4 ms·

I only recently got a betta fish and have often pondered how he feels about his captivity. His tank is about ten feet away from my desk and behind me. I rememb

I only recently got a betta fish and have often pondered how he feels about his captivity. His tank is about ten feet away from my desk and behind me. I remember turning my head to look at the tank, and being surprised that he somehow realized that I was looking toward him. He eagerly emerged from behind the heater he normally hides behind to swim up to the front of the tank, in the same fashion that he does if I walk past the tank. I often feel guilty, wondering if he would long for a larger area in which to swim, and if I haven't merely imprisoned him in his five gallon tank. (In a way, I rescued him from his tiny cup at the pet store, but my demand for him is why he is even at a pet store.) I deny my house cat the ability to roam outside, but she still seems rather content with eating and sleeping and being petted in an environment devoid of danger. But my betta fish seems to swim along the front of his tank as if he wants to enter the world in which I live, and I couldn't grant him that even if I wanted to. I then take this thought process to a level of absurdity and wonder if our god(s) would peer at us and not fully understand when we suffer or what makes us suffer, for they are men and we are fish.

VonGuard 12y ago
Even if your Betta is hyper intelligent, your little home for him is, basically, what he was designed for. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betta Bettas tend to live in very constrained environments like puddles, rice paddies, and drains. They're not really built for swimming around a lot, and instead, favor sitting still for long periods of time because they are conserving their body's resources. This is why you can also leave a Betta in dirty water for a long time. I'm staying with some friends right now who, just this past week, rescued a Betta from filthy water in a long empty dorm room. He was still alive, though, because Bettas have a special organ for breathing actual air! Crazy, eh? I say all that to say this: in the wild, your Betta would be sitting completely still in a puddle doing nothing until a bug hops into the water. Your cat, on the other hand, probably wants to go outside and murder things. Mine sure does...
- Eleopteryx 12y ago
  That's comforting. My human brain still senses longing when he swims up to the front of the tank, but I guess I'll never truly understand how he feels. That said, there's a blog post in one of the comments here where the author chronicles a similar sentiment, where his Betta fish at least apparently chose suicide (!). It made me seriously considering researching how to release my fish into the wild. >Your cat, on the other hand, probably wants to go outside and murder things. Probably, but I don't believe she's severely depressed on account of her restrictions, even if she can't comprehend that I do it with the intentions of keeping her healthy in the long term. But again, the problem is not knowing. She doesn't wait by the door to make an escape, so I have to guess she's fairly content.
  - sliverstorm 12y ago
    My human brain still senses longing when he swims up to the front of the tank Fish respond very strongly to any kind of motion or activity. Remember, many of them hunt insects. IMO odds are you're personifying normal fish behavior.
    - fsiefken 12y ago
      Teither that or a telepathic connection. To rule the latter out you could design some experiments. For example a variant of one of the psychic pet studies. Use a webcam to log and analyze motion and correlate with coming home at random times.
  - ryoshu 12y ago
    You could always build a robot that allows him to explore the world from the safety of his tank: http://io9.com/watch-this-goldfish-steer-its-very-own-robotic-tank-aro-1519903858 http://io9.com/watch-this-goldfish-steer-its-very-own-roboti...
asciimo 12y ago
You have nothing to lose by developing your empathy and following your conscience toward greater compassion.
- poulsbohemian 12y ago
  I think I'll print that as a giant wall poster and bumper sticker.
- seanflyon 12y ago
  Nothing to lose other than the risk of coming to an incorrect conclusion by projecting your human emotions onto a fish. The downsides of that (hypothetically) wrong conclusion are pretty minor though.
- baddox 12y ago
  Except for opportunity cost.
trhway 12y ago
>I then take this thought process to a level of absurdity and wonder if our god(s) would peer at us and not fully understand when we suffer or what makes us suffer, for they are men and we are fish. replace god(s) with aliens and absurdity becomes reality.

VonGuard 12y ago

Even if your Betta is hyper intelligent, your little home for him is, basically, what he was designed for. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betta Bettas tend to live in very constrained environments like puddles, rice paddies, and drains. They're not really built for swimming around a lot, and instead, favor sitting still for long periods of time because they are conserving their body's resources. This is why you can also leave a Betta in dirty water for a long time. I'm staying with some friends right now who, just this past week, rescued a Betta from filthy water in a long empty dorm room. He was still alive, though, because Bettas have a special organ for breathing actual air! Crazy, eh? I say all that to say this: in the wild, your Betta would be sitting completely still in a puddle doing nothing until a bug hops into the water. Your cat, on the other hand, probably wants to go outside and murder things. Mine sure does...

Eleopteryx 12y ago
That's comforting. My human brain still senses longing when he swims up to the front of the tank, but I guess I'll never truly understand how he feels. That said, there's a blog post in one of the comments here where the author chronicles a similar sentiment, where his Betta fish at least apparently chose suicide (!). It made me seriously considering researching how to release my fish into the wild. >Your cat, on the other hand, probably wants to go outside and murder things. Probably, but I don't believe she's severely depressed on account of her restrictions, even if she can't comprehend that I do it with the intentions of keeping her healthy in the long term. But again, the problem is not knowing. She doesn't wait by the door to make an escape, so I have to guess she's fairly content.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  My human brain still senses longing when he swims up to the front of the tank Fish respond very strongly to any kind of motion or activity. Remember, many of them hunt insects. IMO odds are you're personifying normal fish behavior.
  - fsiefken 12y ago
    Teither that or a telepathic connection. To rule the latter out you could design some experiments. For example a variant of one of the psychic pet studies. Use a webcam to log and analyze motion and correlate with coming home at random times.
- ryoshu 12y ago
  You could always build a robot that allows him to explore the world from the safety of his tank: http://io9.com/watch-this-goldfish-steer-its-very-own-robotic-tank-aro-1519903858 http://io9.com/watch-this-goldfish-steer-its-very-own-roboti...

asciimo 12y ago

You have nothing to lose by developing your empathy and following your conscience toward greater compassion.

poulsbohemian 12y ago
I think I'll print that as a giant wall poster and bumper sticker.
seanflyon 12y ago
Nothing to lose other than the risk of coming to an incorrect conclusion by projecting your human emotions onto a fish. The downsides of that (hypothetically) wrong conclusion are pretty minor though.
baddox 12y ago
Except for opportunity cost.

trhway 12y ago

>I then take this thought process to a level of absurdity and wonder if our god(s) would peer at us and not fully understand when we suffer or what makes us suffer, for they are men and we are fish. replace god(s) with aliens and absurdity becomes reality.