Do fish see them selfs in the side glass view?
- Thread starter bullseye69
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mostlycichlids
Cichlid Specialist
Fish generally see shadows and movements. Generally they dont see themselves in the glass. Here is an interesting pic of one of my grasheiki males. Note his reflection in the glass.
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
I wonder sometimes... there are times when it looks like they're checking themselves out. other times I feel like they can see other tanks in the room and recognize old tank mates... I've seen my chery barbs appear to be looking across the room at each other, both in the nearest corner of their tanks, staring intently.
then again, it could all be in my head.
then again, it could all be in my head.
If the tank light is on but the room light is off, I think the tank glass is like a mirror for them. My betta will flare at his reflection when my room lights are off.
they do not see a reflection. stick your head into your tank with goggles on and you will see. you only see a reflection if you're looking through an adjacent panel, such as looking through the front at the side, or looking through the side at the front. notice how you don't see a reflection if you look through the side of your aquarium to the other opposite side. there's no way for a fish to see reflections. unless you took it out of the tank and got it to face the aquarium at an angle.
That'll be really healthy for your fish too.
Maybe a waterproof camera would work better. However, I'm inclined to believe my betta does see his reflection, unless he flares his gills and fins at memories.Think of it as the way reflections work with windows. If it's nighttime, and your room lights are on, you can't see out. You see a reflection. People outside can see in. If lights are dim on both sides, you can see through both sides. In the daytime, you can always see out through windows, but if you turn the lights off, people outside can't see in... they see reflections. Would this really be different if you're in water rather than air? Honest inquiry.. I've never tested it.
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That'll be really healthy for your fish too.
Think of it as the way reflections work with windows. If it's nighttime, and your room lights are on, you can't see out. You see a reflection. People outside can see in. If lights are dim on both sides, you can see through both sides. In the daytime, you can always see out through windows, but if you turn the lights off, people outside can't see in... they see reflections. Would this really be different if you're in water rather than air? Honest inquiry.. I've never tested it.
water bends light a lot differently than air
I do believe that the fish could see into the room if the lights are all on.
if the lights are off(and the room is truly dark), and the tank lights are on the fish would simply see that its dark, outside of their little area..... weather or not they actually recognize that is another debate all together. but if a human were in a tank of water, in a room, you would see the room.
When my tank lights are off but my kitchen light is on my female swordtail freaks! I think she see's her reflection because she goes up and down the side panel like crazy and sometimes thrashes around in the gravel...maybe she's just mental...
