The food-shelter preference of Chindongo demasoni: the effects of standard metabolism, personality traits, and bystanders

To investigate the effects of energy metabolism, personality traits, and the presence of bystanders on the preference for food vs. shelter in fish, we selected Chindongo demasoni as the experimental subject. We examined their preferences for food vs. shelter in the absence and presence of bystanders under four different conditions: hungry, satiated, large-sized, and small-sized. Additionally, we assessed the influence of standard metabolic rate (SMR) and personality traits (activity, boldness, aggressiveness) on their preferences. The results showed that SMR and personality traits do not significantly correlate with the preference for food vs. shelter in Chindongo demasoni. These fish prefer shelter in the absence of bystanders or in the presence of satiated bystanders. However, they do not show a significant preference for food or shelter when large-sized, small-sized, or hungry bystanders are present. The lack of influence of SMR and personality traits on the preference for food vs. shelter in Chindongo demasoni may be due to the equal importance of both resources for the same individual. Nevertheless, this preference changes with the presence of bystanders, indicating that the presence and physiological status of bystanders might affect the intensity of resource competition and subsequently alter the preference of Chindongo demasoni for food vs. shelter. These results suggest that social factors may play an important role in influencing fish resource selection.