Social interactions can affect feeding behaviour of fish in tanks

Abstract

Fish from the same clutch of eggs, so of the same age and family, can differ substantially in size after some time in a tank as result of social interactions. On the basis of computer simulation studies I here demonstrate that it is possible to mimic this empirical observation using the rules of the standard Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) model, supplemented with a simple stochastic module for interaction between individuals that have identical parameters. The remarkable result is that length-at-age of two individuals in a tank where the number of food particles is kept constant closely follows von Bertalanffy growth curves with very different parameters, while in reality the individuals have identical parameters. The empirical observation demonstrates that fish are close to the supply end of the supply–demand spectrum and that age-based models for growth don't apply to supply systems. The significance of the result is discussed.