Why don't they like each other?

[Frankster]

Seriously, do these cichlids have egos? We all seem to want to attribute
human emotions to these fish to explain fighting. Are we just fooling
ourselves? Curious eh...?

NetMax mentioned how one fish, seeing squabbling between two potential tank
masters, might seize the chance to "jump from 3rd to 1st place" by attacking
the two weakened warriors. Are fish really capable this kind of thought?

Just curious about what everyone thinks.

-Frank

[Gill Passman]

Frankster wrote:
> Seriously, do these cichlids have egos? We all seem to want to attribute
> human emotions to these fish to explain fighting. Are we just fooling
> ourselves? Curious eh...?
>
> NetMax mentioned how one fish, seeing squabbling between two potential tank
> masters, might seize the chance to "jump from 3rd to 1st place" by attacking
> the two weakened warriors. Are fish really capable this kind of thought?
>
> Just curious about what everyone thinks.
>
> -Frank
>
>
Watching my Mbunas that NetMax is commenting on I would say there is
certainly something goint on...whether it is thought or instinct is
another matter...

Gill

[kay-bee]

I also believe these fish are able to sense opportunities to 'jump up the
ranks' as well as recognize who's boss.

Once, I temporarily removed my most dominant demasoni (which at the time was
the #2 dominant cichlid of close to 30 in the tank), and within 20min a beta
male demasoni sensed the vacancy and displayed increased aggressive behavior
(something I never saw this particular fish do, since he spent most of his
time avoiding the larger fish). He instantly reverted to previous behavior
once I returned the dominant demasoni back in the tank a few hours later.

The obvious king in my tank is a male red zebra. It seems all the fish in
the tank know it. He rarely shows aggression and his mere presence
intimidates the others. When he does go into action it's almost always to
break up fights he happens to witness, particularly among the other two red
zebra males who are always brewing to fight each other. But the moment they
face off, the king chases them off to opposite ends of the tanks and seems
to make an effort to ensure he's always between them. They give him wide
berth, even though one of them is bigger than he is. My interpretation of
this behavior is he's preventing the sub-dominants from battling because the
winner could gain confidence and probably become a threat to him. I'm
probably totally wrong, but that's what it looks like.

kay-bee


"Gill Passman" > wrote in message
.. .
> Frankster wrote:
>> Seriously, do these cichlids have egos? We all seem to want to attribute
>> human emotions to these fish to explain fighting. Are we just fooling
>> ourselves? Curious eh...?
>>
>> NetMax mentioned how one fish, seeing squabbling between two potential
>> tank masters, might seize the chance to "jump from 3rd to 1st place" by
>> attacking the two weakened warriors. Are fish really capable this kind of
>> thought?
>>
>> Just curious about what everyone thinks.
>>
>> -Frank
> Watching my Mbunas that NetMax is commenting on I would say there is
> certainly something goint on...whether it is thought or instinct is
> another matter...
>
> Gill