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by Daydreamer on April 20th, 2005

Daydreamer

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How can I make my goldfish's life more interesting? Or are they happy just swimming around?

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  • by Joel Lyons on April 24th, 2005

    Joel Lyons

    Well, those goldfish ... previously believed to have a memory of just
    a few seconds ... can distinguish between different times of day and
    can also be taught to follow a routine. In 2003 Scientists at Plymouth
    University successfully trained goldfish to collect food at particular
    times of day. As we know, research has suggested that fish feel
    pain when they are caught on a hook, can be manipulative and
    socially aware, have long memories and are able to recognize their
    shoal-mates (ahem). Now research has added a sophisticated body
    clock to the piscine intellect. In the experiments at Plymouth U
    goldfish were placed in a bowl in which they were fed only when they
    pressed a lever. The fish rapidly learned that pressing the lever
    produced a food reward. Once they had been trained in this way, the
    researchers set up the lever to work for just one hour a day. The
    goldfish soon became wise to this and learned to press the lever
    at the same time every day to feed. Dr. Philip Gee commented:
    "The fish worked out that if they hit the lever around that time, they
    would get some food. Their activity around the lever increased
    enormously just before the set hour when their food was dispensed."
    But wait, what if no food came out? Yes, that became part of the
    research and voila the goldfish stopped pressing the lever when the
    hour was up. This is called: Adaptation. The ability to change
    with change in circumstance - like any other small animals and
    birds and sometimes carbon based bipeds. It would seem that
    it is indeed possible to learn and grow with your goldfish and
    reflect on what you are teaching them and what they are
    teaching you.

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