• Question: Do Goldfish actually have a 3 second memory?

    Asked by to Daren, Lynne, Phillip, Simon on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Daren Fearon

      Daren Fearon answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Mythbusters actually tested if this was true by trying to train a fish to swim through a maze. They decided that they do have better memories than 3 seconds. A video showing this can be found here:

      http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/goldfish-memory-minimyth.htm

    • Photo: Phillip Manning

      Phillip Manning answered on 25 Jun 2014:

      The behaviour often expressed by fish, including goldfish, suggest they can have long-term memory….certainly more than 3 seconds. My Grandfather would tap his foot at the edge of his pond and the fish would come to the side where he was stood to be fed. He fed them every other day, indicating at least a 48 hour memory of a signal that indicated feeding time.

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