Playful Discus?

[discusmat]

We all know how calm and peaceful discus are most of the time. On occasion they do like to have fun
playing in the waterfall like the thread strawberryblonde started. Anyway, I was sitting there yesterday
and I hear some activity in my tank. I look over and spy on my tank and here is my melon chasing the
tettras around the tank! Not to be mean but just playing with them.I mean swimming fast,upsidedown
sideways,going all over having a blast acting like one of them.This lasted for about 15 mins then everything
goes back to normal. Has anybody else ever seen this? I have had discus for a long time and never seen that before!

[DiscusLoverJeff]

I once had a male Turq do what I would believe to be a somersault in front of the female. he would make a loop and then swim away, wait for her to come to him, then if she didn't, he would do it again. Playing or foreplay, was cool to see.

[camuth8]

I haven't had an incident like this before but I can't help saying how smart and quick-learning discus are. I've had fun moving my finger around the glass and watching them follow it like cat and mouse. It's just saying how unbelievable this discus can be.:)

[Crunchy]

Yes they are naturally curious, mine chases the SAE in the tank.

[Tazalanche]

Ours have discovered a red dot that showed up on the PFS this week & feel the need to follow it.


Yes, a laser pointer. Keep glass refraction in mind to ensure it never goes near their eyes.

[John_Nicholson]

Easy folks....lets tap the brakes here just a little. They have a brain the size of a pencil eraser. Do you really think they are working on a cure for cancer? I am not saying that they don't "play" a little but it is all tied to instinct and not intellect. The "chasing" of the other fish id a predatory response. The other foreplay. If that odd type of foreplay would have lead to the male mating more than other males then we would have seen an increase in that activity as time went on. It is called evolution. Oh and I am speaking in the case of wild populations....I realize that the males breeding opportunities in the aquarium are pretty limited.....LOL.

-john

[camuth8]

About a year ago, I remember Toni saying that her discus tried to chase the cat when it came up on the counter as well as watch TV with her.

[Kal-El]

They are playful... Here's a video of mines before I sold them.


http://youtu.be/gfsWH1ZbVfs

[hillbillyamber]

wow! just like a cat or dog!

[John_Nicholson]

I have had many, many discus that I could pet. They identify me with food....and a healthy discus likes to eat.

-john

[nc0gnet0]

I have had many, many discus that I could pet. They identify me with food....and a healthy discus likes to eat.

-john


I am quite sure that intially this is correct, and their motivation to eat (they are hungry) overcomes their fear. Over time they learn that the hand in the tank is not a threat, and some find that the act of being petted actually feels good. Not sure if this fits the definition of being "playful" but are responses that even something with a brain the size of a pea can manage. I have a discus that likes the feel so much that it will leave the food I have already placed in the tank for it.

Rick

[discusmat]

I am a firm believer that all living things have a brain and are intelligent. I was eating lunch in the back of a parking lot one day and in the lil hillside
was a bunch of black birds. I started watching one big one.And this guy was having a blast with a piece of whatever? but anyway he would bury it and dig it up.
Then bury it and dig it up like a dog. I watched him for a good 30 mins.It was pretty amazing! Just like watching my fish that day. he was playing no doubt in my mind.

[zchauvin]

My fish eat the others poo just because its something floating in water that looks like food... Highly intelligent fish

[Crunchy]

Intellect has nothing to do with brain size. Else elephants will be ruling the world not humans. Fish do have small brains, but it's enough for memory and learning.

There was an experiment on playing music to catfish before feeding for some time. After a month stopping it, they remembered the music and when played, they came to thr surface expecting food.

[camuth8]

My fish eat the others poo just because its something floating in water that looks like food... Highly intelligent fish

Mine too!:p

[discusmat]

I'm sorry about your poop eating stupid fish!

[Tazalanche]

I had an uncle with a poodle that thought cat poop was a delicacy... to the point it would come running when it heard the cat start scratching in the litter box.

It takes all kinds...

[lipadj46]

There was an experiment on playing music to catfish before feeding for some time. After a month stopping it, they remembered the music and when played, they came to thr surface expecting food.

Fish can be conditioned with food but it does not equate to intelligence. I like my discus but all the research into fish intelligence that I have read puts their smarts up somewhere just above rocks. I recall a quote from a study on trout intelligence that found they were not much brighter than the rocks they hide beside.

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[DMS1960]

I had an uncle with a poodle that thought cat poop was a delicacy... to the point it would come running when it heard the cat start scratching in the litter box.

It takes all kinds...
It's not just poodles we have had a bull mastiff and german shepherd dog do it as well roll in poop and dead animals. Makes them smell great when they come back inside. Guess intelligence isn't related to brain size.

[Second Hand Pat]

You guys are humanizing your animals. :)

[Disgirl]

At the aquarium where I volunteer they call it Anthropomorphism, I think that is the spelling. It is giving human qualities/ characteristics to animals. They say it is why we aren't allowed to name the creatures there.
Barb

[nc0gnet0]

It's not just poodles we have had a bull mastiff and german shepherd dog do it as well roll in poop and dead animals. Makes them smell great when they come back inside. Guess intelligence isn't related to brain size.

Apples and oranges, there is a perfectly reasonable answer why dogs do this, and to categorize them in with discus when talking about intelligence is like comparing a lump of coal to a diamond,,,,,,,

[discusmat]

True that! my apple strains are way smarter than my orange strains!!!

[John_Nicholson]

Some of you folks need to learn the diffeence between conditioning and IQ. Anyone that would say that any living creature with a brain is intelligent has either never been around very many animals or is an idiot.

-john

[strawberryblonde]

ROFL John!

I like to tell people about some of the antics of my silly discus. Nope, I don't equate their behaviors with actual intelligence and I'm sure that somewhere in their wee little brains the behaviors make sense to them. But watching a discus dislodge a thermometer from the side of the tank and then chase it and nudge it round and round the top of the water is a hoot in my book.

And then there's the addiction to tv! I used the tv to condition my first group to not be scared of sudden lights, sounds and movements and doggone if they didn't respond like Pavlov's Dogs to the tv after a month or two of it. I'd be sitting in my chair watching a show with 5 sets of discus eyeballs crammed against the glass behind me.... "watching" right along with me. I'd get up and leave and they'd remain in the smeared on the glass position, so it wasn't me they were watching.

I try not to humanize my fish, because, in the end, there may come a day when I need to end its life...and though I enjoy them, they are just fish after all. A food source in most parts of the world. On the other hand, it's fun to match names to their "personalities". I've named a few of them and don't regret it. Wish you could have met Cujo the Rabid Discus...meanest fish I've ever owned. Dunno what instinct told him to bite chunks out of all the other discus, but he did it....daily. LOL

[nc0gnet0]

John,

Are you saying no animals are intelligent, of are you saying just because an animal has a brain does not mean it has intelligence? Two ways of reading what you have posted ?

[John_Nicholson]

This one " just because an animal has a brain does not mean it has intelligence".

-john

[John_Nicholson]

I know what you mean. I enjoy my fish a tremendous amount but some of these people have been brain washed by the animal rights movement......LOL.

-john


ROFL John!

I like to tell people about some of the antics of my silly discus. Nope, I don't equate their behaviors with actual intelligence and I'm sure that somewhere in their wee little brains the behaviors make sense to them. But watching a discus dislodge a thermometer from the side of the tank and then chase it and nudge it round and round the top of the water is a hoot in my book.

And then there's the addiction to tv! I used the tv to condition my first group to not be scared of sudden lights, sounds and movements and doggone if they didn't respond like Pavlov's Dogs to the tv after a month or two of it. I'd be sitting in my chair watching a show with 5 sets of discus eyeballs crammed against the glass behind me.... "watching" right along with me. I'd get up and leave and they'd remain in the smeared on the glass position, so it wasn't me they were watching.

I try not to humanize my fish, because, in the end, there may come a day when I need to end its life...and though I enjoy them, they are just fish after all. A food source in most parts of the world. On the other hand, it's fun to match names to their "personalities". I've named a few of them and don't regret it. Wish you could have met Cujo the Rabid Discus...meanest fish I've ever owned. Dunno what instinct told him to bite chunks out of all the other discus, but he did it....daily. LOL

[blueluv]

So..... discus university isn't where discus go to get a college degree? :p Lol!

[Tazalanche]

So..... discus university isn't where discus go to get a college degree? :p Lol!Well, it is where they go to be judged for their appearance by others...

Maybe it should be renamed Discus High School.
;)

[blueluv]

Well, it is where they go to be judged for their appearance by others...

Maybe it should be renamed Discus High School.
;)

Lol!

[Second Hand Pat]

Well, it is where they go to be judged for their appearance by others...

Maybe it should be renamed Discus High School.
;)

I think not :o...next we will end up talking about busing :D

[camuth8]

I think not :o...next we will end up talking about busing :D

Ha!:D

[Crunchy]

So for the guys comparing discus intellect to rocks and other inanimate objects:

Where do you draw the line between and intelligent or non intelligent animal? Are all animals not intelligent?

Do you think dogs, cats, pigs, dolphins, elephants and monkeys to be intelligent or not?

How do you define intelligence? Learning, memory, interaction, problem solving, recognition? If so, my discus displays all of that.

[John_Nicholson]

Your discus has been conditioned to act a certain way in certain situations. That does not make them intelligent....it makes them trainable.

-john



So for the guys comparing discus intellect to rocks and other inanimate objects:

Where do you draw the line between and intelligent or non intelligent animal? Are all animals not intelligent?

Do you think dogs, cats, pigs, dolphins, elephants and monkeys to be intelligent or not?

How do you define intelligence? Learning, memory, interaction, problem solving, recognition? If so, my discus displays all of that.

[nc0gnet0]

How do you define intelligence? Learning, memory, interaction, problem solving, recognition? If so, my discus displays all of that.

Intelligence is best defined in degrees, not in "you have it or "you don't" terms. One can argue that even being able to be conditioned is a sign of intelligence, but suffice it to say, discus aren't very smart. I do however beleive they are slightly smarter than earthwroms and snails........

[John_Nicholson]

Agreed.

-john


Intelligence is best defined in degrees, not in "you have it or "you don't" terms. One can argue that even being able to be conditioned is a sign of intelligence, but suffice it to say, discus aren't very smart. I do however beleive they are slightly smarter than earthwroms and snails........

[blueluv]

How do you define intelligence? Learning, memory, interaction, problem solving, recognition? If so, my discus displays all of that.

I say it's instinct or as John has mentioned... by association.

[SMB2]

I do however believe they are slightly smarter than earthworms and snails.....


Most animals are "smarter" than what they eat:confused: