Fish and noise/music

[Karalak42]

Helo. I just wanted to know what is your opinion if noise. Well mostly music can harm fish in some way beceause I play music pretty loud in my house sometimes or watching movies. BUT not in the same room as the fishes are. But even if it would be in same room would it be bad. I was just wondering. Thx. Until now I don't notice anything tough

 

[wednesday13]

I wouldn’t be worried unless u actually see a fish slam into a wall while blaring music… i rattle the floor boards playing bass in my fish room and they could care less… ??… my fish are more startled by switching the room light on or walking by a tank.

 

[jjohnwm]

I wonder about this a lot as well. The music is certainly audible underwater (don't ask how I know this, but it's easy to replicate the experiment yourself...) and I can't help but feel that at least some fish might be affected, perhaps significantly. When I am transporting fish in my truck I never play the stereo, in an effort to reduce stress. I have a stereo in my basement fishroom but only use it at very low levels, not much more than low background noise.

When fishing in a boat that has both electric and gasoline powered motors, try going for a quick dip next to the boat and listen underwater; you'll probably be surprised to learn that the crazy loud gas motor is still audible...but the electric trolling motor, which is almost silent when you are sitting in the boat, actually creates more noise underwater than the gasoline one. I am assuming this is because the actual electric motor is contained right at the propeller and is thus submerged in use, whereas the gasoline motor is above the water and only connected to the propeller by a transmission shaft. When fishing for skittish fish in shallow water, it can be observed that the fish are at least slightly startled when the electric motor is blipped a bit...and those fish are many feet away from the motor.

I'm curious to read others' ideas about this...

Edited to add: Lol, wednesday13 , you were one of the guys I was hoping would respond to this one. Just wait; the older you get, the deafer that loud music will make you, and thus the louder you will be forced to play it! I've been caught in that Catch-22 situation for a long time, and there's no return...I am comfortably numb....

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Just a thought, but I wonder whether riverine fish are less sensitive than swamp fish to excess noise. All the noise a flowing river makes with its rapids, waterfalls, and such would be something they're used to, while swamps don't have any of those, so it's unlikely swamp fish evolve noise resistance.

 

[jjohnwm]

Just a thought, but I wonder whether riverine fish are less sensitive than swamp fish to excess noise. All the noise a flowing river makes with its rapids, waterfalls, and such would be something they're used to, while swamps don't have any of those, so it's unlikely swamp fish evolve noise resistance.

Excellent point! Sound is transmitted better in the dense medium of water as opposed to air, so even a fair distance away from the violent white water there will be a lot of "white noise" audible to the fish.

 

[Fishman Dave]

IMO, Harm them, possibly not unless the sound source is very loud and very near, however, bother them, yes. Obviously fish detect movement by changes in vibration/ pressure on their lateral line. Loud music will be stressful in the same way it would to sit in front of someone else’s loud music speaker all night for us as they interpret it as movement of a large potential predator.
Hence the signs in LFS saying do not bang on the tanks.
Do you want your neighbours playing loud reggae all night…………….neither do your fish!

 

[esoxlucius]

To be honest the sound of music now and again is probably a welcome change to the fish as opposed to the dull and constant humming, whirring, whining and buzzing of powerheads, filters and pumps. All that noise travels through the water, it must drive them mad!

And I think if you're concerned about just how loud you can get away with music wise, I think the neighbours would complain before the fish did!!

 

[jjohnwm]

And I think if you're concerned about just how loud you can get away with music wise, I think the neighbours would complain before the fish did!!

Lol, my closest neighbours are just over a kilometer away as the crow flies; I regularly fire big-bore rifles off my back porch and they never say a word...just as I don't complain when they do the same.... Mind you, it might be a different story if either of us began to play rap music...

But this thread so intrigued me that I literally just now performed an experiment. I have a little tank in my "library"...i.e. a tiny spare bedroom that no longer has space for anything more than a couple easy chairs due to wall-to-wall books...that is close to the window. I opened up that window and touched off a few rounds of .338WinMag ammo on the porch, about 15 feet from that open window, with my wife carefully watching the Heterandria in that tank. For the edification of the uninitiated...that rifle is LOUD!!! Hearing protection is mandatory; standing immediately to the side, one feels the concussion in one's chest.

My wife says the fish didn't flinch. True, these are "upstairs fish", so they hear more general day-to-day noise than the basement fish do...but nevertheless, this was a very loud, very abrupt sound, repeated three times in rapid succession, with no apparent reaction visible. I wish I had thought to put in some food to see if they even stopped feeding at the sound, but didn't.

This, more than anything else, makes me believe that we are perhaps overthinking this thing...a common theme on MFK.

 

[Karalak42]

I wouldn’t be worried unless u actually see a fish slam into a wall while blaring music… i rattle the floor boards playing bass in my fish room and they could care less… ??… my fish are more startled by switching the room light on or walking by a tank.

Wow that's pretty cool to hear. Thx man

 

[Karalak42]

Just a thought, but I wonder whether riverine fish are less sensitive than swamp fish to excess noise. All the noise a flowing river makes with its rapids, waterfalls, and such would be something they're used to, while swamps don't have any of those, so it's unlikely swamp fish evolve noise resistance.

Good question. River more noise than swamp. Swamp more focused on sound to find prey? I guess. Something like that