SCIENCE PROJECT

[trav]

i am doing a science project and i would like to do it on fish some thing to do with fish .

need to find a topic about fish that i can investigate

any ideas

would not like to harm fish!!!!!!!!!! :lol:

[phoenix44]

how many taps on the glass before a puffer fish puffs? :lol:

[Morcs]

How many guppies a big dat can eat in 2 minutes when it hasnt been fed for a week?

[SamH]

I'd say something on genetics but it take time and it gets complicated, even when using guppies.

Does colour feeding really work? Feed one group of fish on regular flakes and the others on colour enhancing flakes

[trav]

How many guppies a big dat can eat in 2 minutes when it hasnt been fed for a week?

hahahahahaha

how many taps on the glass before a puffer fish puffs? :lol:

hahahha

as i said do not realy want to harm fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[suphew]

How much time do you have? The main reason for doing water changes in a fresh water tank is to remove nitrate. For years in salt water tanks we have used deep sand beds to remove nitrate. I have often wondered if it would work in fresh water, if it does it could be the end of algae and water changes. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. The only problem is, it takes a couple of months for the anaerobic bacteria in a DSB to start working.

[Caryl]

Is this a school project? What age? And yes, what time frame do you have?

[ryanjury]

Really need to know the time frame and what you have to do for this project..

Somethings you can do is train oscars to do things, jump for food navigate through obstacle courses etc..

Or you could do something like how much temperature affects growth of fish, breed say 50 guppy fry and try them at various temps in different tanks, or try the same temps but different foods even some cheap ones off trademe and some top of the line ones or special "growth formulas" or brineshrimp etc..

[jc360]

Cool idea Travis and this could tie in well with many different scientific fields. i don't think you have to limit yourself into thinking that you have to come up with some sort of far left field ideas either. Some times its a great idea to focus on some thing that is commonly known and try to show why it is, or perhaps that it isn't actually true at all. Show good scientific practice, good observation, and that you tried your best.

Some ideas

Improving water quality -showing how a filter works -make your own model, show possible improvements...

Explain behaviour of fish (Pavlov) -use fish to prove they have a longer memory than commonly perceived

Evaluate how cleaver different types of fish are at cracking some sort of puzzle to have access to their food, use the same trap on different types of fish to observe if any of them are smarter than others

Conduct your own investigation of the genetics of a type of fish (guppies tails) to show how common traits emerge through bloodlines, or hypothesis has to from where of off shoot is if they produce any throwbacks

Good idea to display and photograph your fish ideas extensively, take many photos through out the process, you can always delete any you dont need after the project.

[Adrienne]

Sams idea about colour might work if you feed some fish spirulina flakes and the others flakes without. Often there are questions on here about why has my fish got some dark marks on it.

[trav]

wow!!! thanks

i am 13 i got a bout 5 weeks and need..

In all investigations you should consider:

* What information or data am I after and how will I collect it?

* How will I measure any variables I am testing?

* What are my controls?

* How many repetitions will I need to do to be sure of my results?

* How am I going to display my results?

* What conclusions will I draw from the results?

* How much information do I need to gather to properly introduce the topic?

i need to get these

Introduction (which may include an aim or a hypothesis)

Materials (can be included in the log book rather than on the display)

Methods

Results (including graphs and tables of data)

Discussion (an analysis of the results including any problems and how these were overcome)

Conclusion (a short summary of what you found out)

i am only13 so do not have to much money but mom said she will help and supply some money if anyone can help buy giving me some fish to test or a little bit of food not money that it to much to ask just like if i did food if some one could please give me some food to help colours and the average food etc

[David R]

* How will I measure any variables I am testing?

* What are my controls?

* How many repetitions will I need to do to be sure of my results?

* How much information do I need to gather to properly introduce the topic?

Sounds like you're going to need multiple tanks of identical fish to do any serious testing. Perhaps you could make some kind of food or other product? My sister did a science fair project many years ago (at a similar level) on snacks for her pet rats.

[HaNs]

See what foods make the water dirty first? And why this is?

[Adrienne]

what fish do you already have and do you only have the one tank?

[Caryl]

Two projects my kids did;

1. Which is the best food for growing white worms?

Consisted of about 5 margarine pottles with potting mix and teaspoon of worms. Each container was fed a different food (cat meat, baby food, luncheon, porridge, bread).

2. Do plant fertilisers work?

Had a 3ft tank divided into 3 (glass dividers, no water flowing between). Each one had one stem of baby tears and one sprite (all similar size but also measured). Left section had plant tabs, right had liquid fert and centre was control. Measured once a week and results compared.

Might need longer time for the fertiliser one though :-?

[stillnzcookie]

How much time do you have? The main reason for doing water changes in a fresh water tank is to remove nitrate. For years in salt water tanks we have used deep sand beds to remove nitrate. I have often wondered if it would work in fresh water, if it does it could be the end of algae and water changes. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. The only problem is, it takes a couple of months for the anaerobic bacteria in a DSB to start working.

Hi - Cookie's husband here. I design fresh water nitrification / denitrification systems for a living and this system (e.g. by using a deep sand filter) will certainly work on fresh water. I'm currently working on one of these where the aerobic tank (for conversion of ammonia and nitrite to nitrate like happens in the main fish tank) is 750,000L, and the anoxic tank (which converts the nitrate to nitrogen gas like happens in the deep sand filter) is a further 750,000L.

You can use a large sponge filter, deep sand bed, or even just a second small tank with no aeration (and no fish!) to remove nitrate biologically in this manner. The trick is sizing the anoxic zone right so it removes enough nitrate but does not go anaerobic which would produce sulphides and other nasties which the fish won't like. You just cycle the water between the tank and the anoxic zone and back continuously and the right kind of bacteria (nitrobacter/nitrosomes) will naturally proliferate. You need to make sure you don't let much oxygen get into the anoxic zone.

[Ira]

How much time do you have? The main reason for doing water changes in a fresh water tank is to remove nitrate. For years in salt water tanks we have used deep sand beds to remove nitrate. I have often wondered if it would work in fresh water, if it does it could be the end of algae and water changes. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. The only problem is, it takes a couple of months for the anaerobic bacteria in a DSB to start working.

I have some moderate evidence that it does. My big tank had a very thick coarse sand bed. Back when I paid attention to nitrate levels, would slowly drop with just water changes. Then if I went and did a big vacuum and disturbed all the substrate the nitrates would jump to a higher level for a while before the started to slowly drop again.

Sounds like what I'd expect in a DSB that's removing nitrates.

[Jennifer]

If you just want to use the one tank, you could get a phospahte test kit and measure how different types of foods release phospahtes into the water after feeding. With a standard test kit you may not be able to detect much but it would be a good project anyway.

For example:

* What information or data am I after and how will I collect it?

Phospahte levels in the water as a result of feeding different foods.

* How will I measure any variables I am testing?

At the same time each day before feeding, measure the phosphate level with a test kit. Then, an hour after feeding measure the phosphate levels again with the same test kit. Make a note of the relative increase in phosphate that occurrs as a result of feeding. Measure out the amount fed so that it is exactly the same each time.

* What are my controls?

The controls can be two days when you don't feed at all but you still carry out the tests exactly as you would normally do (including at the exact same time of the day). Do this on two separate days, and try to randomly select which days they will be. Instead of adding food, you can add something inert, like water.

* How many repetitions will I need to do to be sure of my results?

It would be good to carry out this test over 4 weeks. each week would include 5 days of feeding five different types of food and two control days when you don't feed. Each week you would carry out a regular water change on the same day, and each day of the week you would feed the same type of food as you will do for the other weeks in the experiment.

* How am I going to display my results?

Create a graph that lists each of the different types of food on one axis and the phosphate levels on the other axis (take the average phospahate level over all for the 4 weeks).

* What conclusions will I draw from the results?

How different foods can affect phospahte levels and the risks for having high phosphate levels in both freshwater and saltwater tanks.

* How much information do I need to gather to properly introduce the topic?

Details about the risks of phosphate levels as well as the results of your tests and suggestions for how to reduce phosphate when feeding.

[sharn]

What about culturing live foods? You could have several variables for culturing microworms- temperature (ie floor on bathroom-cold, room temp and hot water cupboard-hot) and two sorts of food (porridge and ??), you could see which culture grew best for each sort of food and at what temperature that culture did best at (ie the porridge culture did best in room temp and the other culture did best in the hot water cupboard). White worms and brine shrimp are another two you could try? I found those two harder to master than the microworms tho :lol: When i had the MW i mixed up porridge with yeast and water, put in a little of an existing culture, lid on with a few holes (I used a small deli container from the supermarket that the coleslaw comes in) and off they went.

They are something cheap, simple, fun and you can feed them to your fish after

[Aquila]

I could recommend something to do with fish behaviour or physiology.

Some ideas:

-habitat preference

-anti-predator behaviour

-dominance, territoriality or partner choice

-if amount of room fish have affect their growth

-visual conditioning

[suphew]

Hi - Cookie's husband here. I design fresh water nitrification / denitrification systems for a living and this system (e.g. by using a deep sand filter) will certainly work on fresh water. I'm currently working on one of these where the aerobic tank (for conversion of ammonia and nitrite to nitrate like happens in the main fish tank) is 750,000L, and the anoxic tank (which converts the nitrate to nitrogen gas like happens in the deep sand filter) is a further 750,000L.

You can use a large sponge filter, deep sand bed, or even just a second small tank with no aeration (and no fish!) to remove nitrate biologically in this manner. The trick is sizing the anoxic zone right so it removes enough nitrate but does not go anaerobic which would produce sulphides and other nasties which the fish won't like. You just cycle the water between the tank and the anoxic zone and back continuously and the right kind of bacteria (nitrobacter/nitrosomes) will naturally proliferate. You need to make sure you don't let much oxygen get into the anoxic zone.

Thanks for the information, some interesting stuff. I actually already know it works :oops: , but where would be the fun doing a science project if you already know the answer. I run a 450l loach tank this way, water change every month or so, and almost never have to clean off algae. I also know a couple of breeders that run thick layers of sand in their breeding tanks doing the same, although I'm not sure they realise what they are doing just that they get far better survival rates.

[David R]

Thanks for the information, some interesting stuff. I actually already know it works :oops: , but where would be the fun doing a science project if you already know the answer. I run a 450l loach tank this way, water change every month or so, and almost never have to clean off algae. I also know a couple of breeders that run thick layers of sand in their breeding tanks doing the same, although I'm not sure they realise what they are doing just that they get far better survival rates.

If you haven't already, could you do some sort of a write up on this?? Sounds interesting...

[suphew]

If you haven't already, could you do some sort of a write up on this?? Sounds interesting...

There's nothing complicated about it, and it's quite likely your doing someting similar with out even knowing it. What I have is a 2inch layer of daltons and a good couple of inches of gravel on top. Because the daltons has a fine silty consistancy it works just like a DSB. I also have a BIG pile of bog wood on top and most plants attached to that so very little with roots in the substrate.

[David R]

I've had problems using deep layers of builders sand for substrates as it seems to build up gasses if left unstirred, especially under the driftwood. Ususally end up with ammonia problems after a while, and found the only way around it is to keep the sand no more than a couple of cm thick and stir it every water change. The geophagus and loaches stir the top layer constantly, but thats not enough.

Are you saying if I increased the depth to 3-4" and never stirred it that would not only solve the ammonia problem but help remove nitrates?