I hate the common perception that most non aquarium people have that fish are “Thick, stupid, cannot remember anything or don’t feel anything” and don’t have a brain
I am focusing on betta here but the same has been explored by marine biologists and animal scientists all over the world with different fish too. I am not going to go into huge amount of detail here but enough to understand the subject.
Do Betta Remember things
Simple answer yes they do a betta can remember what time you feed them, your face and can even learn tricks! like swimming through a hoop some have even been known to play with their owners too. A Facebook friend who was on a Betta group actually recorded a video of her Betta at the time playing tic-tac-toe on the front of the tank with her using a white board eraser that would easily come off.
Betta of course even I admit haven’t got a huge brain they are small fish after all but regardless as I say they do fall under sentient animals because while there is not a universal standard on “three rules” for sentience Betta when you look at the above and what i mention below.
1. Self awareness – Betta self awareness is a little different from humans but they still indicate it in other ways
2. Ability to feel pain ( I will cover this shortly)
3. Ability to process things
Feeling Pain
A betta I highly believe can feel discomfort or pain I think I can personally link this with experience of my own Chloe my current betta. She went absolutely crazy when i put her in a tank that was a little too cold the heater had falsely reported the temperature. I had never seen a Betta behave in the way Chloe did before.
She was desperately trying to find heat she immediately stuck to the substrate, her fins clamped up and she became very lifeless conserving her energy. (I want to reassure everyone though Chloe is absolutely fine now I got her out within 30 seconds even though it felt longer for her no doubt and me) and no lie it scared me a lot!.
So yes I 100% think they can feel pain or discomfort.
Self Awareness
No one can deny Betta’s Self awarness is not as advanced as a cat’s for example but Betta actually do possess self Awareness how? They are known to fiercely guard their territory within the tank, showing awareness of their personal space and actively defending it against other fish.
They also react differently to various stimuli like visual cues or changes in water conditions, suggesting an ability to interpret and respond to their environment.
and if you are thinking hold on a second you mentioned about Chloe reacting differently due to the temperature in her tank then yes you are right it links back to the “Interpret and respond to their environment” statement in that last paragraph. and I accept fish brains are structured differently, which may limit their capacity for complex cognitive functions like self-recognition.
Processing
I have always thought Betta process things really well they learn who you are and they constantly explore everything in their tank and learn about it and I have always thought they have the ability to find what visual cue’s work with their owners.
For example Chloe glass surf’s at the front of her tank at between 9:30am to around 10:15am and at around 6:30pm which is around normal time I feed her and she has worked this out and developed a way to get my attention.
As soon as I feed her she’s off into her own little world I never taught her to do this!.
