have figured out that turning off of filters equals feeding time and go into a frenzy the instant I turn off the filters and before I even get the food out. In the past I used aquarium lamps, turning on the lights only during feeding time...they associated a lighted tank with food and would race to the top frantically in search of food). This conditioning is so strong that they will leave food at the bottom (intentionaly placed) and race to the top even before I add new food in the tank. They can learn this behavior within a week.
Can they be trained to behave peacefully or aggressively? It depends. The tapping of the glass is probably distracting the aggressor rather than directing it to stop attacking. Tapping glass really annoys fish which detect the vibrations via their lateral lines.
It's likely whatever the mollys were doing to annoy the other fish changed (maybe the mollies figured out if they got within a certain distance of the algae eater it would pursue them, etc).
Some fish are territorial and aggressive by nature and are behaving as their instincts dictate. You could theoretically 'pacify' an aggressive fish by adding a more aggressive fish (which unfortunately will only add to the problem you're trying to resolve). But to answer the question, you can't teach a fish to 'play nice'. The best that can be done is to stock the tank with compatible species.
2006-08-06 10:23:58 · answer #1 · answered by Kay B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Funny we were just watching shark week the other day and they trained the sharks to come to a certain door to get food. So I would say yes.
2006-08-01 18:47:10 · answer #2 · answered by KO 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Funny question, but no I don't think they can, fish aren't very inteligent creatures. They have short term memories too.
2006-08-01 18:47:31 · answer #3 · answered by idk 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
fish can be trained, but not to be unagressive, they have to be raised that way and even then they might not be gentle
2006-08-02 02:23:16 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
uh...fish arent trainable i dont think,.
2006-08-01 18:46:06 · answer #5 · answered by and i bought property. 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://www.petfishtalk.com/interviews/training_fish/training_fish.htm
Fish can be trained.
2006-08-01 18:47:16 · answer #6 · answered by helixburger 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋