Hypothetical Classroom Aquarium-Give me your Thoughts

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TankDempsey

TankDempsey

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 28, 2012
824
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Third rock from the sun
Hey everyone! Recently have decided that I want to try and teach High School Biology some day when I graduate college in ~4 years. Anyways, my mind was wandering today when I found myself reading about the common Guppy. Anyways, in the wild, guppies are known to adapt to predation by favoring the more dull colored males when breeding time comes. This is due to them being less easy to spot by predators. Anyways, If this is replicable in a classroom/aquarium setting, I could establish a breeding and schooling population of guppies in a large aquarium, where the flashiest males get the girl. Then after populations are high enough, introduce a predator to the aquarium, lets say an Oscar. Theoretically, the oscar will eat the good looking males, causing the females to mate with the ugly guys. Darwinism at its finest and a great example for a classroom. I realize this is so far away, but my mind does things like this on occasion haha. Obviously I would provide plenty of hiding spots and such for the guppies to hide in, and hopefully maintain a population of them without buying new ones. Please give me your thoughts on the feasibility of this. Or just tell my if I'm turning into a crazy fish-keeping future science teacher. :nilly:
 
You can surly get guppies to reproduce without a problem. I had a 50 gallon that had about 300 guppies starting with 15 females and 6 males. Correct ratio is 3 females per male tho. I started a feeder farm with guppies back in the day for my larger fish but to no anvil, they would eat 30 a sitting and look empty, so that was about 3 months of wasted time lol.

I honestly wouldn't do it tho, here are some reasons why,

1). kids are reckless

That's about it lol. Might be more trouble than its worth.
 
Releasing an oscar on a school of guppies will make Little Susie or Little Timmy upset and they'll complain and no more tank for you. That's how these things generally turn out.

My high school lost an American toad because a student complained that feeding it crickets was "cruel and unnecessary"


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blackghostknife said:
Releasing an oscar on a school of guppies will make Little Susie or Little Timmy upset and they'll complain and no more tank for you. That's how these things generally turn out.

My high school lost an American toad because a student complained that feeding it crickets was "cruel and unnecessary"


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Click to expand...

+1 you will get a lot of those.... Some people just won't tolerate it

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I think you would have better luck showing kids interesting breeding behavior. Like mouth brooders or something. Its amazing watching a cloud of fry explode from their parents mouth. No one can complain about that.
 
I recommend while you are in college you also minor in business, management, or something. Teaching can be a tough game. It is true that any degree is better than none but I wish I had had the time to round out my degree with some classes other than education and science. Lucky for me I had over 20 years job experience before I went to college.
 
Once again... maybe I'm crazy. I thought about a convict pair or something like that too... it really doesn't matter at this point but i will some day have a classroom aquarium if i go down that route lol.

@Chaz88 I plan on minoring in Physical Education so I can always get my physical trainer certification also, and plus I've been working construction for my dad since I was 14 so I have that backup plan too
 
tbh though, the guppies wont be around long enough and the aquarium wont be big enough to display the behavior you're trying to exhibit anyways. you may be able to display that preditors go for more colorful prey. but i dont think that by the female choosing the lesser colored males shows anything other than the females have to spawn with the lesser colored males because they're all that's left. not to crush your dreams but from one aspiring scientist to another your experiment will not display the idea you're trying to convey.

i think a simply breeding project would be a better idea. i also think Africans is the way to go.
or a tank with a c.regani, a sa leaf fish and some live bearers. that'll really display a good food chain. the live bearers wont over populate because of the leaf fish and the pike, but they will reproduce because both predators are more ambush and not open water predators.

in reference to chaz88 comment, youre better off majoring in mathematics or physics than business... its hard enough for a bachelors in business to shine, let alone a minor in it.
 
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