How movement of mirror affects

the agonistic behavior of a

Siamese Fighting Fish.

Ashley Soucy
09-10-2008
Introduction:

Ethology is the study of animal behavior in the context of ecology,

evolution, social organization, and the sensory abilities of an animal. When

observing and analyzing animal behavior you look for the to basic categories of

behavior, learned and innate behaviors. Siamese Fighting Fish, more commonly

known as Betta Fish, are very territorial and aggressive towards each other, an

agonistic but also innate behavior. When Betta fish feel threaten, they will flare

up, increase fin speed, and lunge towards threatening Betta. In this lab we

observed the the Betta's behavior as it was being provoked due to proximate and

ultimate causes. Proximate causes being set stimulus and Ultimate being innate

behaviors. We conducted an experiment by placing a mirror to the Betta, creating

a safe stimulus of another Betta fish. In doing this experiment we will observe if

the Betta fish becomes more aggressive if we station the mirror in one spot or if

we constantly move the mirror, following his every move.

Hypothesis: If the mirror is at constant motion with the Betta fish then then the

Betta will have a quicker latency and slower recovery.

Materials:

● Betta Fish
● Fish Tank
● Stopwatch
● A Mirror

Procedure:

1. After forming a hypothesis, we began planning our experiment. We came up

with three stimuli to test the Betta's aggressiveness. 1.) Leaving the mirror
 stationary, 2.) Moving the mirror back and forth 180 degrees around the fish

tank, 3.) Keep the mirror in constant motion. We kept the mirror stationary

or in motion for a full one minute of each stimuli test. The independent

variable is the latency and recovery of the Betta fish and the dependent

variable is the duration of which we left the mirror present.

2. We placed the mirror in front of the Betta fish, and left it in that spot for

exactly one minute. We observed that it took the full minute for the Betta to

get in his aggressive state. The Betta's gills expanded and his fin speed

increased. He would approach the mirror and then seemingly get bored and

swim in opposite direction. After the one minute, we removed the mirror and

it took him 30 seconds to calm down.

3. We then placed the mirror in front of the fish and moved it 180 degrees

around the tank. We repeatedly moved the mirror back and forth around the

fish tank for one minute. The Betta fish had not shown any reaction

throughout this time period of the experiment.

4. For the last stimulus test we placed the mirror in front of the fish and

constantly moving it counter clockwise around the tank. After forty seconds

the Betta fish's fin speed increased, his kills widely expanded, and his colors

brightened. After the one minute we removed the mirror and it took the

Betta took twenty seconds for his appearance to become calm. Although

after this stimulus test, unlike the others, he remained at the bottom of the

tank, retracing his path of where he last saw the Betta, almost as though he

was still looking out for the threat.

Results/Data Collection:
 Latency (seconds) Recovery (seconds)
Stationary mirror 60 30
Moving 180 degrees back No Reaction No Reaction
and forth
Constantly moving 40 20
Table 1.1 Data of the Betta fish's Latency and Recovery time.

(See Graph 1.2 on attached page.)

Discussion/Conclusion:

The result partially supported our original hypothesis, If the mirror is at

constant motion with the Betta fish then then the Betta will have a quicker

latency. When the mirror was in constant motion the latency of the Betta was

faster than the stationary mirror. However the recovery was also much quicker

when the mirror was removed after being in constant motion. From this data we

concluded that naturally the fish feels more threatened when the mirror is in

constant motion following him around the fish tank. Factors that may have alter

the accuracy of our experiment is the distortion of the reflection due to the fish

bowl. We cannot be sure that if the size of the Betta is also a variable to the

stimulus.