FISH BEHAVIOR USING GUPPY (Poecilia reticulta)

Q) Write correctly testable hypothesis?

In the experiment we are releasing two fishes (Fish A and Fish B) one after the other in the
aquarium and noting down the time the fishes take to find food kept in the corner of the
aquarium.
Hypothesis:
Here will be no difference in food finding time i.e. both the fishes will find food in equal
amount of time.
Our Hypothesis:
The fish released second will find the food faster.

Q) Analyse the data and plot appropriate graphs?

Release Sequence : Fish Release Sequence : Fish

#B -> Fish #A #A -> Fish #B

302 400

305 302
200 203
207
120
95 110
70 101

FISH B FISH A FISH B FISH A FISH B FISH A FISH A FISH B FISH A FISH B FISH A FISH B

Altered Food Positions

(Released
Sequence:Fish#A->Fish#B)

220
200

152

100 98
73

FISH A FISH B FISH A FISH B FISH A FISH B

Q) Interpret and explain the data analysis?

As we can see that there is a wide difference in the food finding time for both the fish.
Hence, we can safely say that our original hypothesis is wrong and both the fish don’t find
food in equal time.

Now, from the graphs we can see that in each variant of the experiment, Fish B always finds
the food faster than Fish A irrespective of the release sequence. Thus, our hypothesis is also
proved wrong as Fish B finds food faster even when released first.

From the experiment we observe that individual personality dominates over any other
factor and Fish B is inherently faster than Fish A at finding food.

Moreover, switching sides (altering food position) does not change this observation.

Q) Are there any experimental flaws, if yes what are those?

At beginning of the experiment, the fish is motivated by hunger to find food but as we
conduct successive runs the hunger of the fish gets satiated and motivation to find food
decreases. This may have different effect on the individual fish as both may not have the
same food capacity which might interfere with the experiment.
For eg.) Let’s assume Fish A is inherently faster than Fish B at finding food but after a few
runs the hunger of Fish A is satiated whereas Fish B is still hungry. So, in consecutive runs we
may see Fish B finding the food faster to satisfy its still unsatiated hunger and conclude Fish
B is inherently faster which is the wrong conclusion.
This problem a be solved by keeping a sufficient time interval between two runs, so that fish
become hungry again.

Another factor may be that after each run the fish are being caught up in the net and taken
out of the system which may be a jarring experience for the fish and getting released into
the same environment may lead to some fear of predator which will affect the free motion
of the fish thus interfering with experiment.