Different Environmental Conditions: Its Effect to the Development of Aggressive Behavior among Puntigrus tetrazona(Tiger Barbs)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The Tiger barbs have unique behavior that is their aggressiveness. The environment in which they live can affect their aggressiveness. This could result into decrease of their population in an aquarium as ornamental fishes. This study was aimed to observe the aggressive behavior of the Tiger barb that they nip their own kind and if different environments affect their behavior. The samples that were used were Tiger barbs.

METHODS

The investigation was done by using four setups. Eight Tiger barbs were put in the control (Set-up A), with floating and non-moving objects (Set-up B) and combined large and small sizes (Set-up C). Twelve Tiger barbs were put in the increased in population of Tiger barbs (Set-up D). Each set-up were observed by Lazy tech action camera. The Tiger barbs were fed with Mignon pellets every day with a totalof 0.4 grams. The aquariums were cleaned every two weeks. The results were recorded daily for four months of observation. All of the dead Tiger barbs were disposed in a sealed plastic bag and then in a trash bag for garbage collection with the wastes from the aquarium.

RESULTS

The behavior of the Tiger barbs was recorded and observed. Three Tiger barbs died and had lesions in Set-up A. Two Tiger barbs died and had lesions in Set-up B. They were seen swimming around the objects. Three Tiger barbs died and had lesions in Set-up C. The larger ones were seen chasing the smaller ones. Four Tiger barbs died and had lesions in Set-up D. They were seen swimming in school.

DISCUSSIONS

It can be concluded that using different environmental conditions can lessen the aggressiveness of the Tiger barbs, varying sizes of Tiger barbs in an aquarium does not have an effect on their behavior, and increasing the population of Tiger barbs in an aquarium made them more aggressive. Based on this, Tiger barbs were really affected by which environment they were in just like the other researches stated. The flaw in this study was the difficulty in observing all the set-ups as the researcher did not use a variety of fishes in the study for further investigation. Thus, for this, we can recommend to use a better camera and use a variety of fishes that has aggressive behavior. The beneficiaries will benefit from this study by learning more about the aggressive behavior of Tiger Barbs. This would help them to know more about the precautions that they would need to observe when handling Tiger barbs. This study can also help in making solutions for the aggressive behavior of Tiger Barbs.