Just how intelligent are plecos?

Whats your experience? Are they pretty smart or dumb as mud?

May be my imagination but I am sure some can tell the difference between me who feeds them and my husband who just looks at them.

Its hard to tell since plecos arent really up in your face and like to hide a lot.

i am sure they are very intelligent indeed and they know who feeds them and who even does the water change. they are very clever indeed. sly yet cunning

my humbug catfish is very sly he has been picking my black phantoms of very slowly so i would not know any was missing i reckon he has eaten one every 2 - 3 nights

That's not intelligence.... That's a nocturnal, predatory fish doing what nocturnal predatory fish do.... Eating smaller fish.... At night.... When you are sleeping..... Because its nocturnal..... And a predator of smaller fish

I am not sure how intelligent fish are but mine all gather in the middle any time I go near the tank exactly where I would place food. I don't know how far a fish's ability to learn is from what is already programmed from birth fish behaviour or knowledge.

Is a fish really that complex?

The same has to be said for a few humans out there too.

bigbird said:

i am sure they are very intelligent indeed and they know who feeds them and who even does the water change. they are very clever indeed. sly yet cunning

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could that just be memory of whee food i slocated

i think one of my commons recognises me over the missus.

when i walk in he comes to the surface of the tank and wants a stroke when the missus comes in he doesn't bother (she feeds them more than me so its not even a food association)

I sometimes think they can recognise people

my Para plecs certainly recognise me, they are all over the front and top of the glass as soon as i go near the tank, they feed from my hand but aren't so forthcoming with other people. not sure that makes them very intelligent though, just going with their insticts of finding a good food source

Our gibby seems to be the brightest of our plecs always on the food first
Had to separate him from some of the less outgoing ones to.make sure they all got food

Hi everyone,
what a great thread to start!

I think my pleco's all seem to have a capacity for learning as they like others have noted how there pleco's know who they am compared to others. Also if i try to catch a pleco and cant but leave the net in the tank they will not go near that net. So they must have a capacity for reasoning because they have decided for whatever reason not to go near that person or that object or a particular fish. I think in terms of being able reason safe from unsafe and mealtime from mealtime they are very intelligent.
Intelligent genetics is a whole other really cool thing to think about..... is how different animals, mammals are genetically engineered a demonstration of varying genetic intellect? There has been many studies that show some animals can be trained to do much more complex tricks for food than others.Is this a good measuring stick? Maybe I dont know for sure myself. I just cant help and stare in ore at fish like puffers that watch you watching them, pleco's that know who feed them, intrinsic genetic motivation for Anabantids to build bubble nest. The list of course can go on and on because in the end I think intelligence is measured by a set of subjective variables.

not that I have much to say on the topic

peace and love and flowers to all

My common definitely recognises me - when I come in from work, go into the kitchen and start talking, he comes out of his plastic log and sits begging at the front of the tank. I've watched him corner a bit of floating courgette under the spray bar of the external filter so he could keep it still to eat it. He seems to be very jealous of George the rainbowfish, as whenever George comes to the front of the tank to see me, the plec nudges him out of the way and sticks on the glass right in front of my face.

He also hates Radiohead, in particular the Hail to the Thief album - whenever my hubby plays this anywhere near the tank, he hides in his plastic log and won't come out until the CD is turned off..

boogaloo said:

He also hates Radiohead, in particular the Hail to the Thief album - whenever my hubby plays this anywhere near the tank, he hides in his plastic log and won't come out until the CD is turned off..

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he has taste then cos hail to the thief was crap :clap:

We had a Tig who for months would only come over to feed if Nick was feeding him, I have noticed in our shop around 4.30pm everyday all the fish start to come out and search for food L128 are the most obvious of plecos they all tend to climb the glass at this time if day we start to feed all the fish at around 5pm but.... on a Sunday we leave earlier so feed earlier and yep they start to search the tanks earlier to! for me they either get very used to routine or can tell the time and day of the week??

My Rams, Endlers and 397's know me and interact It's awesome the hypans not so much lol