Honey, I Ate the Kids! Life History Strategies, Fish Behavior, and Management of a Research Cichlid Colony

TL;DRAbstract

Many fishes express indeterminate growth and flexible resource allocation to growth and reproduction. Unlike most fishes, convict cichlids (Cichlosoma nigrofasciatum) form strong mate bonds and exhibit long-term, biparental care. Because of these characteristics, we selected convict cichlids as our model to study the effects of parental behavior on microbial transmission. Despite careful consideration of their natural history, our initial experimental set-up and husbandry routine often resulted in unexpected outcomes, such as parents eating their broods within days of spawning, that interfered with research objectives. By applying ideas about the evolution of life histories and reproductive strategies to our experimental subjects, we adjusted our experimental protocol and caretaking procedures, produced the samples we needed, and gained fresh insights about practical aspects of fish reproductive strategies. In our poster, we will share this cautionary tale and its outcomes.

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