Runway behavior of Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens, for aggressive display and food reinforcement

Abstract

Fish were allowed to choose, in a T-maze, between various combinations of goalboxes containing either food or a mirror, or nothing. Only food and a mirror maintained swimming, but percent choice and speed were higher for food than for a mirror. Measures of time motionless in the runway, turning away from the goalbox, and air gulping supported the notion that a stimulus for aggressive display induces avoidance as well as approach tendencies and that the aversive component in the display situation is responsible for poorer performance for a mirror. © 1979 Psychonomic Society, Inc.