Enrichment, enrichment, enrichment.

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My Oscar plays with his basketball. We have 'bounce' sessions daily (1, 2, or 3 pts). He'll also move decor to block fish that annoy him. He's actually a very good aquascaper. My parrot Tango made a mound of rocks to pin a catfish behind the filter. It worked. I had to free the catfish.

Boss the parrot has a lot of entertaining stuff but my favorite is when he 'turns his back' to a fish he can't be bothered with. He'll just reverse direction and not move. He fights when HE wants to fight.

BP Patch would do lots of goofy stuff for amusement like siding down the glass, banging the glass lid, or gulping air and spewing bubbles as she swam.

Most of my fish play with their large shooter marbles and hollow balls. Only one that doesn't go for toys is Bobo the Choc.
 
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tlindsey said:
I love Octopus just wish they lived longer and agree creepy smart lol.
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Yeah, mine lasted just a bit over a year. When it died, it was more like losing a dog or cat than an aquarium specimen. Even my wife was saddened, though probably less so than I was.

For a mollusc... :(
 
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I'd totally keep an octopus were it not for the facts that they need salt and my non-aquarist cousin housemate drew the line with 3 tanks.........
 
RD. said:
Agreed, would love to keep one some day, but will probably never happen. Fascinating creatures.
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I'd never try to talk you or anyone else out of it...but I'd never do it again. As incredible an experience as it was, it was also just too brief...too sad too soon. And the older you get the faster time seems to fly by, which would only make this experience seem even sadder now.

RIP Thing. My wife chose the name, but I would have named it if she hadn't...and I never do that.
 
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Some more than others, but many cichlids I've kept seem to 'like' some complexity in the tank, whether rocks, plants, driftwood... stuff to swim around, through, under, etc. ...when I get some time I'll try to post a science link or two on this. For some having a group to interact with adds enrichment, unless they're a pair preoccupied with breeding and then it mostly doesn't seem to matter much. A few species (or individuals) I've had like to 'play' with stuff-- twigs, pebbles, leaves, etc. to grab, shake, toss around, etc. I have a wild Brazil Heros right now, supposed to be notatus, that, besides picking up driftwood twigs, shaking them a bit, spitting them back out, then doing it over again, 'likes' shoving around the couple of synthetic plants in his tank.

I never do bare tanks, not even for fry.
 
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Same, I would never keep any fish in a bare tank. Closest thing to that would be a temporary bare bag for, say, transportation from the aquarium store.

While I'm here, it's worth noting the concerns of so many people about even the best decorated fish tanks providing completely insufficient enrichment to fish appears to be a misplaced one - I have yet to see or hear of a bored (eg: not behaving as normal) fish in a well decorated tank where all its other needs were being met as well.
 
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