Data for fish foraging and anti-predator escape behavior

 Prior experience with predation risk can provide valuable information and influence how prey animals trade off between food and safety. We examine foraging and refuge use behavior among groups of social goldfish (Carrasius auratus) at risk of predation from little egrets (Egretta garzetta) for groups containing only individuals that previously experienced predators, only naïve individuals, or mixed groups containing both experienced and naïve fish. Groups of all-experienced fish consumed significantly less food than the all-naïve and mixed groups, and spent the least amount of time foraging outside of the refuge. Furthermore, within the mixed treatment groups, naïve individuals spent more time foraging compared to experienced group members. In terms of survival, the groups containing all-naïve members experienced the highest mortality, and significantly more naïve fish were captured within the mixed groups. Interestingly, the mixed groups experienced overall mortality rates simila..., , # Data for fish foraging and anti-predator escape behavior

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.rxwdbrvn0](10.5061/dryad.rxwdbrvn0)

## Description of the data and file structure

In this experiment, we tested three fish groups containing either all fish naive to predation, all fish experienced with predation from the day prior, and a mixed group of fish containing half naive and half experienced members. The fish then were tested with a live egret predator. The fish could choose to hide under a safe refuge that offered no food, or forage at the GUD trays in the open water environment.

### Files and variables

#### File: Experience\_exp\_data.XLSX

**Description:** 

This data set includes data comparing the time (min) the egret spent at the pool, the foraging success of the fish (number of pellets left in tray - GUDs), the time (min) spent fish groups spent out of the refuge, and the number of fish captured by the egret predator (this data is further separated to compare the naive and experie...,