Fish Speech
- Thread starter Skoomakilla
- Start date
ok so for the speech, fish books, fish food, fish tank, live fish, fake plants, some ornaments, fliter, gravel, powerhead, net and wat else
MFK stickers and bracelets!
Just talk about what it takes to get started, get some pix to show what kind of fish are common, and break out the rare ones. Make it a speech about the hobby in general more than "how to" it will be more interesting that way
Just talk about what it takes to get started, get some pix to show what kind of fish are common, and break out the rare ones. Make it a speech about the hobby in general more than "how to" it will be more interesting that way
I am doing my speech on general tropical fish keeping. I have been keeping fish for my entire life. I currently have 3 fish tanks, a 10-gallon, a 60-gallon, and a 150-gallon. There main categories of fish keeping, saltwater and freshwater. Today I will be talking about freshwater fish keeping. There are different species of freshwater fish. I currently have cichlids, catfish, a few goldfish, and a few guppies. To keep a fish tank in proper care, you must know the water chemistry of your specific fish. Also you must choose tank mates suitable for the current fish you have now, but back to water chemistry. Water chemistry is different in parts of the world. pH or potential hydrogen, determines whether the water is acidic, neutral, or alkine. The pH scale starts at 0 for most acidic, then 7 for neutral, and then 14 for the most alkine. The average range for tropical fish is about 6.5 to 7.5. Though this may not seem much of a change, the change is great for the fish and will cause stress. Too much stress and you fish will die, so if you change the pH change it slowly the fish will not stress as much and will have time of adapt to the new water chemistry..
Cycling is a very important process in starting up a tank because this starts you good bacterial system. It also very important to do this process because this also starts you chemical process also. You should leave the tank to cycle with a fish, I use goldfish, to start the process. You could also start the process by using water from a tank already populated by fish.
Next is the equipment for the fish tank. You will need a filter, a heater, a thermometer, and a light; an air pump and power heads are optional. The heater is not needed if you keep pond fish like gold fish or koi. The average temperature for a tropical fish is about 76 degrees to 84 degrees. You filter is needed to clean you water and cause surface movement to get oxygen throughout the tank. The light is also very important. If you leave you light on to long or if you have a tank it direct sunlight you tank could develop algae in a very short period of time. The light also determines which fish comes out to feed. For instance catfish, many are nocturnal and while feeding may come out if they are not shy, but other words after feeding the other fish put the food in for the fish and turn off the lights.
Water changes are very important. If you do not have a filter on you tank and have a power head or biological filter powered by an air pump you will have to do water changes more often. The water changes remove the wastes and chemicals excreted by the fish. I have a 60-gallon with only a power head and I do water changes every day. But caution, dont remove too much water from the tank. This may change the water chemistry of the tank and may cause you fish to stress. I would use a solution like AmQuel. This nitrifies some chemicals in the water and example would be ammonia.
Next part of maintaining this fish tank is putting in the decorations. You might want to keep this tank empty if you want to, but if you want to make the tank look good this is what you would do. First you would add gravel. Next you would put your decorations that would fit the fishs environment that you plan to keep. Plants may also be added, live or plastic. Make sure you buy aquatic plants because regular plants would rot in you tank and my add disease and make you water more acidic.
Next comes the most rewarding part of the fish keeping. Buying your fish. If this is your first fish tank you may want to start off with a cheap fish. But if this is another tank that you are setting up and you are more experienced you may want to try fish that are a little more expensive. The fish that are more expensive either mean that they are rare or are very hard to rise. There are also some illegal fish. Some examples of illegal fish are piranha, snakeheads, or freshwater stingrays. If you happen to come by any of these fish while you are shopping for you fish, they may cost A little more than you average fish. You may also want to know your fishs information before you buy it. Tank mates that will fight and tank mates that eat each other are not what you want to spend your money on. Thinking about size is also another factor with all fish. Also, do not introduce to many tank mates at once, because this may cause you chemistry to spike and the tank mates may kill each other to obtain a specific territory.
What your fish eats is another thing you have to worry about. Fish normally take shrimp, beef, flakes, pellets, brine shrimp, bloodworms, and live food like goldfish and guppies. Try to avoid flakes because it is a messy food for you tank and may cloud up your water. Figure out what you fish is eating at the store before you buy it and see if they are eating what you are feeding or you could attempt to change their diet. The fish may starve to death because of its tank mates getting all the food before it can get any.
Fish keeping can be just for fun or you could keep fish seriously and breed them. You may create hybrids and may make new species of fish. You will also see you fishs breeding behavior if you get them to breed successfully.
I hope you have learned something during my speech about maintaining a tropical fish tank.
Cycling is a very important process in starting up a tank because this starts you good bacterial system. It also very important to do this process because this also starts you chemical process also. You should leave the tank to cycle with a fish, I use goldfish, to start the process. You could also start the process by using water from a tank already populated by fish.
Next is the equipment for the fish tank. You will need a filter, a heater, a thermometer, and a light; an air pump and power heads are optional. The heater is not needed if you keep pond fish like gold fish or koi. The average temperature for a tropical fish is about 76 degrees to 84 degrees. You filter is needed to clean you water and cause surface movement to get oxygen throughout the tank. The light is also very important. If you leave you light on to long or if you have a tank it direct sunlight you tank could develop algae in a very short period of time. The light also determines which fish comes out to feed. For instance catfish, many are nocturnal and while feeding may come out if they are not shy, but other words after feeding the other fish put the food in for the fish and turn off the lights.
Water changes are very important. If you do not have a filter on you tank and have a power head or biological filter powered by an air pump you will have to do water changes more often. The water changes remove the wastes and chemicals excreted by the fish. I have a 60-gallon with only a power head and I do water changes every day. But caution, dont remove too much water from the tank. This may change the water chemistry of the tank and may cause you fish to stress. I would use a solution like AmQuel. This nitrifies some chemicals in the water and example would be ammonia.
Next part of maintaining this fish tank is putting in the decorations. You might want to keep this tank empty if you want to, but if you want to make the tank look good this is what you would do. First you would add gravel. Next you would put your decorations that would fit the fishs environment that you plan to keep. Plants may also be added, live or plastic. Make sure you buy aquatic plants because regular plants would rot in you tank and my add disease and make you water more acidic.
Next comes the most rewarding part of the fish keeping. Buying your fish. If this is your first fish tank you may want to start off with a cheap fish. But if this is another tank that you are setting up and you are more experienced you may want to try fish that are a little more expensive. The fish that are more expensive either mean that they are rare or are very hard to rise. There are also some illegal fish. Some examples of illegal fish are piranha, snakeheads, or freshwater stingrays. If you happen to come by any of these fish while you are shopping for you fish, they may cost A little more than you average fish. You may also want to know your fishs information before you buy it. Tank mates that will fight and tank mates that eat each other are not what you want to spend your money on. Thinking about size is also another factor with all fish. Also, do not introduce to many tank mates at once, because this may cause you chemistry to spike and the tank mates may kill each other to obtain a specific territory.
What your fish eats is another thing you have to worry about. Fish normally take shrimp, beef, flakes, pellets, brine shrimp, bloodworms, and live food like goldfish and guppies. Try to avoid flakes because it is a messy food for you tank and may cloud up your water. Figure out what you fish is eating at the store before you buy it and see if they are eating what you are feeding or you could attempt to change their diet. The fish may starve to death because of its tank mates getting all the food before it can get any.
Fish keeping can be just for fun or you could keep fish seriously and breed them. You may create hybrids and may make new species of fish. You will also see you fishs breeding behavior if you get them to breed successfully.
I hope you have learned something during my speech about maintaining a tropical fish tank.
Not bad for your age group.
How much time to you have for the presentation?
Intro Paragraph, Instead of saying "I am doing my speech..., etc." you can start out with a little more direct approach to gain there attention. Something like "I am here today to tell you about about a great hobby, something I really enjoy, fishkeeping" See the difference?
Then the overveiw as you did but pump it up a little such as instead of "There are different species of freshwater fish" try something like "there are many different species of freshwater fish that can be kept in your fish tank, ranging from tiny, brilliantly colored tetras, on through larger predators that will eat anything else you put in the tank"
When you mention pH give them a couple of examples, pH 0.0 is acidic enough to dissolve steel while pH 14 is caustic enough to eat flesh from your bones.
Do the same when you mention cycling, use a simple poster board to show the cycle, ie., food>fish>waste(ammonia)>bacteria breaking it down to nitrites then nitrates> nitrates being removed by water changes and gravel vacs. Also explain how each level is less toxic to fish.
You easily have enough for a 5-10 minute speech even without props. By being a bit more in depth and doing demonstrations like how to use a gravel vac you could strecth it into an entire hour.
How much time to you have for the presentation?
Intro Paragraph, Instead of saying "I am doing my speech..., etc." you can start out with a little more direct approach to gain there attention. Something like "I am here today to tell you about about a great hobby, something I really enjoy, fishkeeping" See the difference?
Then the overveiw as you did but pump it up a little such as instead of "There are different species of freshwater fish" try something like "there are many different species of freshwater fish that can be kept in your fish tank, ranging from tiny, brilliantly colored tetras, on through larger predators that will eat anything else you put in the tank"
When you mention pH give them a couple of examples, pH 0.0 is acidic enough to dissolve steel while pH 14 is caustic enough to eat flesh from your bones.
Do the same when you mention cycling, use a simple poster board to show the cycle, ie., food>fish>waste(ammonia)>bacteria breaking it down to nitrites then nitrates> nitrates being removed by water changes and gravel vacs. Also explain how each level is less toxic to fish.
You easily have enough for a 5-10 minute speech even without props. By being a bit more in depth and doing demonstrations like how to use a gravel vac you could strecth it into an entire hour.
