Freshwater Angelfish, Pterophyllum scalare

In an attempt to reduce species extinction, captive breeding and reintroduction programs are frequently used. Wild animals raised in captivity often exhibit domesticated behaviour making them unfit for release into the wild. For fish, hatchery raised individuals tend to seek refuge less, making them more prone to predation. We tested this hypothesis with Freshwater Angelfish, Pterophyllum scalare by exposing them to artificial and natural predatory threats and measuring their pausing durations. A marginally significant difference in reactions was recorded between captive and wild fish in control conditions and in only one of the artificial stimuli, with captive fish showing shorter pauses than wild fish. A significant difference was obtained for natural stimuli, with wild fish showing shorter freezing durations than captive fish. Our results demonstrate that captive breeding changes the behaviour of fish enhancing their risk taking characteristic and putting them at higher risk of predation. They also demonstrate overreaction of captive fish to natural predatory stimuli, particularly non native ones