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Previously I asked "Can goldfish be Trained?" and the answer was yes. But my plan is to train my fishies to jump out of the water get food.

I did a Google image search and it looks like goldfish can jump out of water, but the photos seem... fake.

I guess my question is two-part:

  1. Can goldfish jump out of water? To get food that is an inch or two out of the water?

  2. Has anyone trained their goldfish to jump out of water?

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    They jump very well when approached with a net. Aug 27, 2018 at 15:21

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Well, obviously there is a lot you can teach a fish ... I wouln't believe this myself if I didn't see it!

Here's a video of a fish doing 10 different tricks in 4 minutes. Although, technically it's not a gold fish, I'm honestly impressed.

Star [that's the name of the fish] is a Pseudotropheus socolofi cichlid, most commonly known as a snow white socolofi cichlid.

Looks like you can teach a betta some tricks, too.

In the next video you see a goldfish jumping through a hoop. Not sure if it's really a gold fish, since it looks rather pale, but I'm the farthest thing from an expert you could imagine...

Oh, and once I got started in my search, suddenly another performing fish appeared, this time even I can tell it's a gold fish! And another!

HOLY GOLDFISH! THEY EVEN DO FORMATION FLIGHT!

And last but not least, the only video of a (kind of) jumping gold fish. Applause!

Unfortunately, you're not supposed to feed gold fish right at the surface of the water, so letting one jump after food sounds like a bad idea. You should start practicing with a target stick and an underwater loop to swim through. Then move the loop further out of the water until the fish has to jump. Might take some months...

And before I forget, thanks for broadening my horizon.

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    Only things I’d add is that some goldfish are actually "smarter" than others. Most will train to hand feed quite quickly, but some just never take to it. And that’s not a gold fish jumping through the hoop, the fin structure is wrong.
    – Pam
    Sep 13, 2018 at 21:20

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