Should you play music to your fish? What a study on zebrafish and guppies found
Published by Planète Pets · managing editor: Clément Lacaille · how our guides are written
Decor, plants, hiding spots: our fish toys and enrichment section mostly covers visual or physical stimulation. Sound remains a little-explored angle, though a recent study looked at exactly that in two very common aquarium species.
Contents · 5 sections
The protocol: four kinds of music, two species
Published in 2025 in Aquaculture Reports, a study by Niu, Xiang, Huang, Yang and Chai exposed zebrafish and guppies to four sound treatments for five days, four hours a day: slow-tempo piano (40 to 65 beats per minute), fast-tempo piano (150 to 210 bpm), slow-tempo guzheng and fast-tempo guzheng, compared with a silent control group (see the study, published in Aquaculture Reports, publisher page). The guzheng is a Chinese plucked-string instrument with a timbre close to a harp.
In zebrafish, tempo made all the difference
Slow piano and slow guzheng both promoted positive behaviours (exploration, active swimming) in zebrafish, while the fast versions of the same two instruments instead increased negative behaviours (agitation, avoidance). Only slow guzheng significantly lowered cortisol compared with the control group: the musical genre mattered less than its tempo.
In guppies, a broader effect
Guppies responded differently: fast piano, slow guzheng and fast guzheng all three increased positive behaviours, and all four musical treatments lowered cortisol compared with silence — including the fast tempos, unlike what was seen in zebrafish. The authors conclude that slow guzheng remains the safest choice across both species, offering a non-invasive, low-cost enrichment option for a tank otherwise short on stimulation.
What this study does not say
The protocol played music through a controlled device at a measured intensity, not a hi-fi system or a television in the same room as the tank. Nothing suggests that ordinary household background sound reproduces this effect: it is not a green light for parking a speaker against the tank stand, a habit already discouraged in our article on noise and vibration near the aquarium. Loud volume or heavy bass risks instead reproducing the stress described in our article on noise during car transport. The study also does not cover other popular species such as bettas or cichlids, already discussed in our article on the mirror and betta stimulation.
Frequently asked questions
What music should you try at home?
The study points to slow-tempo guzheng as the most consistent choice, lowering cortisol in both species tested. Failing that, slow piano remains a reasonable option for zebrafish.
Should the music play continuously?
The tested protocol was four hours a day over five days, not continuous playback. Nothing shows that constant exposure brings any extra benefit.
An accessory from our shop for this use: Tall artificial aquarium plant, 45 to 49 cm, weighted base (€23.90) · the whole shop
This guide is part of Planète Pets’s Fishkeeping universe. Our advice is general in nature: for any health concern, your veterinarian remains the only reference.