Fishes....?

Question

I reeealy want to do test the memory or intelligence of a fish.
The first idea I came up with is to make a maze...but i'm not really sure how im going to test the fish's inteligence with a maze....
Can anyone help me with this project?
Or if you have any other fish projects i can do to test their intelligence or memory, feel free to type them!

Thank you!

Answer 1

First think of a task, with food as a reward. Say, you tap the glass three times, and if the fish come, you throw in the food at that spot. Over days he'll learn to come after only one tap, or maybe only has to see you to go to that spot. That's a basic thing to get you used to 'training' your fish. Now, to make a maze, create inserts for the tank that have holes in them. start with only one. the fish has to swim through the hole to get to the food. Keep making more and more inserts, with holes offset so that it's not just swimming in a straight line. Soon, you have a fishy maze. Now, time your fish in this maze. each day the fish should go faster to the food. good luck!

Answer 2

The Tests
I tested the fish in three different ways: discerning color, number and shapes. Here is the technique:

First, I trained the fish to follow my finger across the outside of the glass, and dropped food into the tank near my finger. This trained the fish to associate that "finger = food."
Then, I substituted an 8 cm red cap for my finger, and did the same thing (I used the lid of the TetraMin container). After several weeks, he was able to discern that the "red cap = food." Already, this demonstrated that the fish could make new connections of facts. He can learn!
Next, I did a test to see whether he could discern red from brown. First, I placed two small food granules on top of the red disk. With my index finger, I covered the food on the red cap. I put the index finger of my other hand on the same place on the brown disc - but no food was hidden on that side. Standing about half a meter away from the tank with the two discs close together, I paused for five seconds. Then I moved forward slowly, spreading the caps apart (I had to look up to avoid watching the fish, so that his movements would not influence me). Whichever circle the fish went to first (within a few centimeters) was his choice. When he was right, I gave him the food; when he was wrong, I did not. When he was wrong, I took the wrong cap away and showed him the right one. I would randomly switch which hand had the red cap. Then every two minutes I would repeat the experiment, five times total each night, recording the results each time.
After several weeks, I gave him a final test: five trials in the morning, and five trials in the evening for two days. Could he learn that "red = food" but "brown = no food?" If he could learn that, it would prove that he could distinguish colors as well.
Next, I tested if he could distinguish abstract symbols. I put a 3 cm "O" on one 8 cm diameter white paper disc, and a 3 cm "*" on another white paper disc. He only got the food reward if he first approached the "O" disc.
Finally, can he count? On one white disc, I placed a single 1 cm solid dot. On the other, I placed three of the dots. Could he be trained to come only to the single dot?
Observations
Overall, the fish succeeded in doing very well on the color test and the shapes test, but not the number test (see graphs). On the color test, the fish got 18 out of 20 tests correct, for an accuracy rate of 90%! Statistically, the odds of him "guessing" the correct color that well were only 1:2500 (see table). In the abstract shapes test, he got 38/50 correct, i.e., he was right 76% of the time. The odds of doing this well just by chance were only 1:5000. For the number test, he only got 9/20 trials correct, which was not any different from pure luck.


Test Trials Correct %Correct Odds
Red disc vs. Brown Disc 20 18 90% 1:2500
1 Circle vs. 3 Circles 20 9 45% 1:1.5
Circle vs. Star 50 38 76% 1:5000

Therefore, I proved that a fish can learn to make new associations (red gets food, not brown; and "O" gets food, not "*.") This showed that he is capable of learned intelligence. He can make his own decisions, and not just act instinctively. I also proved fish can see color and that he can see shapes through the tank. It is not clear why, but the fish was not able to tell the difference between one dot and three. This would have seemed important, because fish need to know how many fish are attacking them.

Final Analysis
This simple procedure - testing if a fish can be trained to distinguish one target versus another - allows us to communicate with our fish. It allows the fish to demonstrate to us what he knows. If you have noticed that your fish reacts when you approach the tank, maybe you can train yours. See how smart your fish really is. Have fun with this, and maybe your fish will have fun with you!

Answer 3

Create a few different panels that will separate the tank in two. Put a border around an opening in a different spot in each panel. See if the fish can learn to tell when/where the opening is.

Answer 4

It might be easier to set up a small hoop in the fish's aquarium and try to get the fish to swim through it. I have heard of other experiments that used that method. Also, you can set up a mirror to see how they react to their own reflections. It's generally very difficult to get fish to swim through a maze because fish don't have the best attention spans and aren't very intelligent..

Answer 5

I'm not to sure about the maze except that the myth busters did it on discovery channel. I have seen hoop training though, here is a link to a video of it, watch it and see if you can use any of these training techniques for your maze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuLctFODsTc

Answer 6

try getting a Beta fish to do your test with and put a mirror in front of the fish and see if it will chase it because they will go toward one in their tank thinking it is another fish

Answer 7

Fishes have two things on their minds--food and mating ,not necessarily in that order.Put a piece of food in small pot (with a hole in side of it)up-side down. Put a larger pot on top of it, with the hole on the opposite side.etc etc etc

Answer 8

A fish has only a 4 second memory span so don't try a maze.Try a mouse or something that's not too stupid.
Note:The stupid part was NOT me!