Man vs Goldfish: Man - 1, Goldfish - 0

[sciguy125]

I feel so stupid about what happened to me this morning that I must share. I've had this goldfish for over 10 years now. Even though goldfish aren't very high on the intelligence ladder, anything that's been around for 10 years will learn a thing or two.

A few years ago, he figured out how to make a chomping noise. He's able to suck water into his mouth and make a loud enough noise to draw attention. My room is about 20 feet away from the tank and I can still hear him with my door closed. It's probably close to the loudness of a cat's normal meow. When I wake up in the morning, he reminds me that he needs to be fed. I feed him once a day when I get up at about 6:30. But I know that he's awake before 6:15 because I can hear him asking for food. If he looks over the table that's between his tank and my room, he's able to see me walking out. And he gets more riled up and starts splashing a little. This way, I never forget to feed him.

After I feed him, I go about my business: email, Slashdot, Fark, ChiefDelphi... When I come back out of my room (he's eaten all the food by this time), he swims around trying to get my attention, but doesn't make any noise. He wants more food, but I'm pretty sure that if I kept feeding him, he'd just keep eating until he couldn't swim any more. He knows that I only feed him once a day and he'll have to wait until tomorrow for more.

Today though, he tried to trick me. When I came out of my room the second time, he was swimming around, making noise like he does right before I feed him. I walked over there and got the food container out and almost put some in. Then it occured to me that I already fed him. It didn't work, but it almost did... I couldn't believe it. I was almost tricked by a goldfish.

He has two little tank mates that are trying to copy him, but they're still too small to make any appreciable noise. It might start to get annoying when all three of them are at it. The other problem will be that there'll be three of them against me. I'm not sure if they're smart enough to work together, but he almost got a second helping of food today on his own, so anything's possible...

BEWARE THE GOLDFISH!

[nehalita]

haha, that put a smile on my face. atleast you can't say that your own mind tricked you (coming from the person that ends up brushing twice because she doesn't remember if she's done it before...)

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by sciguy125

I've had this goldfish for over 10 years now. Even though goldfish aren't very high on the intelligence ladder, anything that's been around for 10 years will learn a thing or two...

...I'm not sure if they're smart enough to work together, but he almost got a second helping of food today on his own, so anything's possible...

BEWARE THE GOLDFISH!

This really made me laugh. That is pretty amazing that your goldfish is 10 years old. Mine never seemed to last more than three or four years. Except for one which lasted for five years, and that one ended up eating all the other fish. I always irked me when I would go to bed, and the next morning there would always be one less fish. It must have felt like Aliens or something to those poor fish.

[brandy836]

My five year old fish pulled a stunt like that once. It was for about a week, and he would make a noise like he was sucking in water and air in from the top of the tank. I thought that it was cause he was hungry, and he would eat all the food that I would put into the tank. It turned out that there was a lack of oxygen in the water, and eventually he died. (I'm not a very good fish keeper.)

But, yes, that is a very funny story, and it really is amusing to know that a fish has a human almost trained.

[sciguy125]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Mine never seemed to last more than three or four years. Except for one which lasted for five years, and that one ended up eating all the other fish. I always irked me when I would go to bed, and the next morning there would always be one less fish. It must have felt like Aliens or something to those poor fish.

We had two other fish when we got him, but they only lasted a few weeks. Then we got two more. One died after about 5 years and the second died last year. I think the survivor is some kind of super fish. The others would get sick and he'd be fine. He's survived plagues that brought mortal fish close to their deaths.

When his oldest buddy died, he actually started to go a little crazy. He was really jumpy and would swim into the glass at full speed. If you got near the tank and he didn't see you coming, he would get the "deer in the headlights look" for a second then take off. He even spent a few weeks moving all the rocks to one side of the tank. I put them back after cleaning the tank, but he would just move them again. We finally decided to get more fish and he was fine again.

He did try to eat his new friends for the first few days, but they were too fast (1" fish are faster and more maneuverable than a 7" fish). After awhile, he gave up and accepted them. They're not afraid of him any more and he doesn't chase them around. But, as with all of his previous tank mates, he has to eat first. Nobody else gets food until his mouth is full and he's busy chewing. Anybody who tries to break the rule gets pushed away or nibbled at.

[dubious elise]

That was a great read, thanks for sharing! I have three cannibalistic (yes, cannibalistic) goldfish that bite each others' fins off My mom likes to think that I trained them to do tricks, however, because once they see the white bottom of the food container come over the bowl, they start jumping out of the water and "blowing" air bubbles beneath the surface of the water.


By the way, if anyone is interested, I've got three goldfish that I'm willing to give away. They are feeder goldfish that change colors from black to orange to white on occasion (depending on how much sunlight they get). I have an odd feeling that they can survive just about anything....

[sure_smile]

goldfishies are my friends....but ur goldfishies sound scary! if my goldfishies did that, i think i would run far far away and never turn back except to grab my robotics stuff, and then i would run

[KenWittlief]

If you set up a camcorder on the tank I think you will discover that when you leave the room for the day

the fish swims to the top of the water and goes: "Hello my baby, Hello my darling, Hello my ragtime gal!"

(PS - I think you need to change the water more often, the fish isnt talking, its gaging! :^)

[KelliV]

Wow... maybe your super fish should met my ex-boyfriends super fish (now roughly 12 inches long) We put Sam (the fish) in a new tank with pretty decorations and it proceded to eat the stone gargoyles off of the tank decorations. It also makes that same stupid chomping noise (REALLY ANNOYING) maybe they are related.

[sciguy125]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

(PS - I think you need to change the water more often, the fish isnt talking, its gaging! :^)

I'm sure that this is a very delibrate noise. He actually winds up. He twists his body in one direction, then snaps in the other direction. This pushes him forward while he closes his mouth really fast. Although, over the last few weeks, he's also become an excessivly loud eater.

[tiffany34990]

i've had fish all my life...they do have like personalites and can be very smart..

right now i have salt water. but this one fish i forget it's type right now..digs a hole to sleep in, under a rock...then closes it like at nite with like a small yet big enough shell when it goes to sleep...it's crazy...

then some of them know you aren't going to feed them just b/c you are there... but they will come closer the front and like say hello...

i swear though on of my fish like said it's final goodbye to me then died..

i can go on and on... but i won't b/c it sounds really werid and messed up... i know i sound really crazy...but perhaps i am

[RbtGal1351]

Originally Posted by dubious elise

By the way, if anyone is interested, I've got three goldfish that I'm willing to give away. They are feeder goldfish that change colors from black to orange to white on occasion (depending on how much sunlight they get). I have an odd feeling that they can survive just about anything....

three?!
How about thirty...
(Please, if you actually want some, and live anywhere somewhat close to me, I'll give you some! Replacements promised.)
We had four feeder goldfish, they got to be really big, we put them in a pond, and they multiplied. We had 101 fish for a while, and then we gave some away.
These fish have survived their parents cannibalism, going without food for weeks (but they are in a pond), and four (ish?) years.

~Stephanie
ps-Phil if your superfish ever needs more company, let me know!!