# Most Intelligent fish - Your opinion



## leongreenway (Mar 29, 2005)

I was thinking about this earlier and it a question occured to me about fish intelligence. We all know that fish do not have a 30 second memory , but which are the most intelligent fish. A few people I know say Cichlids or Catfish. 

I would like your opinions on this matter. 

The Angel fish at work seems to be the most intelligent fish, then the gourami, then the New Guinea Rainbow fish.

The Angel always goes to the top of the tank if anyone approaches, but if I go over (I feed them all), she does this sort of excited sort of tail flicking and swims back and forth quickley.

If I hold a flake just above the water she'll poke her nose out and grab the food.

The Gourami will hide most of the time at the back of the tank and only come over when I look into the tank. When he is coming over to feed he usually chases off the other fish (except the Angel).

Let me know :lol: 

Work Aquarium 110L
(not my choice of fish but look after)
2 New Guinea Rainbows
1 Angel (needs to be moved before it gets big and eats tetras)
6 Neon Tetras
3 guppies
4 Corrie
4 small Golden Chinese algae eaters (need bigger home soon)
1 Red Dwarf Gourami


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## Ron the handyman (Jan 18, 2005)

Oscars there like loyal dogs in water


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## leongreenway (Mar 29, 2005)

yeah, 

my mate has got one, only trouble is its in with a Jack Dempsey Cichlid. The Oscar is always trying to chase it off but the Jack Dempsey or though a fair bit smaller attacks it. It has damaged its eye and Fin, I feel sorry for it.


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## malawi4me2 (Jan 18, 2005)

I've always felt that my Malawians are pretty intelliegent. Bettas are pretty personable also. I think that a lot of fish (and other animals) are actually more intelligent than people tend to give 'em credit for.


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## osteoporoosi (Jan 27, 2005)

IMO bettas are personable but not very bright..
Livebearers aren't very intelligent either.
Plecos are the most intelligent ones, I think.


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## leongreenway (Mar 29, 2005)

Cool, keep em coming. 

Anyone else ??


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## chrisinha (Jan 24, 2005)

i would say goldfish. yeah, plecos too!


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

You can train oscars. I think my pleco is pretty bright.

my gouramis have gotta be the dumbest ones.

my striped rapheal has went out and collected pellets and wafers in his cave so he could eat them without the other fish bothering him.

If I place a worm in the same spot my eel learned to go there first


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## garfieldnfish (Jan 18, 2005)

My dwarf puffers.


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## TylerFlom89 (Mar 28, 2005)

I'm new to the side of keeping fish, but im an avid fisherman, so I only know about those, in tests, the catfish is rated 2nd highest, 1st is the carp, which actually swims around a floating food object to see if its attached to line. Bass are smart, they will follow a bait that is casted out, swimming after it. Or, if you set the hook early and jerk it away, I have seen bass swim under the boat, to the other side, and catch it when it lands, just by knowing which way it was jerked from them.


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## Vassili (Jan 18, 2005)

Yeah oscars for sure. My two are big sooks, but you can tell they know what they are doing.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Fish_doc would have to be the smartest fish I know, I hear he is real humble too. :lol:


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

lol


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## fishouttawater (Mar 4, 2005)

I would have to agree fish_doc is one of the most experienced fish keepers I have ever had the pleasure of learning from.  I would also have to say his site is gorgeous, so he has lots of other talents too........BUT........humble?  I don't think so.   :wink:

(had to edit: I however am not so intelligent, quote option kicked my butt)


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## buddah101 (Mar 20, 2005)

I would say an oscar but my tilapia buttikeforri is probably the most clever fish I have ever owned. It will chase my cat from one end of it's tank to the other but leave the dog alone..weird huh? It also would ring a bell for food but that didnt last long, It never quit ringing!! LOL


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## leongreenway (Mar 29, 2005)

Anymore ??

By the way did a serach on tilapia buttikeforri in google, cant find, can anyone help


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## flynngriff (Jan 19, 2005)

Try "tilapia buttikoferi"

As for intelligent fish, most cichlids seem more intelligent to me than other species. It's very hard to tell, though, when considering that a shy or timid fish will not seem as intelligent, since it prefers to hide instead of eagerly coming up to the top of the tank to feed.


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## cjdirri (Feb 21, 2005)

My ghost knife, the guy is blind but he knows as soon as that beef heart is going to hit the water. Plus he as gotten pretty "loyal" about letting me pet him when I get drunk and want to try such things.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

i also have to go with oscars. can't think of anything else...just oscars!


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

i also have to go with oscars. can't think of anything else...just oscars!


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

i also have to go with oscars. can't think of anything else...just oscars!


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

i also have to go with oscars. can't think of anything else...just oscars!


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## cameraman_2 (Mar 28, 2005)

I would agree with bettas as being really intelligent. I had one that would only eat teh yellow flakes


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

wow what happened with all those multiple posts?? srry guys


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## atltk (Feb 16, 2005)

Hands down my Einstein fish. It is an extremely rare breed (I have the only one I know), known for their baffling math skills and seemingly innate understanding of physics. I'm afraid, cause I think he's been talking to my other fish and a revolution could happen soon.


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## Guest (Mar 31, 2005)

puffers definetly

but the octopus tops all. i trained my to unscrew bottle caps and pop open corks


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## Guest (Mar 31, 2005)

my FW stingray's also pretty smart


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Ron the handyman @ Tue Mar 29 said:


> Oscars there like loyal dogs in water


Yeah, your right about that, have you seen my signature?


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## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

allthough people say that there stupid my common goldfish is pretty smart


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## Ron the handyman (Jan 18, 2005)

Cichlid Man @ Thu Mar 31 said:


> Ron the handyman @ Tue Mar 29 said:
> 
> 
> > Oscars there like loyal dogs in water
> ...


I do now


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## WorldBuilder (Apr 1, 2005)

Smartest fish, IMO, are catfish. They were always very friendly when I had them. New me by sight.

Dumbest fish on earth are Oscars. I've had many, and LOVE them, but they are STUPID. Damn things will eat and eat and eat until they literally kill themselves. Pinheads...

Chris


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

> Dumbest fish on earth are Oscars. I've had many, and LOVE them, but they are STUPID. Damn things will eat and eat and eat until they literally kill themselves. Pinheads...


Heck I would do that is you stuck a table full of Grilled steaks in front of me :wink: 

I don;t beleave the "fish don't have a 30 sec Memory" If fish can remember who their mate is forever, remember where the cave is they hang out, remember to jump through a hoop or what ever that case is....I think they remember very well.

I know when shut the pumps down to feed, All my fish are right there where I feed them from in the tank every time.
Almost all my fish do it, the Kribs, Angels, Gouramis, Mollies, Platties, Danios, White Clouds, and the rest of them,
And the bristle Nose Pleco is alway on the bottom in the spot i drop a few shrimp pellets to.

Allot of fish are very smart IMO, other wise how would Salman know to swim back up stream to spawn, of Bubble nest breeders remember where the bubble nest is to put the eggs.


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## helen623 (Apr 6, 2005)

In my experience, bettas are very quick learners. I've taught my male Citrus over 10 tricks (swimming thru rings, jumping, etc.). Plus their mating ritual is very complex. I haven't had any sucess teaching any of my other fish any tricks other than being fed.


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## leongreenway (Mar 29, 2005)

Nice Betta,

anyone have opinions on Paradise fish intelligence


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## leongreenway (Mar 29, 2005)

are RT Black sharks Intelligent ??


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## Dez (Oct 25, 2005)

definatly oscars. they have there own personality. There like an aquatic dog when i walk past the tank they come up to the glass as if 2 say hello.


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## Fishboy93 (Jun 11, 2005)

I have heard of oscars being intelligent.. in my tank the smartest fish are my rasboras because i always drop the sinking pellet first so all the other fish chase it to the bottom but all six rasboras learned to stay at the top to get the most bloodworms...

I was at a lake that had a bait house and they taught two bass to jump in the air and catch night crawlers...they made a lot of money of that trick


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## solar-ton (Aug 15, 2005)

im gonna have to go with oscars and gouramis i think the oddballs are pretty smart too


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## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

my betta can match certian sign language to food that i taught it but my DP is very smart. Unlike any of my other fish if you put a white bloodworm which is starting to lose nutrition and a bright red one he'll follow them,evaluate them, then he'll always pick red. I'm trying to teach him tricks, he eats off my hand already, very friendly. For awhile i thought my goldfish had learned what i looked like, but then I reliezed that no matter who went to their tank, they had he same reaction like my betta, but my DP comes to the glass for me and hides from others


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## 2complicated (Aug 25, 2005)

i think Cichlids


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Carp are scientifically the smartest fish in studies.


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## Guest (Oct 30, 2005)

what kind of studies were conducted? id be really interested to hear more about that.


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

Although many of your fish seem pretty bright, its most likely it's all in your mind, its fun to think your fish is smart. fish have very developed parts of the brain like the [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][font=verdana,arial,helvetica]olfactory organs, [/font][/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][font=verdana,arial,helvetica]cerebellum, and [/font][/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][font=verdana,arial,helvetica]cerebrum[/font][/font] that control everything no-thinking-wise, like great reflexes and superb senses. but they dont have a cerebral cortex, that's what takes up 2/3 of our brain and is the most developed part of our brain, it controls everything to do with thought and thinking. so fish have absolutely no problem solving abilities.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

The carp is quite intelligent, but the red snakehead has reportedly the largest brain of freshwater fish. My snakehead doesn't seem to be that intellegent, though he does seem to be the most observent fish in my predator tank when it comes to food.


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## Guest (Oct 30, 2005)

octopus disprove that. how would mine have learned out to open jars and bottles to get it's food? but i dont know the structure of a octopi's brains.


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## Guest (Oct 30, 2005)

^^i was refering to what shev said.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Also I remember, when my snakehead was young and shy he used to hide when ever I entered the room. I filmed him when I has out of the room and he used to swim around, but when ever I poked my head around the corner of the room he used to hide, but the other fish didn't deem to notice because the tank was a considerable distance away.
Some cichlids are also very intelligent. I remember with my baby golden cichlids, they used to swim around the tank normally most of the time, but when ever I entered the room they used to swim to the top for food. I filmed them, and when ever I used to walk up the apple and pairs they used to swim to the top and get exited without even seeing me. My conclusion was that they could sense the vibrations of my feet pounding up the stairs and accosiated it with food. Pretty neat huh?


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## azn1stknightsou (Aug 25, 2005)

I taught one of my black skirt tetras to do backflips on command. Does that count as one of the intelligent fishes?


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## bpswim90 (Oct 30, 2005)

Scuba Kid said:


> octopus disprove that. how would mine have learned out to open jars and bottles to get it's food? but i dont know the structure of a octopi's brains.


But octopi aren't fish are they?

Yeah I think octopi are really smart. Aren't there some types which can camoflage (sp?) with thir surroundings (color & pattern wise) even though they are color-blind?


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## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

octopi aren't fish but will solve problems off of the pure craving for food.Octopi, Squid, and cuttlefish have the largest and i think only brain of all the invertabrates. Other inverts just have grouped ganglia thats not really a brain. It's not really inteligent when they open it up, it's problem solving and even an ant can do it, if there is a obsticle in the ants' path they go around or over off of instint and problem solving, not intellect. we give animals human like qualitys just so we can relate to them, thats it


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

I remember my ichthyology class, the study was conducted on a bunch of carp in a lab... using different food sources as bait they actually caught the carp one by one. Every single carp didn't bite a food source that the individual had been caught on before... I don't know if that proves it to be the most intelligent fish or not... but it definately means they "learn" quickly.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

No, the reason is that stress is caused once they are stressed. Once the carp are returned to the water, they don't fell like feeding again for a while. I netted my snakehead and it didn't eat for two weeks.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

I don't think thier inhabition of eating food they had been caught before on is due to stress... because they continued feeding normally after they were caught... just they didn't touch the food they had been caught on earlier... which would signify a learning capability.


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## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

that allows you to understand they have the ability to assume, certian food+getting caught=bad so that food=bad. Genius lol


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## azn1stknightsou (Aug 25, 2005)

classical conditioning. the carp were able to associate taking the bait with getting caught. a very interesting subject to bring up in your psychology class.


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## FishTrainerGuy (Nov 3, 2005)

In my experience, both freshwater parrotfish and goldfish beat out Oscars in the intelligence department.

In particular, Albert, my three year old calico fantail goldfish has been able to learn LOTS of cool tricks, including squirming through hoops and tunnels on cue, squeezing under a low limbo bar, eating from my hand, pushing a soccer ball into a goal, and pushing a football from one end of the tank to the other.

This is not a joke. Below is a picture of him playing soccer and you can find more pictures, videos and even a live webcam of Albert on the web site my 9 year-old son and I have created about fish learning called:

http://www.fish-school.com

He's learned all these behaviors in the last few months using the techniques of shaping and positive reinforcement that I've adapted for fish training.

For more discussion, see the other current thread in fish intelligent "Fish Learning?" in this same (General) forum.


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## voltronek (Nov 1, 2005)

u guys are lucky... all my fishys are dumb!! :fish: 

but i still love them because they are mines... :withstup: 

although, my YoYo loaches and african gobies seems like they have the edge in food finding...


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