Stereotypic behavior in fish

[wurking_girl]

I've read a lot about issues with fish not adjusting well to diet and similar in aquaria, but I haven't seen much about stereotypic behavior in maladapted fish. This weekend I was visiting a large public aquarium and noticed a Copperbanded Butteflyfish that was definitely having issues. The tank was about 3' wide by about 8' high - not sure how deep, but as there was a rock face, the actual swimming depth was pretty limited. Anyway, the fish was swimming up one sidewall, making a loop at the top, down the middle of the tank, then across the bottom to start the loop again. Over and over and over...classic stereotypic behavior.

Seeing this reminded me of the tank fish in 'Finding Nemo' and some of their odd little quirks, and it made me wonder how common this is in aquarium fish? I'm still very new to fish behavior so I may have missed a lot of other more subtle quirks in the tanks I was viewing; this one was just very familiar to me from experience with mammalian species. I would imagine it occurs for similar reasons in fish to mammals - boredom, limited space, insufficient opportunity to express normal behaviors?

I'm in the process of designing a tank and would like to try to minimize this if at all possible. If there are species that are more prone to this or situations that tend to make it more evident, I'd like to be aware so I can try to avoid them.

Thanks!

 

[AuroraDrvr]

It's because the fish is Stressed and/or Cramped in it's habitat. Not so much a mental retardation issue that the 'Stereotypic' label refers to.

Build the habitat to the fish you'd like to keep, and this won't happen.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I fail to how a fish's behavior can be described as ''sterotypic" with only one example. We are taking fish, with tiny brains, from the largest environment on earth and giving them a few cubic feet. Anyone who really thinks they know why certain fish do certain things in captivity scares me a little.
I do think AuroraDrvr's stress or cramped statement has merit; if its taken broadly enough. "Cramped" could probably be applied to any fish in captivity.

 

[skh]

I fail to how a fish's behavior can be described as ''sterotypic" with only one example.

She's referring to stereotypy. Check out this wikipedia article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypy#In_animals

 

[MrTuskfish]

I learn something every day. Dictionary.com considers the adjective "stereotipic" to be a form of stereotype. Wikipedia really confuses my already confusing logic. But my main point: IMO,you can't predict odd behavior, with any certainty, in most fish when they are moved from the ocean to your tank.

 

[wurking_girl]

Thanks - I'm sure each individual responds differently to the pressures as well. Just as some CBBs never learn to adjust their diet, some also respond poorly to cramped space or whatever. Just made me curious...

 

[MrTuskfish]

Thanks - I'm sure each individual responds differently to the pressures as well. Just as some CBBs never learn to adjust their diet, some also respond poorly to cramped space or whatever. Just made me curious...

IME $ IMO: If you can make a general comment about CBBs; it would be that they don't handle a lot of activity or camped quarters well. (I think "stress' is too broad) Even a very active fish in the same tank can drive them nuts sometimes.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

Personally, I love watching my clownfish and learning their typical behavior. While this is somewhat unique to the individual, there are "stereotypic" things I'm sure all clownfish do. And there are things most all fish do when they're not in good shape.

 

[Elysia]

If there are species that are more prone to this or situations that tend to make it more evident, I'd like to be aware so I can try to avoid them.

I liked the Wiki article's position that it is not the behavior that is abnormal, but a "behavior indicative of an abnormal environment." We can not establish for these fish a lnatural enviornment; they are not domesticated animals. But I think that the unnatural environment that we can provide does not have to be an "abnormal" one. If you select species that typically do not claim or travel much terroritory in the sea, confinement will be much less detrimental to them. Add to this the correct habitat, a healthy environment, a variety of food, etc. and you are well on your way to providing your animals with thoughtful captive care, IMO.

 

[asylumdown]

I know I'm resurrecting this thread from the dead (it is almost halloween), but I was searching for this topic via google and this is what came up.

I have a blue throat trigger fish that is absolutely exhibiting signs of stereotypic behaviour. No, not the 'typical for the species' kind, but the 'my environment is driving me insane so I've developed symptoms of OCD' kind. Problem is I don't know if it's him, my tank, or a problem with the species not adapting to captivity well in general.

The behaviour is that he swims in the same small circle, over and over and over. He does it looking out of the tank, almost with his face touching the glass. He goes up, over my frag rack (which is attached to the side of the tank by magnets), drops down, then swims underneath the frag rack. Process repeat. For hours at a stretch. The only time he stops and swims in the rest of the tank is when there's food in the water. Before I got the frag rack, he used to pace in a giant circle around the entire perimeter of the tank near the top of the water all day, going the same direction, hitting the flow from the vortech's in the same way on every pass. Circle after dizzying circle. At least then he was getting more exercise, and I've actually considered getting rid of the frag rack because of it. We had a polar bear at the zoo in town when I was a kid that did the exact same thing, paced in the same same exact circle every minute of every day. Apparently it was more medicated than a recently committed ex-child star and they finally ended up putting it down.

The tank is 275 gallons, 6 feet long by 3 feet wide. My question is this - does anyone else notice the same behaviour in their blue throat trigger fish? If not, what's different about your tank? Is it that you have both a male and a female? Is your tank much larger?

I've been trying to research environmental enrichment techniques for fish, and have come up dry. The only thing that captures his attention is food, and I can't feed every hour to keep his attention occupied without nuking the whole tank (it's SPS dominant), and he's already borderline obese as it is. It dawned on me that all my other fish are either highly social and in groups (anthias), so they're always interacting with each other, or they're benthic feeders that spend most of the day hunting the rocks or sand as they normally would in the wild, which is why I think they all seem so well adjusted. He's my only true pelagic feeder that is also solitary, and with food only coming twice a day, I'm not sure how else to catch his attention is a positive way.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Reef Frog]

I keep small fish that seem really well adapted. I feed live brine shrimp occasionally along with other more nutritious foods. I can see an extra levels of intensity as they hunt the live food. I think this lets them express their natural behaviors and therefore contributes to their overall well being. Or so it seems.