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Aggression and complex habitat
http://byap.backyardmagazines.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11440		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  natmaka [ Jan 3rd, '12, 03:55 ]
Post subject:  Aggression and complex habitat
A sci paper states that, in an aquarium and for some sort of cichlid, time spent behaving aggressively was not associated with small-scale differences in group size or available space ((...)) aggression was significantly lower in a large aquarium with a complex habitat.

AFAIK aggression => stress => worse welfare => bad health, or worse

I don't know if/how it can be transposed to other species, nor how to design a "complex habitat" while forbidding solid waste to settle somewhere.

Any thoughts?
Author:  BullwinkleII [ Jan 3rd, '12, 06:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: Aggression and complex habitat
Make it movable?

"Complex" would work just as well floating and hanging down as it would stuck to the bottom and pointing up.
Author:  BullwinkleII [ Jan 3rd, '12, 06:06 ]
Post subject:  Re: Aggression and complex habitat
Those are two different suggestions. That wasn't very clear.

If the habitat on the bottom was moving around a bit ie weighed almost nothing in the water so a fish hitting it moved it, it might stop solids collecting.

But I'd go with the hanging stuff down from the top. I was planning to hang half terracotta pots (open at the bottom) so solids or dead fish couldn't collect/hide when I was working on my IBC system.

Is this for something that has to look nice in an aquarium?
Author:  natmaka [ Jan 3rd, '12, 06:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: Aggression and complex habitat
Quote:
If the habitat on the bottom was moving around a bit ie weighed almost nothing in the water so a fish hitting it moved it, it might stop solids collecting


I just can't think of an adequate material and shape, especially on an unprepared tank bottom (no rails...).

Quote:
I'd go with the hanging stuff down from the top


Indeed!

It may disturb sleeping fishes (assuming all fishes sometimes don't sleep while others do + non-sleepers usually avoid bumping on the others) and lifting or blocking this furniture (habitat stuff) during the night may lead to a somewhat over-engineered system, but it seems worth a try, thank you!

Quote:
I was planning to hang half terracotta pots (open at the bottom) so solids or dead fish couldn't collect/hide when I was working on my IBC system


Are you now using barrels?

Quote:
Is this for something that has to look nice in an aquarium?


No :lol: , for a planned plain tank.
Author:  orcy2010 [ Jan 3rd, '12, 07:40 ]
Post subject:  Re: Aggression and complex habitat
look up under gravel jets. lots of aquarium peeps use them to keep solids suspended until they can be filtered out.
Author:  BullwinkleII [ Jan 3rd, '12, 08:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: Aggression and complex habitat
I only have a single blue barrel system, but had a 5000L + system almost ready to go when we had to move after 10 years in the same place :(

All that was left to do was connect the pipe work.

But I kept a half terracotta pot in the bottom as a fish hide that the fish seemed to like. The only danger was a dead fish could go un-noticed so I thought I'd add some in the new system, but hang them so any dead fish or a dead rat or whatever would be obvious, but the fish could still have their hide. I was only planning maybe 4 hides at around a foot off the bottom. I figured if they were close to the bottom, the fish would still feel protected.

It might be worth looking at what people do for yabbies as well. I think yabby growers add PVC pipes to their system to increase hides and general bottom surface area. They might have some ways of dealing with trapped solids.
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