(A) Isolated and (B) In-view dosing. An Individual fish was netted from the holding tank and placed into one of the two dosing containers. In-view fish had visual access to 12 conspecifics held in the conspecific tank but were not able to see the other fish being dosed. Fish remained in the dosing containers for 30-minutes prior to behavioural testing. (C) The circular arena used was 34 cm in diameter and 16 cm in height. (D) The novel object used was a multi-coloured LEGO figurine. E) The thigmotaxis, transition and inner zones were calibrated to 34, 23 and 12 cm in diameter respectively.

(A) Isolated dosing, or (B) In-view dosing. The circle in the bottom left of figure (B) represents the virtual zones created in Ethovision to test whether fish spend more time on the side of the beaker closest to conspecifics when in view.

The time, in seconds, fish spent in the thigmotaxis (A), transition (B) and inner zones (C). (D) and (E) represent the effect of social context and substance on the distance fish moved (D) and the time fish spent immobile (E). Graphs show individual data points (n = 15 per group) with horizontal lines that represent mean values ± SEM. The number of * symbols identifies significant differences between groups at varying levels of significance: *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001.

(A) The distance, Isolated and In-view-CTL fish moved and (B) the amount of time, in seconds, In-view-CTLs spent on either side of the dosing container during dosing. The social condition did not have a significant effect on the distance fish moved, however when in-view, fish had a significant preference for the side of the dosing container closest to conspecifics. Data was analyzed using independent t-tests. Graphs show individual data points (n = 15 per group) with horizontal lines that represent mean values ± SEM. The number of * symbols identifies significant differences between groups at varying levels of significance: ****P < 0.0001.