Ancient Romans Trained Eels

[chris_in_LA]

Okay, maybe I've been taken in by a UL, but tonight my wife told me that SHE heard from SOMEBODY that the ancient Romans not only kept eels as beloved pets (okay, confirmed by Google), but also they had them TRAINED to hop out of their garden pond and wriggle around 'in terra' on voice command (or clap or something like that). Has anybody heard of this? I found online references to Romans loving their pet eels and feeding slaves to them and weeping when they died and all that, but nothing about training them to respond to voice commands. Sounds like bollocks.

 

[GNC]

I don't know if it's possible to train any fish. You don't see eels diving through hoops or balancing beachballs on their noses at the nearest Sea World tourist attraction do you?

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know about eels (yet), but fish can certainly be conditioned; thus, I suppose, 'trained '. Will now go a hunting on the net!

 

[Anonymous]

Found this on www.fish.washington.edu.com - it's a long article, but does ssuggest that aural conditioning can take place. I will see if I can find anything on eels.




edited by TheQuixote: removed quoted material - just follow the above link

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry that this is from (originally, the Guardian): www.infofish.com

On golden pond

History of pond fish keeping

source: Susie Green
Guardian Weekend February 23 2002 p59

Pond fish have been kept as far back as Roman times. Some Roman ponds had bridges and walkways, and places for people to dine by their ponds. Cicero called the Roman ruling class ‘piscinarii’ because of their enthusiasm for fish ponds. They kept different fish from modern pond fish keepers, and their favourites included mullets, and members of the eel family. Some eels were able to recognise their owners and come to be fed. Titbits fed by Crassus, a Roman general, to his eel, included milk curds and green figs. Crassus even put earrings and necklaces on his favourite eel. Lampreys often bite, and they were used by another Roman to attack people thrown into the water.

Koi carp have become more popular in modern times. These fish can distinguish between humans, and recognise their owners, while hiding from
strangers. Koi are able to suck, since they have no teeth at the front of their mouths. Some koi keepers give their fish a baby’s dummy to suck, with honey on it. Koi also like other titbits, like fruits, cockles and prawns. Koi tend to be lethargic when it is cold, and many koi owners spend large sums heating their ponds.
FI,FH

 

[filcee]

...Koi carp have become more popular in modern times. These fish can distinguish between humans, and recognise their owners, while hiding from
strangers. Koi are able to suck, since they have no teeth at the front of their mouths. Some koi keepers give their fish a baby’s dummy to suck, with honey on it. Koi also like other titbits, like fruits, cockles and prawns. Koi tend to be lethargic when it is cold, and many koi owners spend large sums heating their ponds...

My cousins koi pond has a small metallic pipe running from the side wall into a shallow inlet. He taps this, the koi turn up & get fed. Does that count as training?

 

[escargot]

You can certainly get tank fish to come to a particular spot to obtain food. I have seen this done, and I'd call it 'training'.

How far they'll go to get the food, though, is another thing.

 

[FelixAntonius]

Same sort of thing with the goldfish in the pond in the garden. They have over the summer, begun to associate my walking on the decking with being fed & come to the surface for the food, even before it's out of the tub.

 

[David Plankton]

Same sort of thing with the goldfish in the pond in the garden. They have over the summer, begun to associate my walking on the decking with being fed & come to the surface for the food, even before it's out of the tub.

And who said they only have a two second memory? :?:

 

[FelixAntonius]

And who said they only have a two second memory? :?:

Looks like they have a much longer memory span than two seconds.

The gold fish in my pond, can at least remember over night, say ten to twelve hours. I've now found that if I just tap on the decking without standing on it myself, they respond & come to the surface expecting to be fed. So they seem to respond to the sound, not my presence & are anticipating being fed.

For the previous couple of years, when I had a couple of heron preying on them, the fish would not come to the surface for any reason. Food was left uneaten.