The effect of the sex of the Betta splendens shown to the test Betta splendens on the Agonistic

Response in the male Betta splendens being tested.

Siraj Faruqee, Preston Lee, Jasper Shapiro
Sandy Spring Friends School, Sandy Spring, MD, 20860
Introduction
Background: When we first made observations about this
male Betta splendens which we named Super Chill based we
were surprised at his lack of movement. We noticed that the
fins on the males were a lot more extravagant and intimidating,
so we decided to test the difference in agonistic responses.
The Agonistic Response (Agonistic Behavior) is
any social behavior that is related to fighting.
Figure 4. Super chill
resting in between trials.

Figure 5. The female Betta

splendens we used in the trials.

Results:

Figure 10. Number of times test male

Betta splendens turned away from
other Betta splendens.

Figure 11. Number of times test male Betta

splendens switched quadrants.

Figure 1. Anatomical features of male Betta splendens

Figure 6. Number of times test Betta splendens bumps wall of tank.
Research Question: How does the male Betta splendens
agonistic response change when seeing another male Betta
splendens as opposed to a female Betta splendens?
Research Objective: To analyze the differences in the
Agonistic response of the male Betta splendens when it is
shown another male Betta splendens as opposed to a female
Betta splendens.
Hypotheses: Our null hypotheses was that the male test Betta
splendens (Supa Chill) would react the same way to the
female to the male. Our alternate hypothesis was that the male
Betta splendens would have a stronger, more violent agonistic
response to the male than the female.

Figure 7. Number of times test Betta splendens turns away from

other Betta splendens.

Figure 8. Number of times test Betta splendens switches quadrants.

Methods

Figure 2. Super chill (the

male Betta splendens) in the
corner of the tank (Control as
there was no other fish)

Figure 3. Two male Betta

splendens in a trial.

Conclusions and Future Directions

Conclusion: We can conclude:

Seeing a male Betta splendens caused the test Betta splendens to bump the
tank more, move more, and overall have a stronger agonistic response as
opposed to when it is alone.

There is a difference but not a huge difference of the test male Betta
splendens Agonistic Response to seeing another male Betta splendens versus
seeing a female.

The test male Betta splendens is more active when seeing another male Betta
splendens as opposed to seeing a female Betta splendens.

Our hypothesis was correct that the male Betta splendens being tested would
have a stronger, more violent reaction to seeing another male as opposed to
seeing a female.
Future directions:

Does the size of the opposing fish make a difference on the test male Betta
splendens agonistic response?

Does the test male Betta splendens have a stronger Agonistic response to
another male Betta splendens or to its own reaction?

Does the test male Betta splendens reach a point where it does not care about
seeing the other Betta splendens?

Figure 9. Number of times test male Betta splendens bumps

wall of tank.

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Preston Lee for the male Betta splendens fish
(Lulu) he provided, and Teek for providing us with the fish tanks and the female Betta
splendens We would also like to thank Sandy Spring Friends School for providing us with
space to work.