Personality research has begun to take hold in the animal kingdom as psychologists turn to animal models to investigate various aspects of personality. Similarly, behavioral ecologists and related fields have begun to explore the idea that individual variation in behavior is more than just noise around an average for a given population or group of interest. As a result, many have begun to turn to personality-related questions to explain individual differences in animal behavior. Collectively, psychologists, ecologists and related fields have created a boom in animal personality-related research. This interest has expanded to a variety of fish species, with many studies focused on an important axis of behavior in humans: the shy-bold axis. Unfortunately, there has been very little consideration for the methodology employed. We review both the experimental and statistical methodology found in a body of research on fish species, for which personality-related research has been conducted. Our aim is to shed light on many important considerations that are often overlooked in order to facilitate research concerned with the reliability and validity of the many methods used.

Previous research reports that acute alcohol exposure disrupts shoaling behavior in the zebrafish. The purpose of these studies is to better understand how acute alcohol exposure (0%, 0.125%, 0.25%, 0.5%, and 1.0%) alters zebrafish behavior. The effects of alcohol on aggressive behaviors in humans have been widely researched. Previous research from this lab has shown a bimodal effect of alcohol on shoaling behavior in zebrafish, with 0.5% and 2.0% (v/v) disrupting shoaling while 1.0% and 1.5% showing no direct effect. Because shoaling is a social behavior and is altered during acute alcohol exposure, aggressive behavior between fish should be addressed. In this series of experiments we explored alcohol’s effects on aggressive behaviors. In order to address a possible role for alcohol induced aggression as it relates to shoaling we chose to examine the effects of acute alcohol exposure on zebrafish pairs. Fish were assessed during initial encounters occurring in our testing apparatus during acute alcohol exposure. Results show a change in biting as a function of all doses. Acute alcohol exposure (0.5%) also decreases overall occurrences of chasing and retreating but may increase the duration of each bout. Lastly in a separate experiment we looked at blood alcohol levels as a result of acute alcohol exposure.