Exactly how smart ARE our fish??

[C-Note]

Watching my pond cam while stuck at the office, I just noticed something odd. Most of my water hyacinth, which are always at one end of my pond, have mysteriously moved to the other end. But how? It's not windy out at all. So I watched for a few minutes, and now my mind is blown.

Good old Friendly Frank, my Chagoi, was pushing individual hyacinth plants all the way across with his nose! WHAT?? Is this normal?? I even saw him go back for another, and he would poke at the plants to test which ones were loose, vs. connected.

Has anyone else witnessed what looks like purposeful actions from their fish? Is he planning a conspiracy? Or just rearranging the furniture?

Here's a pic that I just screen captured just a couple of hours ago to post on the "what does your pond look like today" thread. Following that is a screen capture from right now. CRAZY.

 

[Tula]

I LOVE Frank...he's a genius

 

[max384]

My guess would be that he's eating the roots, and pushing them along the pond in the process.

 

[DrCase]

He's just moving them into the sun so the roots grow faster

 

[Mmathis]

I have seen purposeful actions -- whenever my goldfish see me, they think they hear the dinner bell and follow me everywhere, LOL! But that's a conditioned response (on their part, or on my part....?).

I think fish are capable of "figuring things out" to some degree. And I'm sure some are better at it than others. And it probably does have to do with a conditioned response. I have a floating Oase skimmer. I have one fish in particular (a WATONAI) that is ALWAYS swimming into the skimmer -- but after a few minutes, it flops itself back out. For a long time I thought there was something wrong with the fish, like maybe it couldn't swim well enough to avoid getting pulled in. But I've watched and watched it -- and it's the only one who does it -- the fish deliberately gets into the skimmer. It's no accident. I think the fish is looking for bits of food or other edibles that have been pulled into the skimmer. He probably got in once accidentally, discovered something good to eat, and the rest is history!

 

[ZmanArt007]

Clearly you didn't feng shui the pond environment to his liking, so he had to correct your aesthetic mistakes.

 

[C-Note]

My guess would be that he's eating the roots, and pushing them along the pond in the process.

In reality, that's my guess as well. But more fun to just watch and ponder with a sense of wild imagination. It even occurred to me that he was eyeing some of my egg-swollen females and thinking... "Hey, I should start making a nice place to beat the crap out of that lady's abdomen..." Because, you know, fish are so romantic!

 

[C-Note]

I a

Clearly you didn't feng shui the pond environment to his liking, so he had to correct your aesthetic mistakes.

I agree. I should have put some purple plants in the wealth corner. Sheesh! Frank has to fix everything.

 

[morewater]

Don't question him too much, he's a weed runner.

 

[C-Note]

Hah

Don't question him too much, he's a weed runner.

Bahahahaaaa!!!

 

[waynefrcan]

I'm not sure how smart, I have a pond goldfish that will not eat store food pellets at all. He was born and raised in the pond and I guess eating algae and bottom feeding and just sticks with it.

 

[RobAmy]

Nice camera setup

 

[Dave 54]

My lot are relatiive rocket scientists then Carrie not only did they used to regrade the old indoor koi tank but they could tell you the difference when it comes to our clocks going first one way then the other simply by asking for food just prior to the lights going on each year for the 22 years they were indoors., we even tried tricking them

Dave

 

[C-Note]

Nice camera setup

Nothing like yours, but it'll do! It's a Dropcam, by Nest company.

 

[Mmathis]

Watching my pond cam while stuck at the office, I just noticed something odd. Most of my water hyacinth, which are always at one end of my pond, have mysteriously moved to the other end. But how? It's not windy out at all. So I watched for a few minutes, and now my mind is blown.

Good old Friendly Frank, my Chagoi, was pushing individual hyacinth plants all the way across with his nose! WHAT?? Is this normal?? I even saw him go back for another, and he would poke at the plants to test which ones were loose, vs. connected.

Has anyone else witnessed what looks like purposeful actions from their fish? Is he planning a conspiracy? Or just rearranging the furniture?

Here's a pic that I just screen captured just a couple of hours ago to post on the "what does your pond look like today" thread. Following that is a screen capture from right now. CRAZY.

View attachment 82149 View attachment 82150

You should put a camera under water and see what you get, LOL! If they are arranging the furniture, what ELSE is going on that you don't know about! "Hey Frank, can me and da boys swim over to your place for a game a cards and some beer!"