BGKs vs. Glass Knifefish social behavior in nature

[SalviniCichlidFan]

There is a long backstory to this post but if you want to see the question I'm asking just skip down to the last line,



I just read this paper and short summary of it about collective sensing in Peter's Elephantnose fish.

The researchers found that Peter's Elephantnose fish can have a more accurate and increased range of their sense of the environment when in a group by using their conspecifics' electric organ discharges (EOD).

This is similar to say I'm playing basketball and I can see through the eyes of my teammate simultaneously.

I find this very interesting.

My lab primarily works with fish that discharge sinusoid, wave-like EODs like BGKs and glass knife fish unlike Peter's Elephantnose that discharge pulse-like EODs.

Hence, I want to investigate if this collective sensing ability is found in fish with wave-like EODs like BGKs and glass knife fish.

If so, this is where I need Monsterfishkeepers' advice:

I want to see the competency/existence of collective sensing in social fish species and anti-social fish species.



So I am wondering if glass knife fish are social in nature and if BGKs are social in nature too?

 

[Fallen_Leaves16]

Eigenmannia spp. are relatively gregarious in situ, yes. However, they seem less friendly and much more likely to squabble in smaller aquaria.
Some sternopygid knifefishes can be found in great shoals over open ground, and move in a surprisingly coordinated manner with others. They do employ "collective sensing" to some extent, IIRC; it's along the lines of 'if one fish notices and responds to some sort of stimuli, the others in the area can read and react accordingly' (similar to what you described in mormyrids, I think). More similar to someone on the edges of a crowd loudly yelling info to the rest of the people, though at an almost instantaneous rate.
Their sinusoidal EODs are a bit less-refined than the pulses of mormyrid EODs, IIRC.

There may be an issue with the transmission/reception of EODs relative to distance, in captivity at least.
The fish may not be willing to exhibit natural shoaling behaviours in small aquaria, as the boundaries are well-defined and the fish has little need for reliance on others for detection of environmental variables. A few aspects of natural behaviour of some gymnotiformes is lost in captivity due to the difference in environment.

I do not know if virescens and the others in that species-group are as social as many of the larger, deep-water dwelling sternopygids, but they are often collected in large, loosely-formed groups/shoals.

Apteronotids are a bit trickier. Most species tend to be relatively solitary, but some do form very loose colonies (with individual territories), particularly in the breeding season; some species do move in small groups of <6 individuals for some time, but rarely is it permanent; a few do form loose groups and hang about one another, though not in any specific manner; a good few do seem to shoal; etc. The family is rather diverse, and behaviour differs drastically based on genus and species.
Albifrons is not a shoaling species, but they are not exactly antisocial and do exhibit less aggression towards conspecifics than many other species. It has been noted that loose groups may be present in the wild, and in captivity some social 'pecking orders' have possibly been noted as well. They aren't exactly what I would consider social, though.