cichlid memory

[Dark Jester]

I have always heard fish have very very minimal memory retention. That is why you can catch a fish, release it, and catch it again seconds later using the same bait.

Don't know if its true, but it seems to make sense.

^^ I've actually done that a few times. Or catch one that someone else in the boat released not 30 seconds before.

Some are capable of remembering though I think. My JD's and Firemouths will beg for food at the front of the tank when they see me walk by, but they don't do that when my wife or kids walk by. They remember who gives them food.

Maybe the ones you double-catch when fishing are operating more on instinct. "See food, grab it".

I have a couple guppies in my cray tank that have been nabbed as well and got away, part of their tails chewed off. Those ones don't swim near the bottom anymore, while the others still do. Behavioral conditioning, but it signifies that there is a memory there.

 

[Laticauda]

Maybe the ones you double-catch when fishing are operating more on instinct. "See food, grab it".

Also, when you have fish in your home, you feed them every day, multiple times a day. Fish who are being caught don't have the luxury of getting to know you personally and knowing that you mean food.

 

[thor meeki]

Experienced anglers know, that fishing pressure will, affect the way game fish respond to lures, & lure presentation.
Read a few issues of bassmaster magazine, & infishermen magazine. I think you would be surprised at their memory, & intelligence.

 

[packer43064]

Memory? I think so.

However what you are describing is not the memory of one fish of another fish, but rather aggression realized, no mater the individual fishes involved, i.e. one fish is simply more aggressive than the other.

Agreed. I was going to mention this. I think it's possible though.

 

[Brian_Indiana]

^^ I've actually done that a few times. Or catch one that someone else in the boat released not 30 seconds before.

Some are capable of remembering though I think. My JD's and Firemouths will beg for food at the front of the tank when they see me walk by, but they don't do that when my wife or kids walk by. They remember who gives them food.

Maybe the ones you double-catch when fishing are operating more on instinct. "See food, grab it".

I have a couple guppies in my cray tank that have been nabbed as well and got away, part of their tails chewed off. Those ones don't swim near the bottom anymore, while the others still do. Behavioral conditioning, but it signifies that there is a memory there.

I know a couple extreme PETA type people that are against fishing due to fish memory. They claim that the fish will remember being hooked and therefore be scared to eat again. There claim is that even if you release them, they will just starve due to trauma of what you caused them. Of course these are the same people that get mad at the car when a deer runs across the highway and gets hit.

 

[Moloch]

I've only had my JD for a month or two now and he seems to have some amount of memory. Like everyone else's experience, he remembers that I feed him and swims around the front glass causing a commotion until I notice him. Then when I approach and go under the stand to grab the food he chills out and waits. When he sees the bag of cichlid staple he gets a little annoyed...sometimes he'll swim up & grab a floating pellet but he just spits em back out & then swims back to the mid level, looks up towards the top and waits for the sinking carnivore pellets. A lot of times when I drop the pellet the current takes it all over the tank...he'll chase it down, gulp it and return to the front position waiting for the next one.

Feeding him is fun

Other than that I haven't noticed a whole lot...my larger bichir seems to come out and say hello when I'm in the room, but the smaller sen & two pictus cats pretty much ignore me...as do all my convicts (except the breeding pair when they attack the glass if you approach) and tiger barbs.

So....depends on the fish?

 

[Redearsunfish]

Fish do have a great deal of memory. As far as fishing goes, fish learn what is a lure and what is not a lure. I see very very few starving healthy fish. I'd argue that few adult fish will hit the exact same lure twice. Live bait, different story, but even then they can become hook shy. I've been fishing for 35 years.

 

[dlobom]

I've only had my JD for a month or two now and he seems to have some amount of memory. Like everyone else's experience, he remembers that I feed him and swims around the front glass causing a commotion until I notice him. Then when I approach and go under the stand to grab the food he chills out and waits. When he sees the bag of cichlid staple he gets a little annoyed...sometimes he'll swim up & grab a floating pellet but he just spits em back out & then swims back to the mid level, looks up towards the top and waits for the sinking carnivore pellets. A lot of times when I drop the pellet the current takes it all over the tank...he'll chase it down, gulp it and return to the front position waiting for the next one.

Feeding him is fun

Other than that I haven't noticed a whole lot...my larger bichir seems to come out and say hello when I'm in the room, but the smaller sen & two pictus cats pretty much ignore me...as do all my convicts (except the breeding pair when they attack the glass if you approach) and tiger barbs.

So....depends on the fish?

Who knows if that is actual memory, or a Pavlovian response to the established routine.

 

[Moloch]

^ pavlovian responses don't work without memory...that doesn't make any sense at all.

You have to be able to remember A) what the bell sounds like, B) what happened when the bell rang and C) that its been happening over & over again.

 

[knifegill]

pavlovian responses don't work without memory...that doesn't make any sense at all.

You have to be able to remember A) what the bell sounds like, B) what happened when the bell rang and C) that its been happening over & over again.

Not true. A conditioned response is simply a reaction to stimuli that has been shaped by past experiences. You don't need to have any actual memory of the experience to show a shaped response.