Lesson Learned from Fish
My husband and I have two fresh water fish tanks at home. We inherited the first one, along with one very tenacious Danio with a strong survival streak. The second tank we got once we introduced a bunch of new fish to the first one and the Danio proved to be somewhat of a bully. Now he/she shares a small tank with a Chinese algae eater; we suspect they are a couple now.
The bigger tank seems to be run by a large and growing Chinese algae eater we call Mr. Chin. While he had been a recluse since we brought him home, recently we've noticed he's become much more comfortable in front of us. He's even taken to playing with a marble he discovered, scooting it around with his nose across and around the entire tank. In fact, he's playing with right now as I write about him.
Mr. Chin also decided he didn't like the location of his home, aka the partial "sunken ship." So, he redesigned it by pushing it over until the open bottom was sideways, making his exit much easier. He's in process with some additional excavation, the goal of which we're waiting to see. Fascinating.
Over the course of a year and a half we've had fish, we've learned that the Perches are pretty sedentary and shy. The yellow Glow fish are hilarious and gregarious, and aren't bothered by the hand that feeds them. They have a ton of energy. One of them, Yellow Man, is a speed freak and likes to do fast laps around the tank. Meanwhile, the two Neons tend to be watchers. Neo, for one, is friendly and mild-mannered.
Speaking of mild-mannered. Our three bottom feeders are very sweet and non-plussed by Mr. Chin who always manages to get in their way while on his food hunt. Two of them often park next to each other at the front of the tank for time out from their almost constant dining. One of those seems smitten with the third, smaller and spotted bottom feeder who's normally hiding behind a shell in the back of the tank.
While I already knew that humans by no means have a monopoly on personality, emotions, thought processes, and tool usage, I have been very pleasantly taught that these attributes extend to fish and beyond. The lesson is both eye-opening and humbling.
The bigger tank seems to be run by a large and growing Chinese algae eater we call Mr. Chin. While he had been a recluse since we brought him home, recently we've noticed he's become much more comfortable in front of us. He's even taken to playing with a marble he discovered, scooting it around with his nose across and around the entire tank. In fact, he's playing with right now as I write about him.
Mr. Chin also decided he didn't like the location of his home, aka the partial "sunken ship." So, he redesigned it by pushing it over until the open bottom was sideways, making his exit much easier. He's in process with some additional excavation, the goal of which we're waiting to see. Fascinating.
Over the course of a year and a half we've had fish, we've learned that the Perches are pretty sedentary and shy. The yellow Glow fish are hilarious and gregarious, and aren't bothered by the hand that feeds them. They have a ton of energy. One of them, Yellow Man, is a speed freak and likes to do fast laps around the tank. Meanwhile, the two Neons tend to be watchers. Neo, for one, is friendly and mild-mannered.
Speaking of mild-mannered. Our three bottom feeders are very sweet and non-plussed by Mr. Chin who always manages to get in their way while on his food hunt. Two of them often park next to each other at the front of the tank for time out from their almost constant dining. One of those seems smitten with the third, smaller and spotted bottom feeder who's normally hiding behind a shell in the back of the tank.
While I already knew that humans by no means have a monopoly on personality, emotions, thought processes, and tool usage, I have been very pleasantly taught that these attributes extend to fish and beyond. The lesson is both eye-opening and humbling.
Posted by MC Think Tank Talk Blog at 1/12/2010 5:57 PM 
Categories: lifestyle
Tags: humans don't have an exclusive on brainpower and personality
Categories: lifestyle
Tags: humans don't have an exclusive on brainpower and personality
Comments