Put up big mirrors and see what your fish do.

[graihg]

Did some demo work in the Wifey's office today and was going to toss these mirrors...
Mr. Foxface was a giant wussy, like always, but bristletooth tang, pygmy angelfish, cleaner wrasse, and yellow coris wrasse were super interested.

 

[scotty333]

Haha
My clowns were checking out their stripes n lipstick
Even when I took the mirror away they kept going to that spot
How vein

 

[BeanAnimal]

Some people suggest using a small mirror in short sessions to distract aggressive fish. However, I don't see the utility or appeal in putting large mirrors on a tank just to see if you can stress/torment your fish out on purpose.

 

[graihg]

Some people suggest using a small mirror in short sessions to distract aggressive fish. However, I don't see the utility or appeal in putting large mirrors on a tank just to see if you can stress/torment your fish out on purpose.

I would never stress or torment any animal.
Particularly ones that are my pets and get incredible amounts of money spent on them.
How is putting a mirror up for two minutes categorized this way?

 

[BeanAnimal]

I would never stress or torment any animal.
Particularly ones that are my pets and get incredible amounts of money spent on them.
How is putting a mirror up for two minutes categorized this way?

Hi - Fish are territorial. Seeing a reflection of themselves is a territorial breach. They think another fish is too close. Worse, one that get's closer as they investigate and follow their movements! It increases their instinct is to attack or defend. These are stressors.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I would never stress or torment any animal.
Particularly ones that are my pets and get incredible amounts of money spent on them.
How is putting a mirror up for two minutes categorized this way?

And I'm sure we'd all agree with ya here. You just didn't realize. But yes, as BeanAnimal suggested, they get stressed when they see something they don't understand.

 

[graihg]

Noted on the mirrors.
As it turns out, I'm also territorial... It would probably suck to live in a 6 foot rectangle.

 

[jkcoral]

I put up a small handheld mirror for 20 minutes or so every week. I call this the “20 minutes of hate.”

The mirror activates my wrasses instincts, gets their blood pumping, and has them racing around displaying. I see it as something that is good in small doses, and think of it as a type of “exercise.” It also helps to keep their colors vibrant.

Again, in small doses. Prolonged exposure would seem cruel and mean like making a cat go insane with a laser pointer.

My exquisite wrasse flashing the mirror:

 

[graihg]

I put up a small handheld mirror for 20 minutes or so every week. I call this the “20 minutes of hate.”

The mirror activates my wrasses instincts, gets their blood pumping, and has them racing around displaying. I see it as something that is good in small doses, and think of it as a type of “exercise.” It also helps to keep their colors vibrant.

Again, in small doses. Prolonged exposure would seem cruel and mean like making a cat go insane with a laser pointer.

This is interesting about wrasse color... I did not know that.

Do their colors noticeably perk up at other times?

 

[jkcoral]

This is interesting about wrasse color... I did not know that.

Do their colors noticeably perk up at other times?

Yep, wrasses will show off some color, usually when trying to mate, fight, or show dominance. Basically to impress the ladies or show other wrasse “look at me, I’m the big boss around here.”

And sometimes mine do when they get really excited about eating. I find wrasses particularly cool because of the drastic change in color you see in combat/peacocking for ladies mode.

Here is my rhomboid just chilling, and in “alpha mode.”

 

[BeanAnimal]

I put up a small handheld mirror for 20 minutes or so every week. I call this the “20 minutes of hate.”

The mirror activates my wrasses instincts, gets their blood pumping, and has them racing around displaying. I see it as something that is good in small doses, and think of it as a type of “exercise.” It also helps to keep their colors vibrant.

Again, in small doses. Prolonged exposure would seem cruel and mean like making a cat go insane with a laser pointer.

I would say there is a difference in the benefits of exercise in playing vs fright or flight. So is this good for the fish, or just you and you tell yourself it is good for the fish? Honestly?

“I show the kids monsters movies for 20 mins a week, they scream and cry, it really brings out the color in their cheeks and gets their hearts pumping.”

 

[graihg]

Yep, wrasses will show off some color, usually when trying to mate, fight, or show dominance. Basically to impress the ladies or show other wrasse “look at me, I’m the big boss around here.”

And sometimes mine do when they get really excited about eating. I find wrasses particularly cool because of the drastic change in color you see in combat/peacocking for ladies mode.

Here is my rhomboid just chilling, and in “alpha mode.”

OH, that is so cool!
i'm gonna go ask my wife what I look like in peacock mode.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Again, in small doses. Prolonged exposure would seem cruel and mean like making a cat go insane with a laser pointer.

I have a cat that LOVES the laser pointer! I keep it in a drawer next to my chair. If I mess up and leave the drawer open a little, she will get her claw in there, fish it out, drop it on the table and look at me, her tail twitching. As soon as I grab it, she's on the floor, looking up at me, tail twitching. I will say GO! press the button and she's off to the races! I was concerned about using it at first, but it became obvious that she knew exactly what it was!

 

[jkcoral]

I would say there is a difference in the benefits of exercise in playing vs fright or flight. So is this good for the fish, or just you and you tell yourself it is good for the fish? Honestly?

“I show the kids monsters movies for 20 mins a week, they scream and cry, it really brings out the color in their cheeks and gets their hearts pumping.”

Good questions, and something I have thought a lot about before.

And I’m not sure, to be honest. I don’t have any evidence that it’s actually good for them, and so I’d lean towards “Ive decided/think it’s probably good for them.”

I’ve been reefing since the late 90’s, and only recently (last year or so) did I start using the mirror this way (I used them many years ago to mitigate tang aggression). I mostly started doing this because of thinking about their natural habitats, day to day life. Wrasses live in big harems, and flashing females and territorial displays towards other males are a part of their day to day life. In aquariums, wrasses aren’t kept in their usual harems (because any female is more or less guaranteed to transition into a male in captivity). And so without the traditional harems they’d have in their habitat, I guess, in a way, I came to think of the mirror as giving a small piece of their natural life/habitat or stimulating a natural thing for them.

Of course, this is a little bit ironic and hypocritical, because this concern/thinking about their natural behaviors obviously would not be the case if I didn’t participate in removing these creatures from nature to live in my glass box.

So at the end of the day, I’m not really sure.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Good questions, and something I have thought a lot about before.

And I’m not sure, to be honest. I don’t have any evidence that it’s actually good for them, and so I’d lean towards “Ive decided/think it’s probably good for them.”

I guess - I would question doing something for the sake of personal enjoyment or questionable "health benefit" that may or may not induce fear or "fight or flight" response... if we don't honestly know the answer.

I am sure we do all kinds of things that scare or terrify our charges, but I don't think most of us do them on purpose.

Wrasses live in big harems, and flashing females and territorial displays towards other males are a part of their day to day life.

Certainly - and some animals take it to the point of fighting to death or near death for territory or group leadership. Natural yes, and maybe part of their evolution. Pleasant or something to mimic in captivity? Not so sure. A child being bullied is "natural" in any group of children, maybe healthy to some extent on both sides as part of growing and also likely terrifying as well.

Of course, this is a little bit ironic and hypocritical, because this concern/thinking about their natural behaviors obviously would not be the case if I didn’t participate in removing these creatures from nature to live in my glass box.

So at the end of the day, I’m not really sure.

Agreed - was just something to think about.

 

[Euphyllia97]

Mine have started to make duckface pictures and are spamming them all over instagram… Real Finfluencers

 

[graihg]

Mine have started to make duckface pictures and are spamming them all over instagram… Real Finfluencers

bwahaha.

 

[jkcoral]

Mine have started to make duckface pictures and are spamming them all over instagram… Real Finfluencers

 

[Dburr1014]

Noted on the mirrors.
As it turns out, I'm also territorial... It would probably suck to live in a 6 foot rectangle.

We'll all be there someday.

 

[graihg]

We'll all be there someday.

not if you go with cremation...