What's some good stuff to keep fish mentally stimulated?

[Scrappy71113]

I know that fish are fish and we as humans really don't understand them, but I feel like my fish get "bored" and would like to give them some mental stimulation.
I get that I'm just humanizing them, but I'd much rather have a little bit of over kill and give them things to "play" with instead of them possibly being bored. One of my fish is literally just grabbing the filter and moving it around.
I mean, can you imagine being stuck in a room with just furniture and someone hands you your meals?

Something I'm considering is making a "treat" ball. Like drill a couple of holes in a ping pong ball and put a piece of fruit in it so they have something to figure out that isn't going to kill the water if I leave it for a bit.

Any other ideas?

 

[Hybridfish7]

What fish is it? Most fish will benefit from sand, which allows them to dig or perform natural foraging behaviors. Smaller cichlids will benefit from intricate hardscape they can dig burrows under. Most central or south american cichlids will move sticks or leaves around while they forage for food. Things like barbs or tetras only really need space to swim, maybe things to swim around at most.

 

[Scrappy71113]

What fish is it? Most fish will benefit from sand, which allows them to dig or perform natural foraging behaviors. Smaller cichlids will benefit from intricate hardscape they can dig burrows under. Most central or south american cichlids will move sticks or leaves around while they forage for food. Things like barbs or tetras only really need space to swim, maybe things to swim around at most.

Oscar and red devil (separate tanks). The Oscar has his Oscar room mate to keep him occupied, but the red devil is all alone, carries around a chunk of drift wood and constantly moves the heater around. I avoid substrates for cleanliness purposes. The red devil is a recent addition to the family and came with HITH. The pits in his head collect sand, so I'd very much like to avoid digging materials until he's healed up.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

Well, once he's healthy again, definitely throw some substrate in there. Moving that around is a big hobby for devils/midas. I smooth it back out with every water change just to encourage them to move it around again. I hate sand with large CA cichlids though, I always use gravel. Weighted artificial plants are a good one - they can move them around but the weighted bottoms keep them down rather than just floating at the top to be ignored once "uprooted". Plus with no substrate right now, they'll stay down anyway. I have a mirror for my adult midas. He lives alone (of course) in his 6ft tank. One end is against a wall, so I threw a nail in the wall to hang a large mirror from. I put the mirror up for him to argue with and show off to his "competitor" for a couple hours a few days a week (never leave up all the time, will cause stress). Gives him mental stimulation as well as exercise - taken from my betta breeding days lol.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Oscar and red devil (separate tanks). The Oscar has his Oscar room mate to keep him occupied, but the red devil is all alone, carries around a chunk of drift wood and constantly moves the heater around. I avoid substrates for cleanliness purposes. The red devil is a recent addition to the family and came with HITH. The pits in his head collect sand, so I'd very much like to avoid digging materials until he's healed up.

Gotcha, you could throw in a bunch of random sticks for him to pick up and move around in that case. Just random sticks from deciduous trees outside (with the exception of dogwood, walnut or cherry) making sure they aren't from a residential area where they could've picked up pesticides or random road chemicals.

 

[Scrappy71113]

Well, once he's healthy again, definitely throw some substrate in there. Moving that around is a big hobby for devils/midas. I smooth it back out with every water change just to encourage them to move it around again. I hate sand with large CA cichlids though, I always use gravel. Weighted artificial plants are a good one - they can move them around but the weighted bottoms keep them down rather than just floating at the top to be ignored once "uprooted". Plus with no substrate right now, they'll stay down anyway. I have a mirror for my adult midas. He lives alone (of course) in his 6ft tank. One end is against a wall, so I threw a nail in the wall to hang a large mirror from. I put the mirror up for him to argue with and show off to his "competitor" for a couple hours a few days a week (never leave up all the time, will cause stress). Gives him mental stimulation as well as exercise - taken from my betta breeding days lol.

I would have never thought of the mirror thing! That's a fabulous idea! I have a body length mirror leaning against my bedroom wall I can use.
As far as fake plants, I have plenty of those as well. I'll definitely give both a try. I just feel so bad for him. He seems lonely and bored but I know he's just going to murder anything I put in the tank with him so outside of giving him constant attention, I can't do much about the loneliness. Poor guy stops whatever he's doing and greets me like a puppy every time I walk in the room. It's so cute.

 

[Scrappy71113]

Gotcha, you could throw in a bunch of random sticks for him to pick up and move around in that case. Just random sticks from deciduous trees outside (with the exception of dogwood, walnut or cherry) making sure they aren't from a residential area where they could've picked up pesticides or random road chemicals.

I actually have plenty of random driftwood I could use. I have some fake rocks as well. They're lightweight so maybe he can enjoy pushing them around.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

Not lonely - they really aren't meant to be with others in small spaces (IE the tanks we keep them in for the most part rather than wide open space in the wild). But boredom can definitely be a thing. Tolken (my male) loves his angry mirror time lol.

 

[Hybridfish7]

I actually have plenty of random driftwood I could use. I have some fake rocks as well. They're lightweight so maybe he can enjoy pushing them around.

Sticks would be better, easier to pick up and less chance of injury. He can snack on the bark as well.

 

[LBDave]

My oscar lost it's mate. They used to dig and move rocks together. I recently put a silicone sword plant in the tank. He likes to try and tear it up and move it around. He definitely thinks he has ownership of the tank. On a side note he seems to crave being around humans more. Since he doesn't have a mate to play with.