Fish Science Fair Project

[lilhurleybunny]

Okie..so I am assuming that many of you are out of school or atleast at a grade where you dont have to do science fair projects anymore! Well this is my last year to do them (thank God) and I was thinking of doing something with my tropical fish since I seem to be getting really into them . So does anyone out there have any ideas on a topic I could research? It's just something to get your inner science fair kid thinking .



Thanks!

 

[Phantom Thief]

Hi LHB.

Could you explain the science fair a bit more. Im 13, but in Malaysia, no science fairs. But i was thinking, maybe something on the nitrogen cycle?

P.T.

 

[lilhurleybunny]

SURE I COULD!! ^.^ And yes the nitrogen cycle is an idea..but i was thinking maybe something along the lines of fish activity..I dunno I'm just looking for ideas right now.

Okay so lemme give all of you who are lucky enough to not have science fair an idea of what it is. Science fair is a large, required project that takes about 2 months or so to do. Your science teacher starts telling you all the headsup about it in January or Febuary and you have to basically make you own science experiment.

I'll use my project last year as an example. I did "The Egg In the Milkbottle: Does the size of the bottle affect how long it will take the egg to get sucked into the bottle when creating a vacuum by a lit candle in the bottle". The candle creates a vacuum by sucking up all the oxygen in the bottle therefore pulling in the egg.

Every student has to first find 25 facts on their topic, then actually create the experiment..like..give a write up of you problem, hypothesis, materials, data table, etc.. Your experiment has to be comparing something and have different variables..which were the bottles in my experiment last year.

Once you have gotten your facts, written up your lab sheet and actually performed your experiment you have to create a display board of your results and pictures or illustrations relating to what you were investigating.

AND THEN!! You present it to your science class. Once your whole class has presented your teacher picks a few students to go to the school science fair where you compete against other kids in your grade and other grades. If your experiment was good enough to make it past there then you go to county and then if your really good you go to state and then you go against the whole U.S.A. but its very rare to have someone from my state (Maryland) go to the competiton that takes place for the whole country lol...in my eyes atleast .

But I am not interested in winning, I'm just interested in getting it done .

I hope that explained it well ^^"". If you have any other questions just ask .

 

[Phantom Thief]

Good explanation !

Ok...hmmm i seem to have an idea, right here, but cant get it out. Drat. Hmm...fish activity...recognition abilities? like recognizing you for example. Inventing an experiment for that would be fun. Or maybe schooling behavior. Actions of one in a school as opposed to one alone. Its night here, so maybe i'll sleep it over and think of some more. If you everntually decide to use anyone of my ideas, dont forget to give me credit !

P.T.

 

[lizard]

Science projects involving live animals may require the "supervision" of a veterinarian (and do in Minnesota, don't know about elsewhere). Most vets I know would be happy to supervise a science fair project and sign the requried papers, as long as you talk to them more than a week or two before you need a signature. They have to supervise the entire project, not just simply sign a paper at the end.

When I volunteered at a vet clinic, a student called the vet to see if he would sign off on her science fair project. He wanted to, but could not because he had not overseen/supervised the project from the start. Had the student contacted the vet before starting her project, he would have been happy to sign the necessary papers.

Something to keep in mind! Good luck! I don't have any project ideas right now, but I'll let you know if I come up with any.

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[lilhurleybunny]

Hehe thanks P.T. ^.^ we have to do it for three years so I guess its good I know how to . And thanks for thinking more..the recognition idea sounds really good and if I keep thinking about it it might spark another idea so it works out ^.^. But any other ideas are welcome so if you think of any feel free to post!

Thanks for the tip Lizard. I'm not sure if the vet thing applies to here too because theres this guy in my grade that always does something with rabbits every year and i dont think he has to have a vet..but I could be wrong. Thanks again though .

AND ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE! If you happen to have an idea or suggestion please pleaasseeeeee dont hesitate!

 

[NeilP]

What about stinking with the recognition idea.....

Are fish able to recognise different colours - one would think so bearing in mind the nature of some fish with like colours....

We know that some fish recognise us when we approach the tank and hope that there is food coming......

So, could we

a) see what would happen if you only wore a red coloured top whenever you fed your fish... logged their behaviour, and then after some time (weeks, months??) see what happened to their behaviour when you wore a blue coloured top.

or


B) hold a coloured card / you wore a coloured top, and you had matching coloured feeding rings on the surface, and the fish knew/learnt that if you held up/were wearing a red top, that the food would appear in the red feeding ring (supposing that you had say a red, blue and green feeding ring permenantly floating in the tank).


Sounds a bit too complex, and may take too long to establish ..... but you never know........