# Why I train my fish



## FishyFaceFriend (Feb 23, 2013)

Just waned to share a short video I made about my morning routine with my little mbuna Erasmus.

Click on the image to see the video on youtube!


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## Dan L (Oct 20, 2003)

awesome...


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

I remember when you first posted regarding training your fish. I'm sure like some others, I couldn't help but be a bit skeptical about your chances to actually have the fish perform anything at all. It would seem that I've been proven wrong, and quite happily at that. 
Over the last year or so, when I've tried to corral some fish into other tanks by using a breeder net with pellets inside (which works better than you might think), that some species will go charging right in, only to be caught, time and time again, I won't say which in an effort to not offend others who keep this species, (L. caeruleus, haha) while others won't go anywhere near it. When this happens, I always think of the training videos that you've posted in the past and I think about how some species seem to me to be smarter than others. I'd love to see results of a scientific study to compare species' intellect.
In any case, happy training and thanks for the videos!


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## FishyFaceFriend (Feb 23, 2013)

Thank you, guys!

First, here is the updated link:



I edited out the part where I talk about bloat because, really, I am not a fish doctor. :fish:

I do believe that feeding during training is a more natural way for a fish to eat. The FISH sets the pace of the feeding. He can finish what he has in his mouth and then go work to make the next piece of food appear. And I think it is generally agreed that feeding the same amount of food spread throughout the day is better than feeding at once, especially for the grazer breeds. It makes sense to me that a predator would eat once or twice a day, sometimes skipping days altogether, but a grazer picks little tidbits all day long and often cannot stomach a big meal. Especially if kept very hungry.

GTZ, that is hilarious about the L. caeruleus, and I would love to see studies comparing the strengths and abilities of various fish.

Is getting caught in a net less scary for this particular animal?

Is the animal very motivated to get the food due to hunger or perceived scarcity of food?

Does the animal understand it is going to another tank -- and welcome the move? I know of a girl who trained crabs in a special separate tank. At first, the crabs exhibited fear when she picked them up, but the crabs liked their clicker-training and ended up showing very relaxed body language when being moved to the training tank.

_
"For each session the crab had to be moved into a small experiment tank with a grid drawn on the floor (to measure exactly how far the crab came toward the target each time.) At first the crabs were hard to catch, and struggled mightily when lifted into the air. But soon, they got it-Oh, I'm flying to the place where I train them to feed me delicious stuff-and they just held still to be picked up by the shell, and relaxed completely in the air, legs hanging down calmly."_

There may be a reason for the behavior other than being less smart, or maybe not. There may be a situation in which the caeruleus are better adapted - situations that require boldness, maybe. Maybe there was an evolutionary pressure favoring bravery over planning 

The most common reaction people have when they watch my fish video is "I didn't know fish were so smart!" Yes, fish are smarter than people think, but it is not just about intelligence. We share so much with fish and all our fish cousins (birds, reptiles, mammals). To a close approximation, we ARE fish  And we all respond to a of way of teaching that crosses species barriers and is independent of intelligence, a training method that works on all living things with a brain.

Where it gets really interesting and tricky is when we talk about questions like "do fish feel joy, fear, excitement, pain"? Humans are very interested in intelligence as a measure of consciousness. We have a hierarchy of life, with humans at the top, and we arrange everyone else by intelligence = similar to us. When people see my fish do tricks and visibly showing signs of excitement, they are surprised and happy, and then the try to make exceptions to keep their worldview basically the same. Animals are generally stupid / have no feelings / their lives do not matter, EXCEPT for: dolphin, dog, elephant.. and now, p. socolofi ! It is easier to write in an exception than realize that we have been denying consciousness to practically every animal on the planet. I think history shows we should be suspicious of any hierarchy that puts the hierarchy-creator at the top.

Here is a video of Erasmus when he was just a wee fry, learning to spin to the right:





You can see he gets excited. I could be anthropomorphizing -there is no way for me to know he is excited.. but I believe soon there will be a way, as science advances and we figure out ways to measure what happens inside the brain. We have been mechanomorphizing animals for too long.

      that was WAY off topic but fun to muse on a Saturday morning!


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## oleskool (Jan 1, 2014)

Interesting. Conditioned response, acquired by positive reinforcement. This is the same thing psychologists are trying to apply to children. Why is it unsuccessful in humans? My thoughts turn to the word choice. I wonder if the fish would even respond in the same way if he could get the food himself?? In other words if he could get close to the same result without the correct response. I bet the result would be some fish would do it some would choose to go get their own food. Wait I'm getting in way over my head. Cool video.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Awesome video, I would have never thunk it  I see you train all kinds of animals, do you work in a zoo?

Can you elaborate on the "clicker" method?


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## Lyricaltoo (Jan 9, 2014)

Amazing videos! I just happened across this thread while looking for something totally different here and I'm just amazed! I cannot wait to get my cichlid tank going and try this!


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## jeffkro (Feb 13, 2014)

Yup, watched the video and saw the links to other videos of her training a variety of animals. I wonder is she is a professional animal trainer.


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## Mike_G (Nov 8, 2011)

I have a male C. Moori that swims right into my hand and lets me close my fingers around him for a few seconds before he wiggles out- then he comes back and does it again. His only reward is interaction as far as I can tell.


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