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Training Fish
I have not done this myself. This advice comes from a posting on the newsgroups by ravinwulf@worldnet.att.net.
These pages contain my personal experiences with Goldfish. For more info on fish in general, including goldfish please check out this site. http://www.calcna.ab.ca/~prsadlon/train.html
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A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (before I became a stay-at-home mommy), I worked for a zoo training exotics, so I can personally and professionally vouch for this method. It's not particularly complicated; but it'll take some patience on your part. Training anything is an intuitive, "make haste slowly" kind of process... Remember these things: Patience. Train only one thing at a time. Patience. Deliver the reinforcement at exactly the moment the behavior you want occurs, not before, not after. Patience. Raise your standards in very small increments. And, finally, have patience...
First, you have to establish a conditioned reinforcer. For fish, the flash of a small penlight or laser pointer works well. Flash the light, then give the fish a *small* bit of food, something he *really* likes. (Note: I use one Hikari mini pellet or a *tiny* piece of shrimp (hand fed) when I'm working with my orandas who are fairly large fish.) Remember not to overfeed the fish whilst establishing the reinforcer, though. Repeat over a period of however long it takes (some critters catch on almost immediately, some don't...), until the fish starts looking about for the treat as soon as you flash the light. A conditioned reinforcer (the light) is used because you can deliver it at exactly the correct moment; the timing is much harder to perfect (impossible, really) if you use food directly. Anyway, once he understands that the flash of light means food is on the way, you're ready for phase two...
Put the ping pong ball in the tank. What you're going to do now is called "shaping"; it involves gradually creating and encouraging the behavior you want to get on cue.
Watch and wait until the fish swims near the ball, say within 6 inches. It doesn't matter if he's looking at it or not. As soon as the fish gets within your target range, flash the light, then feed. Timing is everything here. You must flash the light as soon as the fish exhibits the behavior you are looking for. Don't be late about it because whatever he's doing when the light goes off, is what he'll give you more of. Poorly timed reinforcement produces poor results. Gradually (again, how long it takes depends on the critter, some will make the connection right away that going near the ball is what's being reinforced, some are a bit denser and will take a little longer to figure it out...) reduce the size of your target area, thus making the fish get closer and closer to be rewarded. Eventually, you will only flash the light when the fish actually touches the ball, then when he touches the ball with his head, and later only when he pushes it a bit... After that you can start rewarding harder, bigger pushes. Progress in tiny increments; don't expect the fish to make too big a jump at once (although he may surprise you...) If he seems stalled, go back a couple of steps...
When you've got the fish pushing the ball around, add the hoop or cup (put the ball very nearby at this stage) and reward pushes in the right direction (toward the target); while you're teaching this, don't worry about how hard or how far the ball is being pushed, just that it's going in the direction of the target. Only try to train one criteria at a time; you'll put them both together later. Gradually shape the ball going into/though the target, using basically the same process you used to get him closer to the ball in the first place.
Once the fish is getting the ball into the cup, you can begin moving the ball further away from the cup to start, thus requiring harder pushes again.
http://www.calcna.ab.ca/~prsadlon/train.html
Training Fish
I have not done this myself. This advice comes from a posting on the newsgroups by ravinwulf@worldnet.att.net.
These pages contain my personal experiences with Goldfish. For more info on fish in general, including goldfish please check out this site. http://www.calcna.ab.ca/~prsadlon/train.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (before I became a stay-at-home mommy), I worked for a zoo training exotics, so I can personally and professionally vouch for this method. It's not particularly complicated; but it'll take some patience on your part. Training anything is an intuitive, "make haste slowly" kind of process... Remember these things: Patience. Train only one thing at a time. Patience. Deliver the reinforcement at exactly the moment the behavior you want occurs, not before, not after. Patience. Raise your standards in very small increments. And, finally, have patience...
First, you have to establish a conditioned reinforcer. For fish, the flash of a small penlight or laser pointer works well. Flash the light, then give the fish a *small* bit of food, something he *really* likes. (Note: I use one Hikari mini pellet or a *tiny* piece of shrimp (hand fed) when I'm working with my orandas who are fairly large fish.) Remember not to overfeed the fish whilst establishing the reinforcer, though. Repeat over a period of however long it takes (some critters catch on almost immediately, some don't...), until the fish starts looking about for the treat as soon as you flash the light. A conditioned reinforcer (the light) is used because you can deliver it at exactly the correct moment; the timing is much harder to perfect (impossible, really) if you use food directly. Anyway, once he understands that the flash of light means food is on the way, you're ready for phase two...
Put the ping pong ball in the tank. What you're going to do now is called "shaping"; it involves gradually creating and encouraging the behavior you want to get on cue.
Watch and wait until the fish swims near the ball, say within 6 inches. It doesn't matter if he's looking at it or not. As soon as the fish gets within your target range, flash the light, then feed. Timing is everything here. You must flash the light as soon as the fish exhibits the behavior you are looking for. Don't be late about it because whatever he's doing when the light goes off, is what he'll give you more of. Poorly timed reinforcement produces poor results. Gradually (again, how long it takes depends on the critter, some will make the connection right away that going near the ball is what's being reinforced, some are a bit denser and will take a little longer to figure it out...) reduce the size of your target area, thus making the fish get closer and closer to be rewarded. Eventually, you will only flash the light when the fish actually touches the ball, then when he touches the ball with his head, and later only when he pushes it a bit... After that you can start rewarding harder, bigger pushes. Progress in tiny increments; don't expect the fish to make too big a jump at once (although he may surprise you...) If he seems stalled, go back a couple of steps...
When you've got the fish pushing the ball around, add the hoop or cup (put the ball very nearby at this stage) and reward pushes in the right direction (toward the target); while you're teaching this, don't worry about how hard or how far the ball is being pushed, just that it's going in the direction of the target. Only try to train one criteria at a time; you'll put them both together later. Gradually shape the ball going into/though the target, using basically the same process you used to get him closer to the ball in the first place.
Once the fish is getting the ball into the cup, you can begin moving the ball further away from the cup to start, thus requiring harder pushes again.
http://www.calcna.ab.ca/~prsadlon/train.html
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