Silver dollars: The dumbest fish?
- Thread starter AquaticAustin
- Start date
Typing is not my strong suit. I just jab at my phone with my index finger and hope for the best lol
I think it is a characin characteristic to freak out. My big boys freak out on a regular basis. I choose to think of them not as dumb, but as having very vivid imaginations. There is nothing in the room to spook them, and yet they will crash into tank walls and lids until they knock themselves back to reality.
tank lid ajar injury--thankfully his lower lip regenerated
tank lid ajar injury--thankfully his lower lip regenerated
In my experience, silver dollars are FAR more skittish than red hooks. I've had silver dollars twice in my life (both in 90 gallon tanks), and they were EXTREMELY skittish, even with giant danios in the tank to bring them out. Meanwhile, my red hooks are very calm, and rarely ever freak out. Mind you, they're also with a big school of tiger barbs and some red tailed tinfoil barbs.
One of my big red hooks went into panic mode seconds after I entered the room and swtched on the ceiling lights.It must have knocked itself pretty silly as it is now spending it's time between swimming around in a tight circle or doing a headstand on the bottom of the tank.
It wouldn't be fair to call them dumb but it is true they don't seem to figure out the aquarium game very quickly like some of the cichlids. Its a trait programmed into their biology but could possibly be selectively bred out or minimized.
I have kept Silver $ but they are way to skittish & can freak out the other fish so i won't keep them anymore. They can be reasonably calm if you keep your hands out of the tank as much as possible but one good deep clean of their tank can send them into a spin again. It does amaze me how they can go from sheer panic to eating frenzy the moment food is dropped in the water which leads me to believe that maybe they really are just dumb. The smaller spotted variety "seem" to have a better temperament but their not a good option if you keep big fish unfortunately.
Well,here we are a full day later and my red hook is still swimming around in spirals.I figured it would either right itself or check out by now.
