Do fish like to sunbathe?

Turtles sunbathe. They do it because it produces vitamin D which keeps their shell hard and intact. Light does not penetrate into water very far. In fact after a short distance, only blue light is left so for all but a few species of fish, sunbathing is physically impossible.

One fish does sunbathe, with more intensity and dedication than the most copper toned bikini clad human sunbather, but not for the purpose of sunbathing. The mudskipper will sit out in the intense tropical sun on a beach all day, especially a silty or muddy one, catching and eating insects. Every once in a while they will splash themselves with protective water and wet their gills so they can function out in the air. My wife and I have several times sat out by the beach in Cairnes Australia and watched the mudskippers and mudcrabs the size of saucers or bigger lounging around on the beach, hundreds of mudskippers and dozens of big mudcrabs. Across the bay, past the big ocean liners and cruise ships docked or moving, you could see plumes of smoke from bush fires rising up from the hills. Once in a while you might catch a glimpse of ultralight planes dipping dangerously close to the fires to advise the firefighters where the fires were breaking out and what approaches were safer. But still the mudskippers were what kept our attention even with all the other distractions.

Back to the mudskippers! In some areas mangrove trees are growing and there the mudskippers climb up into their branches staying in the shade of their leaves. It's probably much nicer bug hunting in there, and strong evidence the mudskippers only sunbathe when they have to.

Mudskippers are challenging as aquarium pets. They require highly specialized marine aquarium/terrarium set ups and since they can jump incredible distances and accurately aim themselves at the smallest holes, the tank has to be sealed, not just covered.

A few species of African cichlid come very close to sunbathing, but only the adult males of the species. Ophthalmotilapia, Cyprichromis, and Paracyprochromis species have males that set up sand structures on the bottom that may help reflect some light back up at them. These incredibly colorful males flash and preen in the sunlight, all to attract the silvery almost invisible females of their species who watch from the safer shadows. When a female decides what male is the best at this display in her eyes, she moves in, mates, collects the now fertilized eggs up in her mouth, and then runs off to care for and raise her future fry on her own. The male just keeps doing his best to look pretty for the next female. Unfortunately this display also attracts the eyes of predatory birds, so these male fish have to keep one eye on the female fish and the other on the sky. Every once in a while, one of these beautiful male fish will vanish in an avalanche of claws and feathers.

These fish make great aquarium pets but require huge tanks and brighter lighting than most aquarium lighting systems except those for advanced live plant and coral reef aquariums provide. I have had the Ophthalmotilapia ventralis in a 520 gallon 42" tall aquarium where they was barely room for two males to set up their display areas, and once they grew to full size, one male had to be rescued since the larger male now needed the whole eight foot long aquarium. The females would form a line and mate one after the other with this super male. After holding the eggs in her mouth for days, the female would release the free swimming fry. O's are not fry eaters and the fry would form same-size schools swimming around the aquarium together. Both male and female fry are plain silvery fish until the males reach three or more inches long when they would "drop out" of the schools and want to set up their own "sunbathing station" which of course could not be done in such a small tank as a 520, so they had to be netted out once they reached about two and a half inches long.

Both the mudskippers and one of the African cichlid species, which was Ophthalmotilapia ventralis, have been documented on National Geographic Nature episodes engaging in these behaviors. So if your friend needs to see photographic proof, it's available on DVD.

Course they do. The gals strip down to bikinis and head down to Florida to get baked in the sun. THats how we get fish cakes, fish balls, and fish fingers.

nope our fish avoid the light. although for the first 6 months they were living in the the conservatory (during summer so it was like constantly sunny) and they are still alive....well 5 of the died but the two who survived are okay.... :)

No they much rather swim in the water when they're at the beach lol

NO! it will cause algae or something like that and kill your fish

well my mate from high school had her fish in contact with direct sunlight and it killed it

lol i have to large tanks 7x2x2 6x2x2 my fish dont do that

nevermind to many smart *** answers come to mind.

uhh..if they are suicidal fish then maybe........