Surprisingly enough it is very easy to train fish to do little things, the key is repetition. some species of fish are easier than others and I have found angelfish to be especially easy. Currently my angelfish already know how to come out of the water and kiss me on the lips, jump, and swim to the bottom of the tank (i call it sit). training your fish is not only kind of cool but it also builds a relationship with them. You may see signs that the fish grow more attached to you as you are to them. To start all you need is some freeze dried blood worms from a pet store.
everyday feed your fish by holding their food in your fingers and putting it in the tank water. wait patiently for the fish to come to you and eat out of your hand.don’t make any sudden movements as it will scare the fish. The reason you do this is to gain their trust, but keep in mind the fish that takes the longest to gain your trust is often the smartest in the tank and it’s worth your while to be patient with this one in particular as it will be easier to work with once he/she trusts you. the time table on this step is approx. a week depending only on your fish. keep feeding your fish this way until the fish you want to train dosnt hesitate at all to eat from your hand. if you want to take it a step further try getting your fish to let you pet it. simply stroke it lightly and once it sits still you have it’s complete trust. once you have the fish’s trust you can begin training.
The best trick to start with is jump. to start, take a single bloodworm and hold it so that it is just touching the surface of the water and wait for the fish to come up and eat it. when the fish has eaten the blood worm get another and keep doing it until the fish grabs it within a second or two. for most fish this does not take long at all.
once you have your fish doing that hold the blood worm a little higher each time. and repeat this three times a day until you can get your fish to jump simply by holding your finger over the tank.
training your fish to kiss you works much the same as jump except you put the blood worm on your mouth. some people find this disgusting and i suppose their right but the trick is so cute i suppose the good out ways the bad. However initially by putting your head (which is bigger than your hand) near the fish will terrify them, so simply feed them while your head is near the water to ease the tension. once they are use to your head simply put a bloodworm in your mouth and hold it so that it is just touching the water line. wait for the fish to come and grab it. do this over and over and over until the fish dosn’t need bloodworms to kiss you.
once you have these two basics down repeat them over and over. you’ll find that most fish once they trust you can be trained in less than 5 minutes but it’s the repetition that makes them remember their training. The more and often you do it the better.
Training the fish to “sit” is a little more complicated but do able. Mind you fish don’t rely sit they just swim to the bottom on command. for this trick you actually need the kit sold at http://www.r2fishschool.com/ the website uses goldfish but i’ve noticed my angel is alot easier. my friend thinks his betta was easy too. if you don’t want to buy something to train your fish you don’t have to. simply get creative but remeber the following basic principles:
1. Fish love food, they’ll do anything for it. which is good for you because it gives you an edge.
2. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition. You can easily get a fish to do something a few times but if your not repetitive they will forget it the next day.
3. Fish are smarter than you think. Never underestimate your fishes potential you’ll be surprised as to what they can be taught.
I also never thought of training fish. Great post.
Can you add a photo to the post showing how they "sit" - I must see that :-)