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Distance to neighbours influences the trade-off between hiding after disturbance and defending food patches in convict cichlids (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus)

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Abstract

Territories are often aggregated. Because of this, distance to neighbours should influence how territory-holders balance safety from predators with the use and defence of resources. I examined the influence of distance to a neighbour on refuge use by pairs of convict cichlids (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus) faced with a conflict between hiding and defending food patches. Neighbours could reduce the rate of intrusions by strangers as a by-product of their own resource defence. This should allow fish with near neighbours to spend more time in the refuge. Neighbours could also steal from patches that are left undefended. This should lead to a reduction in use of the refuge. When one fish was confined to its refuge (so that its patch was undefended), theft by the other increased as inter-patch distance decreased. Distance between patches did not influence the rate of intrusion by non-territorial fish. When both fish defended patches, body mass influenced the effect of inter-patch distance on refuge use. Large fish rarely used the refuge, but small territory-holders spent more time in the refuge when patches were close together, as predicted. However, when one fish was dominant at both patches, distance between patches did not influence refuge use. These results suggest that, despite increased opportunity for theft, there is no realised foraging or defensive benefit to settling near neighbours that are of similar competitive ability.

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Acknowledgements

I thank J.W.A. Grant, C. Breau, S.Ø. Steingrimmsson, and P. Foam for valuable discussion and advice regarding experimental procedure. J.W.A. Grant, F. Schädelin and B.D. Wisenden provided valuable comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. This study was supported by a NSERC (Canada) Operating Grant to J.W.A.G. and a NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship to I.M.H. All experiments were conducted under a Concordia University Animal Care Committee permit to J.W.A.G.

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  1. Ian M Hamilton

    Present address: Zoology Institute, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, 3032, Hinterkappelen, Switzerland

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  1. Biology Department, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada

    Ian M Hamilton

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Correspondence to Ian M Hamilton.

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Communicated by J. Krause

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Hamilton, I.M. Distance to neighbours influences the trade-off between hiding after disturbance and defending food patches in convict cichlids (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56, 530–538 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-004-0822-5

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