Dither fishes
- Thread starter Andy16
- Start date
A fast moving fish that likes to school - such as giant danios (or other danios), or Australian rainbows. It keeps something in the middle of the tank, provides action and a distrraction for the fish that don't move as quickly.
HTH
judy
HTH
judy
"Dither fish" are fast moving fish used in tanks with aggressive fish. They take some of the aggressive attention away from others. They are often used in tanks with Cichlids that get very aggressive while breeding to keep the male or female from beating their partner up too bad. Another term for dither fish is "target fish".
Let me try this out on you-all -- it's from the revised www.skepticalaquarist.com I'm soon to be uploading:
"Target fish. (compare Dither Fish) Konrad Lorenz, in his book On Aggression, defined pair bonding as the stage when the male and female turn from mutual aggression to cooperation in directing their joint aggression towards an outside individual.
"A target fish helps focus a developing pair bond by offering a mild threat or challenge to the breeding territory. Take care that the target fish isn't being damaged; with cichlids, the target fish can be protected by grating and still be effective in reinforcing the pair bond. Target fish are not there to take abuse.
"Fishkeepers who misunderstand a target fishes' role, often imagine that an aggressive individual fish has a certain fixed quantity of anger, a sort of reservoir, and that it can somehow be expended in violence against an interloper, thus sparing its spawning partner. Even respectable biologists used to think along these lines.
"Dither Fish, unlike Target Fish, reassure a shy fish that it's safe to come out from a hidey hole. If confident fish are dithering about, there is likely to be no predator nearby, runs the fish logic. Good dithers are fearless and active fish that tend to school, such as Danios, Tetras, Barbs. A shy dither fish is counterproductive, to say the least."
"Target fish. (compare Dither Fish) Konrad Lorenz, in his book On Aggression, defined pair bonding as the stage when the male and female turn from mutual aggression to cooperation in directing their joint aggression towards an outside individual.
"A target fish helps focus a developing pair bond by offering a mild threat or challenge to the breeding territory. Take care that the target fish isn't being damaged; with cichlids, the target fish can be protected by grating and still be effective in reinforcing the pair bond. Target fish are not there to take abuse.
"Fishkeepers who misunderstand a target fishes' role, often imagine that an aggressive individual fish has a certain fixed quantity of anger, a sort of reservoir, and that it can somehow be expended in violence against an interloper, thus sparing its spawning partner. Even respectable biologists used to think along these lines.
"Dither Fish, unlike Target Fish, reassure a shy fish that it's safe to come out from a hidey hole. If confident fish are dithering about, there is likely to be no predator nearby, runs the fish logic. Good dithers are fearless and active fish that tend to school, such as Danios, Tetras, Barbs. A shy dither fish is counterproductive, to say the least."
...was it George Barlow, The Cichlid Fishes? This book concentrates on the Cichlids, but it's a great introduction to fish lifestyles, spawning, populations, ecology, behavior yada yada yada.
You'll read it over and over and over.
You'll read it over and over and over.