Want to make your fish more clever? Build them a playground in their tank to give them an intellectual workout
- U.S. study suggests fish in more stimulating environments are smarter
- The fish kept in more exciting tanks developed better learning and memory
- Discovery could provide an insight into how to successfully repopulate our oceans and rivers
By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD PUBLISHED: 11:45 GMT, 31 July 2013 | UPDATED: 11:48 GMT, 31 July 2013
Keeping your goldfish in a tank which contains plants and sculptures could make them cleverer, according to new American research.Scientists at Penn State University, in Pennsylvania, discovered that fish benefit from being in ‘enriched environments’. They believe that their discovery could provide an insight into how to successfully repopulate our oceans and rivers.
Fish kept in tanks with hiding places and floating artificial plants showed signs of improved brain function and could better navigate mazes than the those in a less exciting environment
Professor Victoria Braithwaite explained that currently a lot of fish that are bred in captivity do not survive once they are released into the wild.She said that, now, fisheries overcome this problem by breeding huge numbers of fish in the hope that some will survive.
The professor believes that part of the reason so many of the fish die is that they are bred in ‘pretty boring’ tanks where there is always plenty of food and no predators meaning that they are totally unprepared for release.To test this hypothesis Braithwaite bred 30 salmon in two separate tanks. One contained plants and rocks which were regularly changed to ensure the fish did not become bored, while the other was empty.
Conservation fish hatcheries are good at rearing lots of fish, but their survivability rate is low. Victoria Braithwaite, professor of fisheries and biology, Penn State, said that adding objects to make hatchery tanks more stimulating for the fish can make fish smarter and better adapted to survive in the wild. In contrast, Braithwaite said the hatchery world is homogenous: ‘The water flow is the same, you don't have to find your food and you don't have to avoid predators.’
Researchers discovered when fish were raised in the enriched tank, parts of their brains changed and they could escape from a maze quicker than fish raised in standard tanks
When the researchers placed the salmon in a maze, the fish raised in the enriched tanks made fewer mistakes when trying to escape the maze.The performance of the salmon from the enriched tank continued to improve with each trial, and they learned to solve the maze much faster than fish reared the standard way.The brains of the fish from the enriched tank were also different from the fish raised in the standard hatchery tanks, according to the researchers.
They noted increased expressions of a gene in a region of the fish's brain that is associated with learning and memory, an indication of increased brain function and growth.Braithwaite has concluded that interacting with the environment can influence gene expression in the brain.‘If you want to make the environment more interesting for your fish, change things around a bit,’ she told The Times. ‘If you are a hobby aquarist, bring in some new ornaments for the tank.’
Keeping your goldfish in a tank which contains plants and sculptures could make them cleverer, according to new American research.Scientists at Penn State University, in Pennsylvania, discovered that fish benefit from being in ‘enriched environments’. They believe that their discovery could provide an insight into how to successfully repopulate our oceans and rivers.
Fish kept in tanks with hiding places and floating artificial plants showed signs of improved brain function and could better navigate mazes than the those in a less exciting environment
Professor Victoria Braithwaite explained that currently a lot of fish that are bred in captivity do not survive once they are released into the wild.She said that, now, fisheries overcome this problem by breeding huge numbers of fish in the hope that some will survive.
The professor believes that part of the reason so many of the fish die is that they are bred in ‘pretty boring’ tanks where there is always plenty of food and no predators meaning that they are totally unprepared for release.To test this hypothesis Braithwaite bred 30 salmon in two separate tanks. One contained plants and rocks which were regularly changed to ensure the fish did not become bored, while the other was empty.
Conservation fish hatcheries are good at rearing lots of fish, but their survivability rate is low. Victoria Braithwaite, professor of fisheries and biology, Penn State, said that adding objects to make hatchery tanks more stimulating for the fish can make fish smarter and better adapted to survive in the wild. In contrast, Braithwaite said the hatchery world is homogenous: ‘The water flow is the same, you don't have to find your food and you don't have to avoid predators.’
Researchers discovered when fish were raised in the enriched tank, parts of their brains changed and they could escape from a maze quicker than fish raised in standard tanks
When the researchers placed the salmon in a maze, the fish raised in the enriched tanks made fewer mistakes when trying to escape the maze.The performance of the salmon from the enriched tank continued to improve with each trial, and they learned to solve the maze much faster than fish reared the standard way.The brains of the fish from the enriched tank were also different from the fish raised in the standard hatchery tanks, according to the researchers.
They noted increased expressions of a gene in a region of the fish's brain that is associated with learning and memory, an indication of increased brain function and growth.Braithwaite has concluded that interacting with the environment can influence gene expression in the brain.‘If you want to make the environment more interesting for your fish, change things around a bit,’ she told The Times. ‘If you are a hobby aquarist, bring in some new ornaments for the tank.’
