A Little Project

[FBTgirl2]

I am currently designing a fish maze and it will be for guppies. I am going to buy 5-10 guppies and see something. There will be several different splits in the maze and the wideness of the from the sides of the tank will be probably able to fit 3-4 guppies. so it will have to be in a row kinda. The guppies will be at one end of the maze and I will place bloodworms and normal food at the other end. I will see if there is a leader in the small school of guppies or if they are just mindless and go every which way. What do you think will happen?

 

[clay]

i think that this is a great idea except for the possibility that one guppy will see another guppy make a lucky guess and will follow to investigate. are you going to try with several different maze setups?

 

[kribensis12]

It won't work (hate to burst you thought out plan). Being the leader has nothing to do with finding food. The first oen to recognize the food will be the first one going after it. The others will see the guppy going for the food, and ealize that maybe they should go for the food too. It's who ever finds the food first, really. So, the leader could be guppy A one day, and it could be guppy D the next. Which wouldn't make any sense. The school together, and breed. They do not have a social order like wolves. Sure, you have the bullied, and the not bullied. But that's it. They do not fight for dominance, and who ever wins leads the school.

 

[OldMan47]

My guess might be similar to Kribensis guess but we never learn anything by saying it just can't be. You may find that one guppy is better at finding food than another, which itself would be useful information. I'd go for it. Are you going to make them use smell only or will you use a clear maze so that they can use sight also?

 

[Harlequins]

You don't know unless you try,but i tend to agree with the above two,i have an orange platy and she's the first to all food i put in the tank and the others follow especially when i put sinking wafers in ,but i wouldn't say she was the leader has the others don't follow her around normally,they just know when its feeding time

Good luck and let us know how it turns out with the guppies

 

[Haych]

i had to say guppies are mindless, i wouldnt say mindless so to speak, but its the best one on the choices.

i dont believe guppies have a boss/leader, but they are daft enough to have a nose at what the others are doing.

i'm intrigued to see if theyre clever enough to get to the end mind

 

[hughessomefish]

i am unsure i voted yes i have 3 guppys and one is the "ring leader " so to speak

 

[dunchp]

A similar study has been done reasonably recently by Gil Rosenthal's team at CICHAZ in Calnali, Mexico. With swords rather than Guppies.

You should read up on the subject, possibly drop Gil an e-mail and see if he can give you some tips.

I don't actually have much of an opinion, but it would be interesting to see the results.

 

[FBTgirl2]

Interesting thoughts you guys. I will definatly check up on that sword study.

 

[Tortea]

Film this please!

 

[FBTgirl2]

I definatly will I got my test guppies a few days ago and once I am finished with there mazes I will start it.

 

[biokid101]

this is very interesting. how did everything go or are u still setting everything up?

 

[5teady_2012]

I think anything to help finding more info on fish is cool... only problem i would not like to occur is if the maze is only narrow and the guppy get so far through and cant find its way out it may become stressed, especially if its a clear maze and he can see tank mates but cant seem to get where they are.