I was thinking about placing my fish tank (46 Gallon) in my entertainment room, where I have a big screen TV along with my surround speaker system, and my 12 inch subwoofer. I always watch movies and crank up the volume to the point where my car's alarm goes off when it's sitting in my garage, which makes me think that maybe the cichlids might die or get to stressed out from the level and bass of the speakers. Is this someting that I should be worried about?
too loud for the fish ???
- Thread starter Uconn25
- Start date
Undoubtedly yes.
Even if they don't hear the noise, the vibrations will disturb them greatly. The recommendation for cichlids is to put them in a part of the house where there is not high traffic, partly to ensure that they will not deal with large quantities of vibrations. I am not sure if they are safe in your house if the car alarm is affected by your choice of volume!
The stress will cause them to lose immune function, and in the long run will contribute to their death.
Even if they don't hear the noise, the vibrations will disturb them greatly. The recommendation for cichlids is to put them in a part of the house where there is not high traffic, partly to ensure that they will not deal with large quantities of vibrations. I am not sure if they are safe in your house if the car alarm is affected by your choice of volume!
The stress will cause them to lose immune function, and in the long run will contribute to their death.
I actually had a couple of fish jump out of a small hole in the tank canopy years back when I unintentionally placed a speaker too close to one of my tanks.
They both lived but I have never had it happen again since I plan my furniture placement more carefully now.
They both lived but I have never had it happen again since I plan my furniture placement more carefully now.
What about music?
I play my music (not THAT loud) in my room with my tanks, is this detrimental to my fishes' health as well?
I play my music (not THAT loud) in my room with my tanks, is this detrimental to my fishes' health as well?
i do the same in my room, listen to music that is but not very loud, and i got 3 tanks in my room!
wow! i believe this topic came up about a yr ago and if i remember correctly some said that the noise does not bother them coz they hear at a different frequency,i could wrong.
i'm gonna do a search and see.
i'm gonna do a search and see.
oops it was another forum but i found the post.
I would be interested in any information people here have on fish hearing generally. I'm an audiologist, so I deal with human hearing on a regular basis. I can tell you what I do know about the properties of sound, and what fish are likely exposed to, and some info on what they are likely to hear. I've actually corresponded with a researcher in the military that does work on hearing sensitivity research for ocean fish (out of my own curiosity). She has said that aquarium fish probably won't be bothered by anything humans aren't bothered by.
Ocean fish hear different things than freshwater or aquarium fish do. Cod hear from about 2 - 500 Hz, tuna from about 200 - 800 Hz, and goldfish hear from about 5 - 2000 Hz. The general consensus is that most fish don't hear much above 1000 Hz. Humans can hear a range of 20 - 20,000 Hz. Lower frequencies just feel like vibrations, and higher frequencies we don't perceive at all.
As for fish in a club hearing the music - it depends on the overall sound pressure measurement. It takes more energy to displace water than air, although once water is displaced, sound travels four times faster. This is why we have little bones in our middle ears - it provides amplification for the sound coming in by using leverage and concentration of energy to increase the force being applied to the cochlea (which is a fluid-filled environment). Some sound is going to simply reflect off the aquarium glass. Lower frequencies will be more penetrating, and are more likely to be something the fish hear anyway (considering the range of frequencies they hear). However, it will probably be considerably softer than what the humans are hearing, simply because of what I mentioned before about needing more energy to displace water.
It often times depends on what the fish associate a sound with as far as whether they are disturbed. They can hear the airstone, the filter, whatever is humming near their tanks. They can hear you open the hood and know food is coming (yaay!). They can hear rumbling of a river or the ocean in the wild. Their schooling behavior is actually dependent upon being able to "hear" vibrations coming from other fish, and changing direction accordingly.
I don't recommend going into clubs with SPL measurements over 85 dB for your OWN hearing health (louder clubs have been measured at over 100... which you shouldn't be exposed to for more than a couple of hours under Occupational Safety and Health Admin. standards in the workplace; you WILL start to get irreversible hearing loss from working at or visiting a place like that regularly).... however, if the fish are well taken care of, and don't exhibit signs of being stressed or sick, I see no reason not to have fish in a club. I haven't had tanks where there has been loud sound environmentally on a regular basis (I prefer to keep my hearing as long as possible, thanks), so other people's observations would be valuable here, too.
enjoy HTH
I would be interested in any information people here have on fish hearing generally. I'm an audiologist, so I deal with human hearing on a regular basis. I can tell you what I do know about the properties of sound, and what fish are likely exposed to, and some info on what they are likely to hear. I've actually corresponded with a researcher in the military that does work on hearing sensitivity research for ocean fish (out of my own curiosity). She has said that aquarium fish probably won't be bothered by anything humans aren't bothered by.
Ocean fish hear different things than freshwater or aquarium fish do. Cod hear from about 2 - 500 Hz, tuna from about 200 - 800 Hz, and goldfish hear from about 5 - 2000 Hz. The general consensus is that most fish don't hear much above 1000 Hz. Humans can hear a range of 20 - 20,000 Hz. Lower frequencies just feel like vibrations, and higher frequencies we don't perceive at all.
As for fish in a club hearing the music - it depends on the overall sound pressure measurement. It takes more energy to displace water than air, although once water is displaced, sound travels four times faster. This is why we have little bones in our middle ears - it provides amplification for the sound coming in by using leverage and concentration of energy to increase the force being applied to the cochlea (which is a fluid-filled environment). Some sound is going to simply reflect off the aquarium glass. Lower frequencies will be more penetrating, and are more likely to be something the fish hear anyway (considering the range of frequencies they hear). However, it will probably be considerably softer than what the humans are hearing, simply because of what I mentioned before about needing more energy to displace water.
It often times depends on what the fish associate a sound with as far as whether they are disturbed. They can hear the airstone, the filter, whatever is humming near their tanks. They can hear you open the hood and know food is coming (yaay!). They can hear rumbling of a river or the ocean in the wild. Their schooling behavior is actually dependent upon being able to "hear" vibrations coming from other fish, and changing direction accordingly.
I don't recommend going into clubs with SPL measurements over 85 dB for your OWN hearing health (louder clubs have been measured at over 100... which you shouldn't be exposed to for more than a couple of hours under Occupational Safety and Health Admin. standards in the workplace; you WILL start to get irreversible hearing loss from working at or visiting a place like that regularly).... however, if the fish are well taken care of, and don't exhibit signs of being stressed or sick, I see no reason not to have fish in a club. I haven't had tanks where there has been loud sound environmentally on a regular basis (I prefer to keep my hearing as long as possible, thanks), so other people's observations would be valuable here, too.
enjoy HTH
