Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Male Siamese fighting fish use gill flaring as the first display towards territorial intruders

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal of Ethology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) is well known as an aggressive fish with unique spawning and parental care behavior. During reproduction, male fish construct a bubble nest, court females, protect the brood, and defend the territory through aggressive displays. Aggression in male Siamese fighting fish has long been the subject of investigation; however, the kinematics of aggression during contests have been largely overlooked. Here we investigated how nest-holding, male Siamese fighting fish use two different types of displays, gill flaring and fin spreading, towards intruders during various reproductive phases; before (BB) and after bubble nest building, and after spawning (AS), and hatching (AH). Males were more aggressive towards male than female intruders and the level of aggression changed significantly between reproductive phases. Gill flaring, the more energetically costly display, was the dominant initial display towards male and female intruders in BB, AS, AH phases. However, defending males switched to fin spreading after prolonged exposure to intruders. The results suggest that Siamese fighting fish use gill flaring as an acute response in order to defend their territory; this response may be replaced by fin spreading as a chronic response, probably to reduce the energetic costs during the contest.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andersson M (1994) Sexual selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

  • Allen JM, Nicoletto PF (1997) Response of Betta splendens to computer animations of males with fins of different length. Copeia 1997:195–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alton LA, Portugal SJ, White CR (2013) Balancing the competing requirements of air-breathing and display behavior during male–male interactions in Siamese fighting fish Betta splendens. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 164:363–367

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bell AM (2005) Behavioral differences between individuals and two populations of stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). J Evol Biol 18:464–473

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Castro N, Ros AF, Becker K, Oliveira RF (2006) Metabolic costs of aggressive behavior in the Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Aggress Behav 32:474–480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clotfelter ED, Curren LJ, Murphy CE (2006) Mate choice and spawning success in the fighting fish Betta splendens: the importance of body size, display behavior and nest size. Ethology 112:1170–1178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman RM, Gross MR (1991) Parental investment theory: the role of past investment. Trends Ecol Evol 6:404–406

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dore F, Lefebvre L, Ducharme R (1978) Threat display in Betta splendens: effects of water condition and type of agonistic stimulation. Anim Behav 26:738–745

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doutrelant C, McGregor PK, Oliveira RF (2001) The effect of an audience on intrasexual communication in male Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Behav Ecol 12:283–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dzieweczynski TL, Leopard AK (2010) The effects of stimulus type on consistency of responses to conflicting stimuli in Siamese fighting fish. Behav Process 85:83–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dzieweczynski TL, Earley RL, Green TM, Rowland WJ (2005) Audience effect is context dependent in Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Behav Ecol 16:1025–1030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dzieweczynski TL, Eklund AC, Rowland WJ (2006) Male 11-ketotestosterone levels change as a result of being watched in Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Gen Comp Endocrinol 147:184–189

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dzieweczynski TL, Sullivan KR, Forrette LM, Hebert OL (2012) Repeated recent aggressive encounters do not affect behavioral consistency in male Siamese fighting fish. Ethology 118:351–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans CS (1985) Display vigour and subsequent fight performance in the Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Behav Process 11:113–121

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Forsatkar MN (2012) Change in reproductive behavior of fighting fish, Betta splendens by fluoxetine exposure. Master’s thesis, University of Tehran. (in Persian)

  • Forsatkar MN, Nematollahi MA, Amiri BM, Huang WB (2014) Fluoxetine inhibits aggressive behavior during parental care in male fighting fish (Betta splendens, Regan). Ecotoxicology 23:1794–1802

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Forsatkar MN, Dadda M, Nematollahi MA (2015) Lateralization of aggression during reproduction in male Siamese fighting fish. Ethology 121:1039–1047

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu Y, Wolf LL (2001) The winner and loser effect: what fighting behaviors are influenced? Anim Behav 61:777–786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaroensutasinee M, Jaroensutansinee K (2001) Bubble nest habitat characteristics of wild Siamese fighting fish. J Fish Biol 58:1311–1319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaroensutasinee M, Jaroensutasinee K (2003) Type of intruder and reproductive phase influence male territorial defence in wild-caught Siamese fighting fish. Behav Process 64:23–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karino K, Someya C (2007) The influence of sex, line, and fight experience on aggressiveness of the Siamese fighting fish in intrasexual competition. Behav Process 75:283–289

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann JH (1983) On the definitions and functions of dominance and territoriality. Biol Rev 58:1–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeley ER, Grant JW (1993) Visual information, resource value, and sequential assessment in convict cichlid (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum) contests. Behav Ecol 4:345–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleszczyńska A, Sokołowska E, Kulczykowska E (2012) Variation in brain arginine vasotocin (AVT) and isotocin (IT) levels with reproductive stage and social status in males of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Gen Comp Endocrinol 175:290–296

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuperberg ES, Brown AC, Clotfelter ED (2009) Body condition in male Betta splendens does not predict their ability to perform opercular displays under hypoxic conditions. Ethology 115:1182–1189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matos RJ, McGregor PK (2002) The effect of the sex of an audience on male-male displays of Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Behavior 139:1211–1221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor PK, Peake TM, Lampe HM (2001) Fighting fish Betta splendens extract relative information from apparent interactions: what happens when what you see is not what you get? Anim Behav 62:1059–1065

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monvises A, Nuangsaeng B, Sriwattanarothai N, Panijpan B (2009) The Siamese fighting fish: well-known generally but little-known scientifically. Sci Asia 35:8–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schroeder L, Huber R (2001) Fight strategies differ with size and allometric growth of claws in crayfish, Orconectes rusticus. Behavior 138:1437–1449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson MJA (1968) The display of the Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Anim Behav Monogr 1:i–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tubert C, Nostro FL, Villafañe V, Pandolfi M (2012) Aggressive behavior and reproductive physiology in females of the social cichlid fish Cichlasoma dimerus. Physiol Behav 106:193–200

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Aquaculture Department of the University of Tehran for providing us with the laboratory space to perform these experiments. This work was partly funded by the University of Tehran. We thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Chamran Street, PO Box 31585-4314, Karaj, Iran

    Mohammad Navid Forsatkar & Mohammad Ali Nematollahi

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Eastern Road, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Culum Brown

Authors
  1. Mohammad Navid Forsatkar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mohammad Ali Nematollahi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Culum Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammad Ali Nematollahi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All of the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Currently there are no laws regarding animal research in Iran; however, protocols were approved by the Scientific Committee of the Department of Fisheries of the University of Tehran (no. 2688508; April 2013). Animal handling and testing techniques were designed using guidance from the Association for the Study of Animal Behavior and the Animal Behavior Society (ASAB/ABS 2012).

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Forsatkar, M.N., Nematollahi, M.A. & Brown, C. Male Siamese fighting fish use gill flaring as the first display towards territorial intruders. J Ethol 35, 51–59 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-016-0489-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-016-0489-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation