Do fish really sleep?
- Thread starter RobertA
- Start date
Yup. If you don't ever turn out the lights most fish will die quickly due to stress. They have a natural rythym like most vertebrate organisms.
Is it sleep as you or I know it? Probably not quite, a fish is not tame (well MOST fish aren't) and part of it's natural defense is the ability to recognize danger, I'd imagine a fish still has some awareness of it's surroundings when it is resting, but it is still less mobile. Some rest during the day and are active at night.
Question: How do cave fish know when it's day or night? :joke:
Is it sleep as you or I know it? Probably not quite, a fish is not tame (well MOST fish aren't) and part of it's natural defense is the ability to recognize danger, I'd imagine a fish still has some awareness of it's surroundings when it is resting, but it is still less mobile. Some rest during the day and are active at night.
Question: How do cave fish know when it's day or night? :joke:
yes fish do sleep, it is easy to tell if barbs are sleeping because they are always head first and facing down.
My clown loaches and Golden Zebra Botia both sleep on their sides (i think most botia and loach do that). My bala sharks float motionless, my SAEs perch on a rock and sit motionless, and my clown pleco... well he barely moves as it is so it's hard to tell 
I imagine they can kind of slip into a subconcious sleep mode, where they block out sight and aren't really aware of their environment (much like I do when I "zone out" haha), but since they lack eyelids they can sense abnormal movement and snap out of that mode.
That's how I imagine it is, anyways.
That's how I imagine it is, anyways.
My green barb (LOL he does that head down thing!!) sleeps in the corner behind my crayfish cave... Popeye's keeping watch to make sure no one messes with him!
Fish definately sleep, I can tell when mine are. I think that fish sleep is kindof like the state that we are in right before we wake up. I call it being "in between worlds", were you are still sleeping and sometimes still dreaming but you're aware of noises and changes in your surrounding, like light. It usually doesn't last long, but sometimes you will notice it.
Cought one of my pleco's sleepin in a log when I took it out for a gravel cleaning, IT wasnt too happy to be uprooted and I got a big splash from it when it let go of the log and ploped into the tank, my pleco's are Goofy..