A test of time-place learning in a cichlid fish

Abstract

This paper presents a test of time-place learning in fish. Convict cichlids, Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum, were offered food several times a day for 10-30 consecutive days. A signal was given 1 min before each food presentation. If the food was always delivered in the same corner of the aquarium, the fish spent 66% of their time in that corner after the signal was given. But if the food was given in different corners throughout the day, each corner being associated with a specific daily time, the fish failed to show preference for the target corner, even after 30 days. Instead they learned which corners yielded food at any time of the day and visited these corners successively after the feeding signal was given. Failure to associate time and place may have been caused by a low cost of travel between corners, a limited number of rewards each day, and / or interference from learning the signal-food association.