Fish Tricks

[ddaddy]

I was just wondering if anyone has had any luck with training their fish, especially puffers, to do any tricks? Can it really be done and if so what species of fish tend to be more open? Right now I can get my valentini puffer to eat out of my hand but I would like to add onto that. Are there any tips out there?

 

[smalltimer]

DO WHAT ????? LIKE A DOG ??????

 

[grouperhead]

My trigger will spit water at me when he wants to eat. He'll eat from my hand when I let him, and he'll let my rub his nose. I've read of triggers jumping through hoops and doing some other stuff like that. What do you want it to do? Bo

 

[fshhub]

pur puffer was the coolest, no tricks, just came up to my wife when he wanted fed, ate out of her hand too
now, our one lfs has the coolest hippo tang, at the same time every day, he picks up a pebble and spits it at the glass to let her know it is time for his treat, that is a funny trick

 

[josh451]

put a ping pong ball in your tank. It's hilarious. Try a pink one!

 

[musipilot]

I don't know if you would call it a trick...but our porcupine puffer spits water onto the dining room table whenever we sit down to eat dinner. If we forget to close the glass lids you get a nice salty flavor to your food. Its his way of saying, "Hey, what about me??"
Our zebra flounder is 'trained' in a way -- when its feeding time he knows he has to come to the top of the tank to get fed...and then tolerate getting stroked a few times before he gets his krill. He doesn't seem to mind...and he'll often come up to the top when you pass by hoping for a treat.

 

[ddaddy]

I've had my puffer spit water a couple times too. That kind of tells me that these fish are intelligent enough to do things if they are trained. That's what I was getting at. My puffer knows meal times, spits water and eats out of my hand. I was just wondering if anyone knows of any ways to try different things. Yes "As A Dog" so to speak.

 

[blutang]

My Flame Hawk will sit in my cupped hand as I feed him a piece of freeze dried krill.
Why would you put a ping pong ball in the tank?

 

[slothy]

haha i can see it now, live fish cirrcus !!! watch fluffy the trigger jump thru flaming hoops

 

[tang_man_montreal]

My 3 fish (Yellow tang, hippo tang, and longnose hawk) are all hand fed.
They also greet me at the side of the aquarium when I walk into the room.

 

[blutang]

Its amazing how much intellegence is provoked by hunger

 

[wamp]

I could get me naso tank to do a flip before I fed him. Not out of water but a circle inside the tank. Kinda cool... Don't know if it was just his habbit or if e was happy to see me...

 

[killyah]

if u want a fish that does tricks and acts like a dog get a Oscar!

 

[slothy]

ya my old oscar (had him 5 years before going to salt) would spend his day f'n my tank up , then when i got home act like nothing was wrong lol... he would eat from my hand.. and let me pet him on the head.. wouldnt bark or roll over for some reason lol

 

[fishymissy]

My lionfish has learned how to spit too. Not real sure why he does it, because I don't feed him when he does this. Maybe he's just bored!
He is also trained to move to the opposite side of the tank that I'm working on. Like when I'm cleaning the glass, or moving rocks....with my hand in the tank, all I have to do is point my finger to the side I want him to go to and he moves over and stays there.

 

[flamehawk]

All my fish respond eagerly when I enter the room. My powder blue tang does a bit of a dance when I'm ready to feed him. Kind of a swirling motion. My emperor angel eats from my hand and will swim back a nd forth gracefully with every mouthful of food. Taht's about it.