How do Fish Sleep

[clown-lover]

Ok, don't bash me for this one but I want to know if fish really sleep??? I never see my fish stop moving....and on the off chance that I do see them stop, they are at the bottom of the tank for less than two seconds.
I ask this because I think that my fish.....if they do sleep.....have started to "sleep swim"!!!! (You know...'sleep walk' but fish don't walk....Anyway) I went in their room and the lights had been off for a while....I turned on the celling light and looked at the tank and they were all over the place....not normal....I put my finger up to the glass and normally they dash away but they didn't even see it. I followed them all along the front of the glass and they never winced once....so I declare my fish 'sleep swimmers'!!!!

 

[lopeyc]

but my two clowns undulate up and down in place much of the night. I figure they're unconciously holding their position against the current without having to see where they're going ... but I don't know what the heck I'm talking about!
First time I saw it, though, I freaked out and tested my water at 2 a.m. because I thought they were suffocating or something!

 

[clown-lover]

LOL....that's what i was thinking too!!!!! I started testing my tank after they wouldn't respond to my finger. Even though I had just done all my tests the day before So I freaked out but then I thought.....'maybe that's how they sleep' so I decided to ask the many opinionated experts here on SWF.com
Great site, still can't believe I was so lucky to stumble upon it.

 

[lopeyc]

I'm still so new at this that everything that goes on in my tank is a wonder.

 

[jillian ayers]

I don't know if this has anything to do with how aquarium fish sleep, but I know sharks sleep as they swim, because they don't have an air bladder, and would fall to the bottom and die should they stop at any time. Air must always be moving through their gills, hence they must sleep swimming. And I know dolphins will sleep with only 50% of their brain off at a time. Someone told me that if you ever see a dolphin just kind of drifting witht he group, only half his brain is awake and he is sleeping. Once one side is refreshed, they sleep with the other one. Weird, huh?

 

[wablondie98664]

i have one clarkii that has dug out a trench in the sand that he lays down in to sleep at night. all my other fish congregate in side of a big stump decoration we have, i don't know how they all fit in there (clarkii, domino, yellowtail, and yellow tang)

 

[joker]

My 2 percla's go to a corner and "swim" up and down the water column all night. I have recorded it with night vision video camera and they never stop. So my opinionated guess is that, Yes, they are asleep.