can fish...

[Bambi]

have relationships?

I have fancy goldfish and 2 of them Ive had since I got my tank a couple of years ago and they always seem to be following wach other about and today when I got in, they were both sat inside the mug I put in there together

Is this normal fish behaviour?

I think they are in love <3

And yes, this is a genuine question before anyone flings it in spam, I just wanna know if anyone else has experienced this? Ive kept fish for years, though admittedly, its always been mostly trops, and this is a tank of coldwater, not sure if that makes any odds... and Ive never had 2 fish like this with each other before, it's kinda cute

 

[Roland_Deschain]

Ah this is a real question, wether its a feeling of love or instant instinctual attraction.

Forgive me for responding to a question with another question but what kind of fish is it?

I know that goldfish have some of the shortest attention span of most animals...you can flick them in the head and they will forget about it and swim to the top 15 seconds later. (So its not normal for them to follow each other)

But Betta fish (Siamese fighting fish) will often flare out their fins more and mate or even try to kill the other fish, even will show attraction from differents bowls placed right next to each other. (Its not normal when they dont follow each other.

So I bet it depends on the type of fish.

 

[Dionysos]

Fish can surprise you sometimes.

When I adopted my sister's pet goldfish, Nemo, I decided to get him a friend. A couple of hours after placing Heracles in the tank and they were following each other about the tank. At night time they'd settle down near the bottom of the tank, fins almost touching as they slept (/ fish equivalent).

It wasn't romance as Heracles was very young, and Nemo wasn't very old either. I think it was a sort of brotherly fondness, or perhaps Nemo was mentoring Heracles or something.

Unfortunately Heracles died from illness and it took a while for Nemo to look as happy as he did before. This may likely have been due to issues with the water (altough Nemo is a very tough fish due to being stuck in a murky tank for a year while he was my sister's), but I do think that Nemo did notice his absence.

So my answer to your question would be yes, it doesn't surprise me anymore. My goldfish might just have been strange cases (Nemo interacts with humans a lot too, which I didn't think goldfish did - I just thought that they sort of swam about minding their own business). I know a lot of people tend to shove goldfish in a tank in the corner of a room and then they are forgotten about, and hence perhaps assume that the goldfish are just a boring ornament whereas they really can have personalities and can even be trained.

 

[Bambi]

they are both just fancy goldfish, and ive interacted with my fish before, i have noticed that it does tend to be the cold water ones that will come up - i knows thye arent as stupid as people seem to think they are, my fish recognise me, they know when they are gettig fed and one of my last fish taht i had for a few years.. and the plec i had as well come to think of it, used to come up and suck my finger tips. i could hand feed the plec

i guess if you actually take the time to interact with your goldfish they can show personality...

maybe the case with these 2 is that it is just that they were bought at the same time and they are familiar with wach other

 

[Squid]

I am pretty sure that three second memory thing is a myth.

If it was true fish wouldn't learn that each morning is feed time. Although I don't know if common goldfish can actually fall in love... it could be possible but it sounds unlikely to me. I think maybe some of the bigger fish in the sea with larger brains might though.

I have a Betta fish called Karl he is super adorable, when he see's me come up to the bowl he does little flips and follows me (in his bowl) as I walk around the kitchen making sure I am always in his sight... sounds kinda odd but I swear he remembers who I am... so who knows with your goldfish anything is possible!

 

[Dionysos]

Yeah. I think fantailed goldfish are meant to be more sociable and active if that is what you have. My fish is a fantail, and so was Heracles. It didn't take very long for them to get to know each other and make friends.

I think, for human interaction, it can depend on where you put your tank. If you place it in a good place that you'll always see then you'll get a lot of interaction with your fish. If people place the tank in a gloomy corner of the room then there is a risk that people will soon forget about them, or not look at them very often without making an effort to do so. I see my fish every time I use the kitchen sink as I have him placed on the windowsill (he's secure, don't worry ) and he usually swims and dances when he sees me, unless he is asleep / resting. He gets a lot of light, but not too much as the window is facing in such a way that the sun doesn't fry him. It also gives him a lot of things to look at outside of the tank too, and he is very interested in the taps when they are running.

He's very different now to how he was before he was rescued from my sister. He basically sat in a dark corner, in murky water. He could barely be seen and he didn't react to anything. Tank position and upkeep is quite important for active fish.

The reason I'm saying all of this is because I agree that goldfish aren't as stupid as a lot of people claim, and I believe people claim this because goldfish are often used as decoration and not as pets, and people don't interact with them or notice them as much as they would notice any other pet. Fish are also capable of having personalities, of interacting with other fish, and also of interacting with humans (though ultimately not as intimately as a cat or a dog, due to humans not being able to hop in the tank with the fish). They can also learn and develop habits, as I've observed with mine.

 

[Bambi]

yeah fan tail one, ones a black one with boggly eyes the other is white with a red head

and that 3 second memory thing is a myth, i read they had memories of up to 6 months, so if youre alwyas there they are never gunna forget who you are, or swim up to the top of the tank in anticipation when you head in the kitchen lol

 

[Tyler Breeze]

I've seen this before! When my aunt and her Mom went off to who knows where the fuck, we had to watch the fish she had (feed them, clean the bowl, etc). I swear there were these two fish that never left each other. They were damn near stuck together. Eventually Mom came to the conclusion that they were indeed in a relationship together. I mean..... I don't know what to say. Anything is possible. It did (and still does) seem like a logical explanation for what was going on.

 

[Big Casino]

Yeah the 3 second memory that people say goldfish have is complete rubbish. People put it to the test by setting up a maze for fish to navigate through with a reward at the end (food)
They did this with like 20 fish and got an average time of how long it took. The maze had coloured doors in it. The doors the fish could actually go through were the red ones and the hole to swim through was different shape. The other door was just a dead end.
So they got the average times and 24 hours later they did the test again and the fish were much faster. They did the test again a few more times. By the third time every fish knew the right doors to go through and they could navigate the maze with complete ease. Except for this one fish who i think was a bit of a spazzy fish. He just kept swimming into walls. So yeah the 3 second memory of fish is just a load of crock.

Ive only had fish once in my life. They didnt last very long either ;_; I dont think its weird to assume that fish can be in love or grow very fond and close to eachother. Affection is a normal thing for living beings.