Several months ago this story was being talked about and I personally have seen documented evidence that the theory Goldfish only have a three second memory was a mere fishtale....I represent to you the updated Story of "Nemo"....
We have in addition to our other myriad of pets, a goldfish. Not one of those pricey pet store ones, just your average run of the mill throw a ball into a glass jar at a fair type goldfish. He or she (not sure which...lol) has managed to survive almost 3 years and that is with several attempts on his life where his little plastic fish tank was knocked over. About nine months ago I decided to get "Nemo" a new tank, mainly to stop the cats from trying to knock over his bowl. I chose an inexpensive hexagon shaped one that had a filter, a step up from his former filterless habitat, mainly in the hope that the cats couldn't perch on top of this tank given the shape. (and it was cheap....after all...it is for one fish)
My fear of course was after being moved into upscale goldfish housing he would die. Nemo however has grown and seems to be much happier, infact he's developed quite a personality. A personality in a fish? Yes, I am not crazy others have witnessed his behavior. When seeing a person approach his bowl he wiggles himself in an extreme fashion, we know this as to mean "FEED ME!" When the cats approach his tank, he swims around the whole exterior of the tank, which makes them chase him, which causes me to yell at the cats, and Nemo goes to the top and blows bubbles, as to say "HAHA CATS!". If a cat puts his paws up to where Nemo is he retreats, if a human puts his finger up to side of the aquarium Nemo goes to it.
A human nearing his tank, then creates the "FEED ME!" frenzy dance. He seems to be able to tell when it is a new person near his tank. If I feed him he stops, yet if someone else approaches the tank even though I've just fed him, he preforms the "FEED ME!" frenzy dance.
Did you feed the fish? Is a regular question around here, and when you answer YES!, the response is usually "Well HE said you didn't".
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22 comments:
I have a goldfish named Jerry (his partner Ben is deceased). My sister won the pair at a fair about 5 years ago (ping pong toss). I bought a similar hex aquarium for them and they did quite well until I moved up their pellet size...I think that did Ben in. But Jerry has gotten pretty sizable you can see his fish eyes move around. He comes up to the side like you mentioned. I don't know about memory but he seems to have learned that when I look into the tank its feeding time.
What is the difference in learning and memory?
I'm currently reading Wittgenstein's Philosopphical Investigations, and it cracks me up because I keep drawing a parallel of his numbered paragraphs of ideas with Jack Handey's similar endeavor. I wonder if he ever thought about goldfish, as miraculous as they are.
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle." --A. Einstein
Aaron, that's an interesting point. Supposedly they have trained goldfish to swim thru mazes. It could be part learning but memory would also have to come into play because to learn something you have to remember it.
That is a wise fish. Hope he doesn't eat too much though. Last thing you want is an out of shape goldfish
That's my biggest fear, that he'll eat so much he implodes from over-eating. Thankfully I think the cats keep him fit (and he helps keep them fit)
:-)
I guess you are not aq Mythbusters fan. They created mazes for goldfish to go through. I can't really remember what the results were because it was one of the more boring ones and they didn't blow up the fish in the end. The show is famous for blowing up stuff after the expermint is done.
Don't you have enough mouths to feed without pets?
I guess I can believe that the fish has trained everyone in the house, but I still think it's a little nutty.
Have you tried to ignored the fish to see how long and errattic the dance would become. That would be fun. Of course, feed the fish later, but just have fun with it.
I've watched Mythbusters a few times, like the time they recreated the can of biscuit dough blowing up in the car.
I have alot less pets now than before, when the older three moved they took some of theirs with them, and then having Draco die was hard, still seems strange to not have a dog, but the cats don't seem to miss him at all.
Despite having seen Nemo numerous times, my kids still think banging on the aqauarium is a good idea, so I can't tell you of goldfish, but I do think memory is an interesting thing.
Alex, who's five, is mostly non-verbal and generally speaking does not pay attention to much of what goes on, as far as our schedules go. Yet, he knows when it's Wednesday and coming on seven o'clock, because that's when Scott (a family friend) comes to pick him up. He'll bring us his shoes (or even, occasionally, put them on himself) and work on getting ready without anyone telling him it's time or indicating it in any way. It's an interesting phenomenon to watch.
I think some children who are non-verbal as well as adults end up with a more sensitive body clock when it comes to things like that.
When I worked in a nursing home I saw that happen too, where they would not be that aware of their situation yet know if a meal was late or a visitor that came regularly did not show for some reason.
The human brain has so many functions and powers we don't understand I guess the same would apply for all creatures, even goldfish.
:-)
Let's try to analyze this:
Fish eats fish food
Fish food is made from fish
Fish has long been called brain food
Fish gets bigger eating fish food
Bigger fish, bigger brain
Makes perfect sense to me…
Good logic HT, that might be it. It surprised me the first time I read the goldfish food ingredients.
:-)
Fish food is made out of fish? That's not right! Shouldn't it be...I don't know...seaweed or plankton or something? What would a wild goldfish eat?
I guess a wild goldfish would eat either smaller fish or waterplants but fish meal is the top ingredient in almost all gold fish and tropical fish food.
Mine also has squid meal and fish liver meal along with corn, wheat and soy flour...
:-)
Somehow, feeding snakes doesn't seem so bad now.
Thankfully I have avoided most reptiles, though we have had turtles and frogs and released an occasional garter snake or toad that the girls thought would make an awesome pet. I know a few people that have snakes and other lizzards but since despite their claims they will take care of the critter? I know better.
Our friends had snakes for awhile. My boys wanted some, too, but I will not allow anything that requires breeding rodents to maintain. We get a few brave mice each winter that have to be tracked down (but we're getting better at it, which is a plus), I don't want any in cages.
I used to take great pleasure in Krissy, my cat's, mousing abilities. Unfortunately, another cat is not in our future prospects.
Thankfully here no mice but at the trailer and at the farm house I lived in when the weather got cold we always had mice even with the cats. My oldest cat Axle who is almost 17 is my "mouser" unfortunately he liked to leave them as surprise presents for people. I'll never forget the time he put several dead mice in my oldest daughters backpack and she didn't discover them until she was at a friends house.
:-)
Eeek! Krissy left them on the doorstep, so she was much more polite about the matter. If it happened inside, she'd take it into the basement or the garage, depending on the residence.
She's been gone about three years now. I had her since I was twelve, so I'd thought I'd be really distraught when she disappeared (after a move), but her disappearance turned out to be the best solution.
We just couldn't convince Alex to leave the litter box alone and there was no safe place to put it in our new apartment (which was the same apartment that became the catalyst for buying a house). I wasn't willing to get give her away or put her down, so leaving of her own volition seems the best possible scenario.
Now, I just couldn't manage a pet on top of everything else, plus my husband doesn't like animals. He put up with Krissy (the distaste was mutual) because I'd had her for so long. At my self-deluding best, I imagine her warming the lap of some lonely, old woman who was just waiting for someone to need her.
I'm sure she's okay, we miss our cats more than they miss us.
I'll tell you the short story of Lily the cat my son found. She gave me one of the cats I have and one my daughter has but she did not like the dogs so after coming and going for a few years she didn't come back for two years. Then one day she reappeared looking extremely well cared for. She visited with us, saw the dogs were still there and then? Left again as to tell us "screw you I'm going back to that other family".
If she did not find someone she would have come back to you.
:-)
Thank you. I'm sure Krissy can fend for herself. She raised, probably a dozen kittens, who all ended up with good homes (two we kept within the family) and was a farm cat for four years, so I'm sure she managed.
:-)
(See, I'm learning the trick to smileys!)
I'm sure she's okay too, else she would have come back to you. Lily's children were never outside cats so I've had them since they were born at our house. Most of them I found homes for thankfully. Then? I waited to long and one of her sons got one of his sisters in the "family way". Only one of that litter made it I think she was too young. I have him with me as well, he looks like a smaller version of his dad. Then? I took steps to make sure that didn't happen again.
:-)
lol there is a whole list of symbols that existed before the "smileys" came into play.
:-) smile
:-( frown
:-/ or :-\ cynical, undecided, or irked
:-| unsure, deadpan or indifferent
;-) wink
:-D wide grin
:-P or :-p tongue sticking out
Those are the basics - and on some webformats by entering one of those it creates the icon.
:-)
lol - I was thinking more of the pushing it to the next line part, so it didn't end up disjointed.
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