Can Cichlids Hold Grudges?

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divemaster99

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
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Pittsburgh, PA
I'm wondering if cichlids are an intelligent enough family of fish that they have decent long term memory and can hold grudges against even people. Reason I'm asking is because I have a breeding pair (with fry) of cutteri cichlid in my 75 community. They've been really aggressive to my other fish and several times I had to stick my hand or even arm in to chase him away from my other fish. I realized that it's more my fault since I should've known they'd get aggressive and I will be getting them their own tank very soon but. I don't want my cichlids to get scared of me every time I get near the glass or stick my arm in the tank from memory that I used to (have to) chase him around with my arm. When I first got them they'd come right up to the glass to watch me, once they spawned they stayed away from me and up until a few days ago the male would bite the glass when I got to close. Now they have no reaction when I come up to the glass. Just asking the question since looking back it was my fault I made them slightly less friendly but I don't want to make my cichlids permanently bitter and I want to give cichlids another chance since again, it was my fault I viewed them as bad fish for a while. And yes this is a serious question.
 
I don't think animals or fish "hold grudges", but they are trainable. In other words if you chase them with your hand they will eventually fear your hand (some more aggressive species excluded). However, I think if you begin associating your hand with a positive experience like food, they will quickly learn a new reaction.
 
As was said I think grudges is too human a term to use here, when I stick my hand in with my cichlids they come expecting bloodworms to start melting from between my fingers haha so they think my hand in the tank is a sign of food. I'd imagine the opposite would happen if you were chasing them, just teach them you aren't to be feared afterwards and I'm sure they would go back to normal

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Alright, I tried handfeeding a shrimp pellet to the male tonight but either it was to small for him to see or it was to close to my hand for comfort, I'll try dropping bloodworms out of them tomorrow night :).
 
Absolutely!

In your case of them being afraid of their owner, that happens often. To neutralize it, just hand feed (finger feed).

I've had individual cichlids hate one particular fish over the other. Held the worst grudges ever Lol.

One of my old red devil's got punked by my old butti so badly. Every chance the red devil had to get revenge, he took it! Butti couldn't turn around without getting nipped, then the red devil will swim off quickly. It was odd because the red devil only did it to the butti. :irked: I wish I was more cautious :confused: it wasn't long before the red devil was history. The butti had enough.

So yeah, cichlids can definitely hold grudges.
 
Lunatic said:
Absolutely!

In your case of them being afraid of their owner, that happens often. To neutralize it, just hand feed (finger feed).

I've had individual cichlids hate one particular fish over the other. Held the worst grudges ever Lol.

One of my old red devil's got punked by my old butti so badly. Every chance the red devil had to get revenge, he took it! Butti couldn't turn around without getting nipped, then the red devil will swim off quickly. It was odd because the red devil only did it to the butti. :irked: I wish I was more cautious :confused: it wasn't long before the red devil was history. The butti had enough.

So yeah, cichlids can definitely hold grudges.
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Fish to fish hell yeah they hold grudges, human to fish though I don't think they can. Giving human feelings to animals is one of the biggest no nos when dealing with dogs, which are smarter then fish (or so they say) so getting a fish to hold a grudge against a human... Not possible.. Maybe cetaceans but not what we keep in our tanks haha

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They do have the ability to remember certain things. My Pearsei got sick and I had to administer medicine and food by force feeding with a syringe. This was a treatment process that went on for about a week. After the treatment the fish would hide in the back of the tank every time I came into the room. When it was my wife it would come right up to her. So can the hold grudges? Well the Pearsei did for about two weeks...
 
That's associating the rough handling with you, just like associating the OPs hand with run away! If you were the one feeding her for a few weeks after I'm sure she went back to normal

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