Does anyone have suggestions for an aquarium related science project for my 9 yr. old daughter. I was thinking of here doing a start to finnish setup through 2nd generation of some type of fish.
Daughter's 4th grade science project
- Thread starter drjdp
- Start date
Science and animals is a touchy subject. I know when I did my last science project (late 80's) we were not allowed to use any live animals. You'll have to check into that. Maybe you could do an experiment with plants instead. For example which substrate grows the best plants, or how does lighting affect the growth rate of plants.
I would try cycling a tank 3 differnt ways: fish, fishless, and just plants and see how long each take to complete the cycle for each.
I would keep everything basically the same. Tank size, you could even do 5 gallons pretty cheap, keep the lighting the same and the same temprature.
I would keep everything basically the same. Tank size, you could even do 5 gallons pretty cheap, keep the lighting the same and the same temprature.
Science project with aquarium
My daughter's teacher liked the project with breeding guppies, so I guess we just need to establish the details of the project. I was thinking of having my daughter do the entire setup with me photo-documenting each step up to the counting and classifying fry types. The suggestions of water chemistry I think are interesting; but beyond her 9 year old level. I was wondering at what age guppies can reproduce. I already have a pair of kribensis that are getting ready to breed, one is albino. So there is an interesting experiment to see the ratio of normal versus albino young from these two. But does anyone know if the albino gene is expressed in such a pairing? The guppies might be a fall back project in case the kribensis don't breed.
My daughter's teacher liked the project with breeding guppies, so I guess we just need to establish the details of the project. I was thinking of having my daughter do the entire setup with me photo-documenting each step up to the counting and classifying fry types. The suggestions of water chemistry I think are interesting; but beyond her 9 year old level. I was wondering at what age guppies can reproduce. I already have a pair of kribensis that are getting ready to breed, one is albino. So there is an interesting experiment to see the ratio of normal versus albino young from these two. But does anyone know if the albino gene is expressed in such a pairing? The guppies might be a fall back project in case the kribensis don't breed.
drjdp said:
How much time does she have to complete this project? Going into a second generation from the original pair could take 6 months or more.
Trying to determine the albino gene would be a very advanced project. That would have to go into Punnett squares and so on. Also not knowing the genes of the parent fish would make this an almost impossible task.
I think you would be better of with the cycling using various methods, or a plant experiment. You would be able to have a control tank for both of these tests.
for 4th grade just going through the process of cycling a tank and documenting the conditions and how you got the conditions they way they are would be more than enough.