My father recently had his grand piano tuned, and the piano technician said that the room was too dry. So, of course, he bought a big fish bowl, put a few big goldfishes in it, and put it under the piano. That piano is rarely played, but I wondered whether the loud music would drive the goldfishes insane, and one morning someone would find the bodies of those fish lying outside the bowl, having chosen to end their lives rather than endure that cacophony any longer. They ensured me that the goldfishes would y be temporarily moved to another place when the piano is played.
If the fish were not moved, then would the rather loud piano music negatively affect the goldfish in any way? Would they turn deaf, be driven to insanity or murderous rage?
A related question: during the conversation, someone stated that bad piano music would negatively affect the fish more than good piano music. Have any studies been done on whether music that sound bad to humans negatively affect animals more than music that sound good to humans?
I can’t answer your questions, but I can tell you from my experience of having agrand piano about 100 feet from my office that anyone can sit down and play, there is a surprisingly large number of humans who can’t tell good piano playing from bad.
Fish don’t have ears. Rather, their entire body functions as an ear. That’s a bit oversimplified, but a fish senses vibrations through the water with its lateral line, a string of nerves that runs along most of a fish’s body. So fish are indeed very sensitive to vibrations; think of a shark sensing a struggling fish from a great distance.
I don’t know specifically how goldfish compare to sharks, but ongoing loud noise will cause them stress. There’s a theory, which I’ve always followed anecdotally to more or less reasonable accuracy, that stress in an aquarium fish can affect its immune responses and make it more subject to infections, etc. I don’t have any research on this, but it’s served me well as a rule of thumb. So yeah, they’d probably rather be somewhere else when you’re playing the piano.
Do you work at St. Mary’s? I’ve sat down and played that piano before, it’s quite nice. I’d like to think I could play (hell, they pay me to do it usually)
Actually the noise won’t have any real effect on the goldfish in terms of chronic stress. The only danger to the fish would be from sudden noises spooking them and causing them to dart around and smash into the sides of the bowl or jump out. That’s why fish stores and aquariums don’t want you tapping on the glass (that and it gets it dirty/causes potential for cracking).
But as far as just plain loud sound goes, although they are very aware of it it doesn’t cause them any undo stress. Fish in hatcheries and home aquriums grown up under the constant loud humming/churning of pumps and aerators. Even wild fish are constantly bombarded with crashing or swishing water from streams currents and ocean tides.
