Signs of Stress?

[Chad]

Ok, I can never find a definitive guide on this.

What are the signs that a fish is stressed? Not looking for fish specific, but hey if you know fish specific ones please list.

I am pretty clueless except for obvious one such as gasping. But I have heard of clamped fins (which I am still not sure I understand what it means).. is it clamped all the time or just when they swim slowly, etc etc.. Hopefully you get the idea!!

[justinl]

depends on a case by case basis really. Off the top of my head theres excessive hiding, gasping, flashing (violently hitting a rock or sand to scratch themselves of external parasites), visible physical anomalies (cuts, popeye, lesions etc etc), always showing stress colouration (depends on the fish. foxfaces take on a cow mottling for example), disorientation while swimming, laying on the substrate disoriented, self-starvation, seizures (uncontrollable shakes), etc. There's a lot and Im sure i hit only a fraction of them. Also note that some of these don't apply to some species and some species exhibit the above behaviour on a normal basis. If you think your fish is acting weird, ask questions.

clamped fins as in always having the pectoral fins clamped to their sides? I dunno, that's normal in a lot of fish.