Learning behaviour and metabolic rate of common minnows under varying maze complexity, social conditions, and temperature treatments
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This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
This dataset contains information about data collected for two different studies looking at the effect of maze complexity, metabolic rate, temperature and social behaviour on minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) learning behaviour. Minnows learning behaviour and metabolic rate were measured under laboratory conditions using custom-made maze arenas and intermittent-flow respirometry. The experiments were conducted at the University of Glasgow in 2021-2022.
The work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (Grant NE/T008334/1).
The work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (Grant NE/T008334/1).
Publication date: 2026-08-18
Format
Comma-separated values (CSV)
Provenance & quality
Adult European minnows of undetermined sex were collected from the river Kelvin (Glasgow, 55°52′42″N, 004°17′03″W) in September 2021 with hand-nets and minnow traps and immediately brought to laboratory aquaria facilities. After acclimation we conducted the experiments.
The first experiment aimed to look at the effect of maze complexity and metabolic rate on learning of European minnows. We tested two maze complexities, two-door and four-door choice mazes. We video recorded minnows in each maze in order to get measurements of their behaviour and then performed intermittent-flow respirometry to measure oxygen consumption over time of each fish and estimate their metabolic rate.
The second experiment focused on the effect of temperature exposure, social behaviour and metabolic rate on learning of European minnows. We tested learning abilities in two temperatures (14 and 20 degree) and two social conditions (isolation or in group of 4 individuals). We measured minnows behaviour in the 4-door maze in each condition and then performed intermittent-flow respirometry to measure oxygen consumption over time of each fish and estimate their metabolic rate.
We collected the following data for each experiment: movement data (x,y positions over time), oxygen values (mg O2/h) over time and some fish information about their ID and body mass.
Behavioural analyses were conducted with automated video analyses using Ethovision for experiment 1 and via blind visual annotation from video recording for experiment 2. The slopes in oxygen consumption were calculated using using the FishResp R package (Morozov et al., 2019, https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coz003) from oxygen data collected using remote oxygen sensors.
Multiple steps of data quality were performed. First data analyses from Ethovision were visually scored to check for potential errors in the tracking software to detect the fish. We further explored for errors during data explorations steps, analyses and statistical analyses in R.
Limitations on the data's reliability: in experiment 2 the video couldn't be tracked by automated software therefore blind visual detections of behaviours were operated (each video that was scored was anonymous to the operator so that the operator had no idea of the treatment or fish ID).
The first experiment aimed to look at the effect of maze complexity and metabolic rate on learning of European minnows. We tested two maze complexities, two-door and four-door choice mazes. We video recorded minnows in each maze in order to get measurements of their behaviour and then performed intermittent-flow respirometry to measure oxygen consumption over time of each fish and estimate their metabolic rate.
The second experiment focused on the effect of temperature exposure, social behaviour and metabolic rate on learning of European minnows. We tested learning abilities in two temperatures (14 and 20 degree) and two social conditions (isolation or in group of 4 individuals). We measured minnows behaviour in the 4-door maze in each condition and then performed intermittent-flow respirometry to measure oxygen consumption over time of each fish and estimate their metabolic rate.
We collected the following data for each experiment: movement data (x,y positions over time), oxygen values (mg O2/h) over time and some fish information about their ID and body mass.
Behavioural analyses were conducted with automated video analyses using Ethovision for experiment 1 and via blind visual annotation from video recording for experiment 2. The slopes in oxygen consumption were calculated using using the FishResp R package (Morozov et al., 2019, https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coz003) from oxygen data collected using remote oxygen sensors.
Multiple steps of data quality were performed. First data analyses from Ethovision were visually scored to check for potential errors in the tracking software to detect the fish. We further explored for errors during data explorations steps, analyses and statistical analyses in R.
Limitations on the data's reliability: in experiment 2 the video couldn't be tracked by automated software therefore blind visual detections of behaviours were operated (each video that was scored was anonymous to the operator so that the operator had no idea of the treatment or fish ID).
Licensing and constraints
This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence 
Correspondence/contact details
Other contacts
Publisher
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
info@eidc.ac.uk
Rights holder
University of Glasgow
Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
info@eidc.ac.uk
Additional metadata
Funding
Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/T008334/1