Basketball

[RoxMad]

Hey all! I haven't visited here in a while, but I suppose that's a
good thing because it means I haven't run into any training speed-
bumps...until now!

I have been able to teach my buddy Russell 7 tricks!! We started to
work on the basketball trick, and we are having some technical
difficulties. It's certainly not that he doesn't get it...we've been
working on "hit the ball multiple times for a click and a treat." I
moved him into a bigger tank with a small over hang. The problem is
that the ball gets wedged between the overhang and the water
line...he'll try to bump it still, but it just seems to get more
stuck. It also does not have the tendency to stick the glass like it
should. With my previous fish, we learned this pretty quickly, but he
was in a tiny 2.5 gallon bow front. I'm pretty sure most 10 gallons
have this little overhang, but I can post a picture of it if no one
has a clue as to what I'm talking about. If you do...how did you avoid
this problem? With my other fish, we learned to bump the ball in a
straight line along the glass until it went into the hoop. Any other
ways of teaching that might avoid the issue?

Also, does anyone else have to shut down their filter while teaching
this trick?

[Dean Pomerleau]

RodMad,

Great to hear your training has been going well. I'd love to see some pictures / videos of Russell if you've got them! Has he learned to fetch the ring? That one is my favorite, and one of the most difficult to master (for fish and trainer!).

Regarding the overhang on most tanks - the way I found to avoid the problem is to have the water level a little lower in the tank, so the overhang doesn't interfere with the motion of the ball.  You can see this in the short basketball segment in the video on the website:

http://fish-school.com/

> Also, does anyone else have to shut down their filter while teaching
> this trick

Yes - it definitely helps to shut off the filter for the basketball trip, to keep the ball from drifting due to the circulation of the water.

Take care!

--Dean

[RoxMad]

Thanks for the help! I sent you the video of Russ that you guys put up
on Facebook this morning! He hasn't done the fetch trick yet. So far,
we've learned to target (the wand), hoop, tunnel, chimney. limbo,
soccer, and we're refining a double hoop sequence right now. We
skipped over the "eating out of my hands" trick because I feed
pellets, so I didn't think it'd work too well, but he was a little
confused when I started basketball, and I think it had to do with
working at the surface. Since the pellets are hard to give with your
hands, I think we'll shape it into "come!"

I was afraid you'd say that about the water level! My filter gets so
loud even if I give it a little "slack." I'll have to get over it to
teach it, though!

[Dean Pomerleau]

Great video RodMad - here it is for anyone who hasn't seen it. Nice videography!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-80MXQmrN8

> I was afraid you'd say that about the water level! My filter gets so
> loud even if I give it a little "slack." I'll have to get over it to
> teach it, though!

I know what you mean. I sometimes siphon off a little water before training and then pour it back in after the training session to quiet the filter back down.

--Dean

[RoxMad]

Glad you guys like the video!

>I know what you mean. I sometimes siphon off a little water before training
>and then pour it back in after the training session to quiet the filter
>back down.

Why didn't I think of that? Such a simple and easy solution! Thanks
for the help!! You'll see this trick in the next video!