# how smart are bettas?



## takumi

i'm wondering if this "all fish only have a three second memory span" is true...i think bettas - and possible other fish - may have a larger memory than we think. the reason i'm wondering is because my one fish, Ollie is usually the most curious and active and loves diving down deep to the bottom of his tank. after the last tank cleaning i removed one of his decorations and replaced it with another, now he seems almost a little mopey! he mostly stays near the top and away from the area i had the decoration. not as active either...i think he might miss it! i could be wrong though. i always kinda thought bettas were smart because the fish i've had the longest don't seem to be extremely freaked by tank cleaning day when i catch them with a net like new bettas are. my senior bettas seem to swim in and out of the net very calmly! how smart do you think bettas are?


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## Tsuhei

Actually I believe the three second memory span is a myth or some sort of rumor made by people who don't understand the way a fish's mind works. I've seen goldfish be trained to go through hoops, pick up hoops, touch certain objects, etc. with food as reinforcement. In fact, I've seen this done for bettas as well on youtube. 

I honestly do think bettas can prove to be quite intelligent and do have some sort of memory...that's why they react differently when something new gets added to their tanks or they get put into a bigger sized tank with different decorations. They even have enough memory to understand who feeds them =P


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## baylee767

^ +1

There's no way a fish can have a 3 second memory (unless it is a REALLY dumb one!) When you train them to go through hoops. One person even told me that goldfish were as smart as 3 year old childs, so Bettas most certainly don't have a 3 second memory. If they did, why would they act different over different people? If they did, how could they be trained? If they did, how could they have different personalities? Bettas are smart!


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## scootshoot

3 second memory? That myth is busted each morning I turn on the aquarium lights and he shoots straight for the location of his food drop.


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## nomoretickets

totally a myth, or else my fish wouldnt follow the pink tweezers around anythime they see them because they dispense the food


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## Sweeda88

Totally not true! My female Betta wiggles all over when she sees me. She swims straight to the food port in her tank, whether it's feeding time or not. She is so smart! 
My male Betta also seems to recognize me. He sometimes flares at my parents, but never at me.


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## Tsuhei

Just wanted to add this to the post! It's not a betta, but I think it's pretty darn adorable! :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7qoQS3EiNE

I think that's pretty smart for a fish, wouldn't you say?


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## Sweeda88

Tsuhei said:


> Just wanted to add this to the post! It's not a betta, but I think it's pretty darn adorable! :lol:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7qoQS3EiNE
> 
> I think that's pretty smart for a fish, wouldn't you say?



That is SO cute!


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## Feral

scootshoot said:


> 3 second memory? That myth is busted each morning I turn on the aquarium lights and he shoots straight for the location of his food drop.


perzactly right ;-)


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## TaylorW

I'd say bettas are decently smart, they can be taught tricks and can recognize their owners. I taught mine to jump with little to no effort at all. 

Here's a few articles about fish intelligence that I thought I would share, I was researching for a project, and they are interesting reads  The fish in these articles are not bettas, but they still prove that fish are capable of learning things that we wouldn't have assumed possible! 

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_intelligence.php
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/09/12/1157826917957.html


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## scootshoot

@TaylorW, good read! This part was particularly interesting...thanks for sharing!

For a start, Dr Brown says the three-second memory of goldfish is a myth: "It's completely ridiculous that an animal could survive without a memory."
Fish are so clever, Dr Brown says, that those schooled in survival skills can even teach their captivity-raised peers how to get by in the sea.
To help prove his theories, Dr Brown put rainbow fish into a tank with a mock trawler net with a single hole and watched how long it took them to find an escape route.
"Without any prior experience the fish learned where the hole was in about five runs," he says.
A year later, the same fish managed to find the hole on their first try, which Dr Brown says shows they easily recalled the skills they had learned.


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## Aluyasha

I agree, Bettas are smart. My betta, Abacus, even remembers what day I do not feed him. He begs for food everyday execpt for tuesdays. And Melvin now jumps in the little cup when I go to clean his tank. Mine also like to play with the laser light I bought for the cats!


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## TRISHIESfishie

I don't know about how smart they are, but they have good memories. I 1st betta adores me (or atleast the food I bring him). Whenever he sees me he rushes over and follows my movement (I get the sense of a cat rubbing against your leg). And me new little one is terrified of me because he associates me with something traumatic. So whether it's good or bad, your fish remembers you LOL!


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## small fry

Tony is always sad when I leave. He is happy when I get back. When multiple people are in my room, even if others are closer to him then I am, he always stares at me. Same feeding spot. Same excited wiggle when he sees I am getting out the betta food. Crazy enough, I think he remembers when he was at my lfs inside that small koi tank (although, I have no evidance of that one)!

I think we have busted the 3 second memory myth. Bettas are intelligent!


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## jpicking1

i do not think the memory thing proves how smart the fish can be. my new betta was smart enought o take 6 fake lilly pads that float around the tank and build a bubble nest to bind them all together so they will not float around no more so he can sleep under them. thats pretty smart right there.

P6270023 by jpicking, on Flickr
i realy need a betta log the petco near me did nto have them on hand so i order one online just waiting for it


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## TaylorW

scootshoot said:


> @TaylorW, good read! This part was particularly interesting...thanks for sharing!


Thanks Scootshoot, I'm glad I'm not the only one that found those articles interesting, I felt like a nerd XD


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## Juneii

I think having good memory certifies as being smart. I easily taught my betta to jump for his food. And they do recognize their owners or at least recognize the difference between people who approach their tank. Neptune is generally more reluctant to jump if he doesn't recognize the finger hovering above his tank.


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## Threadlight

Nope. Whoever came up with the idea that fish only have a 3 second memory clearly didn't own a fish! Certainly not a betta! My betta just swims along calmly and sometimes rests on the river stones or wraps himself behind the cable that comes out of the heater and just sits there when I'm not home, and when I turn on the lights, he a swims out of his little resting spot and starts swimming around excitedly like he's saying 'hey look its the food bringer!'


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## Snowlily

The 3 second memory has indeed been disproven over and over again. Goldfish can remember the color of a food dispensing tube one year after presentation. 
Betta splendens even exhibits social intelligence. 
From the wikipedia article on fish intelligence


> In an experiment with Siamese fighting fish, two males were made to fight each other while being watched by a female, whom the males could also see. The winner and the loser of the fight were then, separately, given a choice between spending time next to the watching female or to a new female. The winner courted both females equally, but the loser spent more time next to the new female, avoiding the watcher female


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## kevinap2

This thread is so old, I'm surprised it didn't snap in half when it was bumped back to the top of the forum.


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## Snowlily

Lol


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