Yes!

[jdavid]

Okay I know this might not be a huge deal to people who see it all the time.. But I'm sitting here scrolling through the new posts list when I happened to look up at my tank and see something that I've been waiting for.

My brother broke down his tank recently and he has had a cleaner shrimp for a long time. He's a big shrimp. Well he is in my tank now and he moves around a lot but for the most part he sets up shop upside down on a ledge, just waiting for a customer. Well my firefish decided to back up and get a cleaning.

It was pretty awesome to watch the shrimp work. This kind of natural mutual exchange is something that just absolutely fascinates me and this is the first time I've seen it happen. These moments when you are looking at your tank and happen to see something that you didn't expect are really exciting to me. Just wanted to share

I'm still pretty pumped about it lol.

 

[nhannon8]

That is awesome!!! I can't wait till I get to see that happen in my tank.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

You know what they say....pics or it didn't happen! LOL! That's pretty cool...glad you got to experience it.

 

[jdavid]

I was too amazed to look away and grab my camera (phone lol)

 

[saltbubbles]

Cool! Symbiotic relationships fascinate me. I always wonder what these animals are thinking while reaping the benefits if such relationships.

 

[jdavid]

saltbubbles;890309 wrote: Cool! Symbiotic relationships fascinate me. I always wonder what these animals are thinking while reaping the benefits if such relationships.

I'm pretty sure that they aren't thinking too much about it, and I'm pretty sure that they don't have any means of rationalizing what they do think. That's what is so cool about it. These relationships are just programmed by nature. In the case of the typical cleaner/host symbiosis, it's really fascinating. Both have to benefit or the relationship never would have evolved.

Something you will notice in nature is that a food source, a source of energy, is rarely wasted. Where there are no woodpeckers (Madagascar) the Aye-Aye evolved and elongated middle finger for tapping on trees and super sensitive hearing. It can hear if there is a hole nearby, and can even tell if there is a grub in the hole. It also has special teeth for digging them out. This is just an example of how energy is never wasted- Something is gonna get that grub. period.

It's the same case with the cleaner. It's eating parasites or dead tissue off of the fish. The fish is getting a good cleaning. It's fascinating to think about HOW the relationship evolved! Not to omit the possibility that it was intelligently designed.

 

[saltbubbles]

Kids like going to work, you do it without think much about it. Like a zombie lol I just think there must be something going through their head we just will never know after all some animals are pretty intelligent.

 

[jdavid]

We do know that they don't rationalize what they are thinking. That comes from a more highly evolved brain with a prefrontal cortex. The center part of our brain is what we share in common with a lot of animals like cats and dogs. It does think, but does not rationalize. The fish and shrimp aren't rationalizing this behavior. They are both doing it simply for the benefit. Just like a cat likes you if you scratch his ears or give him a treat. He doesn't rationalize it- he just likes getting his ears scratched and eating treats.

Edit: I'm not arguing that some animals are not extremely intelligent though!