FACTORS DETERMINING PARENTAL PREFERENCE OF CONVICT CICHLID FRY, CICHLASOMA-NIGROFASCIATUM (PISCES, CICHLIDAE)

Twenty-two pairs of convict cichlids and their fry were tested with a design that offered fry a simultaneous choice between their parents. The parents were presented to the fry in two states: alive and dead. The behaviour of the live parents as well as the parental preference shown by their fry were recorded. Parental preference was determined by recording the time 29 or more of 31 fry remained near the parent fish. When the parents were presented alive, the fry spent more time near the female; however, the male was preferred when the same parents were presented dead. The behaviour of the parents accounted for this difference; females performed significantly more parental behaviour than males. Males are larger than females, and may have been chosen for that reason in the experiment with dead parents. These results suggest fry prefer to approach and stay near an adult exhibiting certain behaviour patterns; morphological differences between the sexes are of secondary importance. © 1990 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.