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

[Scrappy71113]

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.

Yeah, my red devil seems to want my constant undivided attention. He's actually pretty gentle. I was shocked. He investigates my hand when I'm digging in the tank but won't bite. I've always seen them in videos attacking their owners, so that's what I was expecting. But this guy, the best way I can describe him is "cuddly" and "goofy".
I have no idea how old he is, but I do know he's a retired breeder.

 

[Caperguy99]

Laser pointer can work for them to chase around - little pickle balls that can sink and be bonked around are also generally pretty activity-inducing.

 

[Scrappy71113]

Laser pointer can work for them to chase around - little pickle balls that can sink and be bonked around are also generally pretty activity-inducing.

I've done the laser pointer before. That was actually pretty entertaining lol

 

[FINWIN]

Those plastic party favor balls work well. I take an exacto blade, cut a small hole then fill with water/sand or water/gravel. My Oscar has a scrubby old mini basketball he loves. 2 of my parrots play with hollow toy balls. You can encourage play by bouncing the balls around with a net. I also have shooter marbles in most of the tanks. The fish like cracking those around. I get the brightest color ones I can find.

 

[jjohnwm]

My Xenotocas are pretty philosophical, so I find that just giving them plenty of leisure time to ponder and contemplate seems to keep them pretty mellow.

My Heterandria mosquitofish, on the other hand, don't have much going on upstairs; I just leave a TV on in the fish room and they watch whatever is on. They seem to like the SciFi channel.

My Red Wolf used to be into Sudoku, but lately he's leaning more towards crossword puzzles...interspersed with gazing hungrily at the Xenotocas...

My Jelly Cat just sits around listening to classic rock. He's been playing a lot of Floyd lately; definitely a fan of "Comfortably Numb".

 

[FINWIN]

An old pic of Brick playing ball when he was one year old. He had just recently gotten interested in it at the time.

 

[FINWIN]

The same ball a week ago...but it looks smaller now. LOL. It's scrubby and grungy but Brick loves it.

 

[FINWIN]

Recent shot of Kong with one of her balls. She has four. She moves them all day or piles them up in corners.

 

[Scrappy71113]

My Xenotocas are pretty philosophical, so I find that just giving them plenty of leisure time to ponder and contemplate seems to keep them pretty mellow.

My Heterandria mosquitofish, on the other hand, don't have much going on upstairs; I just leave a TV on in the fish room and they watch whatever is on. They seem to like the SciFi channel.

My Red Wolf used to be into Sudoku, but lately he's leaning more towards crossword puzzles...interspersed with gazing hungrily at the Xenotocas...

My Jelly Cat just sits around listening to classic rock. He's been playing a lot of Floyd lately; definitely a fan of "Comfortably Numb".

I definitely need to see if my guy would like scifi. Crosswords sound like a good idea too

 

[eon aquatics]

Good aeration.
Larger schools of fish.