Aggression and Welfare in a Common Aquarium Fish, the Midas Cichlid

Abstract

Many species of fishes are aggressive when placed in small aquaria. Aggression can negatively affect the welfare of those individuals toward whom it is directed. Animals may behave aggressively in order to defend resources such as food, shelter, mates, and offspring. The decision to defend depends on the distribution of resources and on ecological factors such as number of competitors, amount of available space, and amount of habitat complexity. This study tested the effects of these factors on aggression in a common aquarium fish, the Midas cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus). The study found that time spent behaving aggressively was not associated with small-scale differences in group size or available space. Aggression was significantly lower in a large aquarium with a complex habitat. Aquaria of sizes typically used in the companion animal (pet) hobby did not provide optimal welfare for cichlids housed with aggressive conspecifics. The public should be aware that this and similar species require larger aquaria with complex habitat, which elicit more natural behavior.

An overview of fish bioacoustics and the impacts of anthropogenic sounds on fishes

“…In particular, one must be cautious when evaluating the results from behavioural studies done in tanks and even in larger enclosures (Hawkins & Popper, ; Popper & Hawkins, ). The fundamental issue is that captive animals, no matter whether on land or in the water, often do not show the full range of behaviours observed in wild animals (Benhaïm et al, ; Oldfield, ), especially if they have been bred in captivity (El Balaa & Blouin‐Demers, ; Petersson et al, ). As a result, data from studies using free‐living fishes are very likely to differ from those with captive fishes because of the many subtle factors that determine their behaviour in a natural setting.…”

Environmental enrichment for fish in captive environments: effects of physical structures and substrates

“…The discrepancy between results from the Nile tilapia and readbreast tilapia studies could potentially depend on species differences in territory size in relation to tank size. Tank size, as well as EE, does indeed affect agonistic behaviours in Midas cichlids (Oldfield ).…”

“…, pearl cichlid Geophagus brasiliensis (Cichlidae): Kadry and Barreto and Midas cichlid Amphilophus cf. citrinellus (Cichlidae): Oldfield ). However, aggression appears to be dependent on the level of complexity.…”

DETERMINING MONOFILAMENT GILLNET OPTIMUM MESH SIZE TO MITIGATE Amphilophus citrinellus POPULATION OUTBREAKS IN IR.H.DJUANDA RESERVOIR

“…H. Djuanda Reservoir is widely deemed as one of species to pressurize the fish community in the reservoir (Hedianto & Purnamaningtyas, 2011). Their aggressive nature, through time, resulted in their dominance in the reservoir, and considered as a threat to the local fish species as they would provide fierce food competition (Tampubolon et al, 2014) and are known to be highly territorial (Oldfield, 2011). Hedianto & Purnamaningtyas (2011) stated that the fish population in 2010 reached 307 individuals out of 1,081 fish that were collected in Ir.…”