how to convince my parents to let me get another tank!

[Jan Cavalieri]

Well I'm a mom that has too many fish tanks. Thank goodness the kids moved out and unfortunately - husband died so nobody can say no to me.

That said, I would only agree to my son or daughter getting a new fish tank was if the current tanks were all clean and well cared for. That there weren't messes and water all over the place and you've found some way to store the food and equipment so it's out of sight. And if you already have 10 or more tanks then you have to get a job and figure out how to pay half the electric bill. (mine jumped $30 after getting two new tanks in one month - of course it is summer)

Not sure what the problem is with the plant jars unless the water stinks. In fact - btw how DO you keep your aquariums from stinking - to me, when you walk in my front door, it smells like a dog left something behind somewhere - even after water changes on all three tanks. Wish I could get rid of the smell. (All pet stores smell like this in the fish department), So if smell is her problem I would say to you "no more tanks without a deodorizer".

Otherwise I'm a cool mom and would appreciate your interests.

 

[Back in the fold]

Well I'm a mom that has too many fish tanks. Thank goodness the kids moved out and unfortunately - husband died so nobody can say no to me.

That said, I would only agree to my son or daughter getting a new fish tank was if the current tanks were all clean and well cared for. That there weren't messes and water all over the place and you've found some way to store the food and equipment so it's out of sight. And if you already have 10 or more tanks then you have to get a job and figure out how to pay half the electric bill. (mine jumped $30 after getting two new tanks in one month - of course it is summer)

Not sure what the problem is with the plant jars unless the water stinks. In fact - btw how DO you keep your aquariums from stinking - to me, when you walk in my front door, it smells like a dog left something behind somewhere - even after water changes on all three tanks. Wish I could get rid of the smell. (All pet stores smell like this in the fish department), So if smell is her problem I would say to you "no more tanks without a deodorizer".

Otherwise I'm a cool mom and would appreciate your interests.

Aquarium smell ? This deserves a thread of it's own. Standby.

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

Oh and btw you really need at least two tanks. Does a captive bred fish raised in a natural environment behave differently than a fish born and raised in an artificial environment. Then Ideally you would have a wild betta to observe - do you have a reference telling you about the normal behavior patterns of bettas?

I spent many hours in graduate school laying on my stomach observing prairie dogs and counting how many times they stood up and sniffed in the air, how much time sniffing or digging on the ground in environments that were "reward laden" (ie.,had food) or reward lacking.

The you need to start thinking about what types of behavior you are planning to observe?

You need to know what normal bettas do in the wild where they have mates and other males - so now we're up to at least 3 betta's per tank unless you place limits on the experiment (Like feeding behavior of captive Betta fish in a natural environment) but you'd still need 2 betta's - how are you going to compare bettas if you only have 1? If you already have betta's you can't use them because they are already acclimated to the current environment.

You'll probably need permission from your school's board approving the experiment since it may likely end in death for 1 or more fish., plus what you'll do with all the fish once the experiement is over?

Now you could use a single subject on a before/after experiment - where you make two different environments and you see how the fish reacts in each environment - but normally you'd have Betta1 going from wild to tame, and Betta 2 going from tame to wild and probably a 3rd control group betta that just stays in a very basic environment

I thing the "tame" environment should have either sponge bob ornaments or little mermaid - just to make it really extreme.

Don't you wish I was your mother? We'd have to have a truck deliver all the tanks you need for this experiment.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

My tanks don’t stink. Do you have a dirted tank, or maybe a tank with “wild” plants in them? That is weird that your tanks smell.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Don't you wish I was your mother? We'd have to have a truck deliver all the tanks you need for this experiment.

Sorry...I already have a TFF Mom!

(Lol, )

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

ok then,

I still think you need to come up with WHAT differences you will/won't expect to see. Remember you start with the "null hypothesis" of "I won't see any differences" or you reject the null hypothesis and actually come up with a list of differences - but in the real cheating science world (you know, the way you get grant money) you already feel like you know what the outcome will be - so you'll want to start with a brief literature search that describes similar experiment perhaps in different species, etc then propose what particular differences you expect to see and WHY.
Then you provide a description of your experiment ideally with pictures
Then you make graphs that measure each of the things you were measuring (like how often they came out of hiding) vs. the number of times betta's in "normal" environments come out of hiding"

Any way I don't see any way you can do this without two betta's. Unless you do a "before" and "after" type of experiment.

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

oh - one other measure would be how often they touch the "ornament" in the tank. In one environment that might mean "how often do they nose touch the leaves", vs the other environment "how many times did they nose touch spongebob's head?"

 

[Back in the fold]

Sorry...I already have a TFF Mom!

(Lol, )

It wouldn't be The Esteemed Madam TFF would it ?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

It wouldn't be The Esteemed Madam TFF would it ?

Uhhh.......who say wa now?

(I have no clue who your talking about...... )

 

[Back in the fold]

Uhhh.......who say wa now?

(I have no clue who your talking about...... )

Deanasue. That's my new name for her.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I sure don’t have the right answer. I’ve been trying to get my daughter to let my grandkids keep the 3 fish I bought them 3 years ago. That’s how I got back into the hobby. She had a fit when we bought them. Three years, 6 tanks, and a pond now. She still refuses to say yes. Lol!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Deanasue. That's my new name for her.

Yep. Your right!!

 

[FishGuest5123]

Sorry...I already have a TFF Mom!

(Lol, )

That’s right! Pheonix is my TFF son. That’s my boy (until he does something stupid). Lol!

 

[FishGuest5123]

Deanasue. That's my new name for her.

Ya’ll are nuts!

 

[Fishmanic]

You could do an experiment by first having very bright lights and clear water with no plants or tannins and maybe one large ornament or piece of wood he could hide behind. Note how he reacts over a week’s time. Then lower the light level , lower the water height, add tannins and dead leaves and lots of plants and driftwood and monitor his reaction and altered habits to this change. You might briefly add another fish to. see how he reacts to having a roommate— maybe just for one day. Then remove the roommate and continue monitoring from that point on.