Anders247
Member
- Messages
- 102
- Location
- Lunenburg, MA
OK, so I'm getting pestered by this one user on another forum that rainbow cichlids are 'schooling fish'.
I have kept my rainbow cichlid alone for two years and he has never exhibited any signs of being lonely or going nuts like a real schooling fish, a zebra danio for instance, did when I had one alone (the rest died).
What are you opinions on this?
I also want to throw this in there: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=ichthynicar
Look at page 18, and read the whole thing. In 'Territoriality' it states that they give up breeding and start being territorial towards one another. On page 30, it says this: 'The schooling behavior of the adults can be related to the need for high vagility. Say we are trying to disperse a species to isolated habitats. If we disperse them as individuals, each individual has a certain probabilty of arriving in a suitable habitat. But the probability of two individuals arriving in the same habitat will be lower, and the probability that the two animals are of the opposite sex will be lower still. However, if we disperse our organisms in randomly composed groups of six individuals each, the probability of a pair being present given they arrive in a suitable habitat will be 1 - (1/2)6, a high probability indeed. I doubt that the function of the schooling behavior of the adults is to reduce the chances of predation, as the average group size observed (5-6) would be too small to be effective, although the 'selfish herd' model would fit the fry nicely (HAMILTON 1971).'
What are your opinions?
I have kept my rainbow cichlid alone for two years and he has never exhibited any signs of being lonely or going nuts like a real schooling fish, a zebra danio for instance, did when I had one alone (the rest died).
What are you opinions on this?
I also want to throw this in there: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=ichthynicar
Look at page 18, and read the whole thing. In 'Territoriality' it states that they give up breeding and start being territorial towards one another. On page 30, it says this: 'The schooling behavior of the adults can be related to the need for high vagility. Say we are trying to disperse a species to isolated habitats. If we disperse them as individuals, each individual has a certain probabilty of arriving in a suitable habitat. But the probability of two individuals arriving in the same habitat will be lower, and the probability that the two animals are of the opposite sex will be lower still. However, if we disperse our organisms in randomly composed groups of six individuals each, the probability of a pair being present given they arrive in a suitable habitat will be 1 - (1/2)6, a high probability indeed. I doubt that the function of the schooling behavior of the adults is to reduce the chances of predation, as the average group size observed (5-6) would be too small to be effective, although the 'selfish herd' model would fit the fry nicely (HAMILTON 1971).'
What are your opinions?
