The noob’s progress continued…

[isaly]

My fish react to me playing acoustic guitars in front of the tank. They feel vibration in rhythm and arrange themselves to experience it like a concert.

No, I’m not having delusions. I'm not so hard up for a gig that I'm imagining.

I made meatballs last night for my friend Clara; her first time seeing the fish. We had a couple of drinks, ate a little dinner; sometime later she was sitting there watching the antics of Jeff, the smaller of the two blue fruities, who's trying to maintain his hold on the defile between the two largest rocks. I told her that they react to music.

“How?” she asked.

“Well…” I replied “they watch.”

“Show me.”

*grabs guitar in D tuning sits on ball and begins…plaintive swampy blues strains — chord melody stuff punctuated by percussive bits…

Sure enough, it was like they were facing a stage. They experience it and they’re moving to the front so to speak, not huddled on the glass but spaced out, giving each other room, clearly focused on events in time. Not sure how, but I’m guessing that the lateral line is just incredibly sensitive and they’re getting rhythm and some variation in pitch through vibration from the sound energy that hits the front pane of the tank. It’s way cool. I played ‘em a tune on the ukulele just now. They get that too.

They startle slightly when I hit a particularly abrupt percussive note, even if I don’t lean into it physically. It was pretty clear to us both that they’re reacting to sound energy, rather than me moving abruptly...although that likely informs it.

Let the experiments begin.

Edited January 16, 2022 by isaly

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Plants like classical. Fish might too. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Why not? I totally believe it! You should grab some video!

[isaly]

On 1/16/2022 at 4:58 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Why not? I totally believe it! You should grab some video!

I will at some point soon.

[Chad]

Hmm, makes me wonder what a guitar sounds like when the listener is underwater? Not the player, of course that might be the only way for me to make a guitar sound good.

[isaly]

On 1/17/2022 at 10:58 AM, Chad said:

Hmm, makes me wonder what a guitar sounds like when the listener is underwater? Not the player, of course that might be the only way for me to make a guitar sound good.

I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

At first I thought it was the lateral line that was the primary sensory organ that would sense movement in the water. Yes...and it turns out that fish have an inner ear in addition to the lateral line. A little research led me to learn that there are several small calcium structures called otoliths which sit adjacent to cilia. The otoliths are denser than the body tissue of the fish and vibrate independently of the fish's body. The cilia transmit those signals to the brain as sound. They 'hear' sounds but it's likely different than the way we hear sound through our inner ear with its small bones and cochlea.

They react to the harsh sound of cacophonous playing by displaying a startle response in proportion to the abruptness of the transient and the harshness of the sound. They react to the harmonious playing and rhythm by showing interest, and they do as a group. All of the species of tetra in my tank are doing it.

I guess one could play a stereo system and the fish would probably hear it, but it might be more difficult for them to locate the source in space. The fish are probably responding to the visual cues in addition to the sonic experience and whatever vibration the lateral line picks up—they form up to experience it like an audience.

I'm going to have to figure out how to study this thing. It's so cool....

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by isaly

[jwcarlson]

I think that fish (and animals in general) are exceedingly more observant and interactive than we give them credit for.

 

I had a couple of oscars many years ago and they were awesome as far as interaction.  And they recognized me compared to other members of the family.

[813aquatics]

On 1/18/2022 at 8:18 AM, isaly said:

I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

At first I thought it was the lateral line that was the primary sensory organ that would sense movement in the water. Yes...and it turns out that fish have an inner ear in addition to the lateral line. A little research led me to learn that there are several small calcium structures called otoliths which sit adjacent to cilia. The otoliths are denser than the body tissue of the fish and vibrate independently of the fish's body. The cilia transmit those signals to the brain as sound. They 'hear' sounds but it's likely different than the way we hear sound through our inner ear with its small bones and cochlea.

They react to the harsh sound of cacophonous playing by displaying a startle response in proportion to the abruptness of the transient and the harshness of the sound. They react to the harmonious playing and rhythm by showing interest, and they do as a group. All of the species of tetra in my tank are doing it.

I guess one could play a stereo system and the fish would probably hear it, but it might be more difficult for them to locate the source in space. The fish are probably responding to the visual cues in addition to the sonic experience and whatever vibration the lateral line picks up—they form up to experience it like an audience.

I'm going to have to figure out how to study this thing. It's so cool....

 

Coolest thing I’ve read on here in awhile. Time to see how the fish like dave brubeck quartet 😂

[isaly]

On 1/18/2022 at 9:29 AM, jwcarlson said:

I think that fish (and animals in general) are exceedingly more observant and interactive than we give them credit for.

I do think you're right.