
Using fish to study depression - fortran77
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/science/depressed-fish.html
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shaunpersad
I inherited a betta fish from my friend who traveled too much. She kept him in
a 1 gallon tank. He always "seemed" depressed, always staying inside his
little house thing. So I made it my mission to try to make this fish as happy
as I could.

It never felt quite right to keep him in such a small space, so I bought a 5
gallon tank, and put in a (fake) plant. After the initial shock of the new
environment, he seemed to really like his plant and I'd sometimes find him
hiding between the leaves. But still to this day he rarely swims around. He
still spends most of his time inside his house, though I every so often find
him playing up at the top. 95% of the time he's stationary inside his house.

Next I'm going to try introducing some vines that hang down from the top to
see if that coaxes him up. But it all makes me wonder if fish can incur long-
term trauma or depression. Who knows how long he sat on the shelf of the pet
store in a tiny cup? Did it affect his mental health? Or is it simply his
"personality" (fishonality?) to be a homebody. I sure am.

I don't know, but this article kind of vindicates my train of thought.

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lbotos
How warm is the tank?

If you don't have a heater with the tank temp at 78-80 they might just be
cold.

Source: planning a 15G betta tank right now :)

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shaunpersad
I do have a heater though I haven't had to use it because the tank thermometer
is always within 75-80. Our house is usually very warm!

The investigation continues.

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mike_ivanov
You still need a heater to prevent temperature fluctuations, fishes hate it
when the temperature jumps around. Also, here's a great source of information
on how to care for them [https://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-
Betta.htm](https://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-Betta.htm)

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victorevector
I would be depressed too if I lived in a fish tank/bowl...

~~~
anonytrary
Would you be? Depends on:

    
    
      1. Were you born in the fish bowl, or did someone place you in it after you grew up?
    
      2. If the former, were you ever given a chance to leave the fishbowl and experience different life?
    

My hypothesis is that living things can't be depressed about stuff they are
unaware of, since depression is a relative state rather than an absolute
state.

~~~
fortran77
And this is why we see happy PHP programmers--they've never seen anything
else.

