Playing music to fish?

[Fungi]

I don't know what came over me, I was listening to my iPod and then figured that maybe the fish could 'feel' the vibrations of the music if I held the earphones up to the glass. They seemed to like it!. I played them three songs and watched their reactions, the first two songs I played went down well ("Don't Call me Whitney, Bobby" and "Rough Gem" by Islands), the tetras swam in close proximity to the buds and one of my angels kept his distance but didn't mind, my gold ram loved it and stayed next to it for the whole six minutes in total. The next song I played was "Put a Penny in the Slot" by Fionn Regan and that turned them right off... I've sort of come to the conclusion that my fish have music tastes :idea:. Has anybody else noticed this?

[Mgamer20o0]

they can fill the vibration of the music.

[Fish Obsession]

Wouldn't the vibrations bother them? Also known as: why we don't tap on the glass... lateral line sensitivities... ???

[Fungi]

I know that tapping on the glass is far from a smart thing to do, they didn't appear overly shocked by it... they were more curious than bothered.

[aquaman#1]

I don't think they can actually hear it. They feel the vibrations from it though.

[Fungi]

It's probably to them what standing at a rock concert with loud bass is to us and having the ground beneath you (in this case the water) vibrate. But could they enjoy/prefer/put up with one frequency of vibration rather than another? (I'm not suggesting Heavy Metal songs, I'd never try that, my fish would go into irreversible shock, I play it softly, at about 1/5th to 1/4th of the blue bar)

[electromen]

It's probably to them what standing at a rock concert with loud bass is to us and having the ground beneath you (in this case the water) vibrate. But could they enjoy/prefer/put up with one frequency of vibration rather than another? (I'm not suggesting Heavy Metal songs, I'd never try that, my fish would go into irreversible shock, I play it softly, at about 1/5th to 1/4th of the blue bar)
aww.. whats wrong with metal?

Maybe that describes the violent behavior of my fish.

[nickmcmechan]

this thread is mad

[cohazard]

this thread is mad

Bloody mad. But I like it. :)

I sometimes wonder if fish forget in between 'turd tasting' that those brown things that the plecs leave behind taste bad, or if they see them as a delicacy now that their natural food hunting instincts are null?

[NinjaPenguin]

I'm not suggesting Heavy Metal songs, I'd never try that, my fish would go into irreversible shock...

Mine seem to enjoy Cradle of Filth and Arch Enemy but cower in the corner of the tank when my wife plays her 80's classics too loud...

A m8 of mine breeds cichlids and says a bit of metal at feeding time helps speed up the carnage! lol

[Rbishop]

Mine do not care for music, however, if you put up a Dean Koontz book......

[Fungi]

Or a red-hot page turner like a Tom Clancy action novel...

[legendaryfrog]

I have a piano right next to my goldfish tank, and I've noticed the fish react differently when I play different music.

So far, they don't like jazz, appreciate slower classical music, and go mad when I play Rachmaninoff.

[Shagmaster]

and go mad when I play Rachmaninoff.

LOL, I will have to try that with my fish.:D




Wait, you can play Rachmaninoff! Im impressed!

[mooosic]

I dont meen to burst your bubble. But about the ipod, there is now way they can feel the vibrations from earbuds through the tank glass. I have a 12" in my room and thats almost not enough for the fish too even slightly feel, and my room is 14' by 9'. Now the piano right next to the tanks.....that i could most diffenatly see.

[polypterus101]

You play arch enemy for you fish??
For those of you who dont know what it is-
www.myspace.com/archenemy (http://www.myspace.com/archenemy)

[ChrisWalker]

According to Wikipedia, Goldfish in particular have extremely good hearing and can recognise different people's voices. Whether this is a similar story for all fish I don't know.

I have my computer quite near my fish tank, and play my electric guitar near it. The tropical fish don't react really...

My goldfish however respond to me calling them from outside the room lol.

[Corvina]

This would be a great experiment for a class or science fair project.
Do certain tones and what levels of frequency do certain species of fish react to? What attracts them? What repels them?
We know that Whales & Dolphins react to them and even use them to communicate, but they are mammals.
On the other hand it's probably been done.
Never mind.

[legendaryfrog]

This would be a great experiment for a class or science fair project.
Do certain tones and what levels of frequency do certain species of fish react to? What attracts them? What repels them?
We know that Whales & Dolphins react to them and even use them to communicate, but they are mammals.
On the other hand it's probably been done.
Never mind.

NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fish in science experiments are often puu under the wrong conditions, uncycled tanks, etc.

I would please ask everyone reading the above not to get any ideas......

[legendaryfrog]

None of my tropical fish react to my voice other than my 2 puffers I keep at work.

Oh, and btw, Rachmaninoff isn't as hard as everyone puts it up to be.

[Coler]

I have a piano right next to my goldfish tank, and I've noticed the fish react differently when I play different music.

So far, they don't like jazz, appreciate slower classical music, and go mad when I play Rachmaninoff.

yup I find mine are not crazy about jazz, like some classical and go mad when I play '80's power ballads. I'm pretty sure that some of that is because I sing along to those though.

poor fish. All the gravel vaccing in the world can't help that.

[Corvina]

never mind.

[Corvina]

you're probably right about that. Never mind. Bad idea.

[legendaryfrog]

Why? I believe this is a really good thread.

[Corvina]

NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fish in science experiments are often puu under the wrong conditions, uncycled tanks, etc.

I would please ask everyone reading the above not to get any ideas......

I think the thread is great too. I guess I just give too much credit to the folks who read, learn, and take the time to respond to these threads. Of course they would test fishies in the 'wrong conditions'.
I always play my stereo very loud, but not too loud, (being consience of harmful decibel levels) near a completely 'cycled tank'. LOL

[Fungi]

I dont meen to burst your bubble. But about the ipod, there is now way they can feel the vibrations from earbuds through the tank glass. I have a 12" in my room and thats almost not enough for the fish too even slightly feel, and my room is 14' by 9'. Now the piano right next to the tanks.....that i could most diffenatly see.

If somebody WERE to trial this in a tank without the deplorable conditions seen at science-fair experiments I'd be interested in seeing if the fish were just looking at the foreign objects pressed up to the glass or could actually 'hear' the music despite the thickness. I occasionally sing when I'm near the tank and I haven't noticed them react to it. I also want to play some smooth jazz or ambient music in the breeding tanks, maybe that would help my success :p:

[jonnyfry]

i dont know about playing music to my fish but certainly talk to them .

......oh now , dont look at me like that , i know you do too .

[TommyR]

I talk to my fish when I try to "play" with them with my finger through the glass. Guess it does more for me than the fish. I'm sure they can feel sound vibrations, it just makes sense to me.

Tom