Need School Project Ideas

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aaron7353

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 24, 2013
138
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16
Iowa
Hello all. I'm a senior in high school and have the AWESOME privilege to keep fish as a huge project for my AP Biology class. I will have from mid September to mid May (when i will present) to do this project, but I need to get it going as soon as possible to collect data and what not. I have a 29g to work with and I currently have ospots and banded sunfish that will likely be the stocklist unless there is other fish that would be better to do something with.

Here's the scoop. I want to study the effects of something on the tank. This could be dealing with the fish, plants, anything. I could be pretty cliche and test effects of ph or something bland like that, but that's not what interests me. I want to address a real issue that is affecting our watershed. Whether that be invasive fish, plants, or something to do with a species I could obtain and house in my 29g. I realize this is a very small scale to work with, but this could be the first step to obtaining state funding for a much larger scale project. Believe it or not, that isn't just ignorant optimism. I have the chance to make my dear hobby of fish keeping a source of study and important knowledge and possibly help me make the lifelong decision to go into biology as a career. Just two weeks from now, I will be going to a conference at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium with a biology teacher who is an ex fish and wildlife biologist from my school. At the conference will be all sorts of biologists, DNR people, and US Fish and Wildlife people. The teacher from my school knows many of these people personally. I can establish relationships with these people and establish the foundation for a large scale study and various projects.

MFK is a wonderful source of knowledge and information, so I'm asking all of you wonderful people for suggestions and advice and anything else beneficial you have to share with me on this dream. What can I do with this project? What can I do to enable this dream to become reality?

Thank you all so much in advance.
 
Why not go for a dwarf cichlid breeding program excuse to have some more fish :D , if you had a bigger tank you could do a snakehead project and how they effect waterways in U.S
Just a few ideas off top of my head good luck with your project whatever you choose wish I had cool projects like this when I was a student :D
 
Thanks Evz jardini. I think I'll stick with natives like sunfish or something manageable. Also, I think whatever I get should be legal, so that rules out a snakehead. I would agree that studying how snakeheads affect waterways would be very interesting and useful. Maybe someday. A teacher of mine suggested studying asian carp, but I don't believe anywhere real close to me has (yet) been affected. Also, I'd like to do something with a tank so I can always monitor and study it.
 
I would do something simple, Darters :) Does it have to be invasive etc.?

Sunfish are cool but a 29 is to small to study, I mean really study sunfish, should you have a 125 or something along those lines, you may see activity in there that you wouldn't see in a 29.

I will add in shiners, shiners do some neat things. I was watching mine fan each other and then shake their entire body suspended in the water, tilted to the side, looked awesome. The Darters are good to watch too, watch them color up and size each up each other to see who gets what hole, etc.
 
I think you have a problem: It is almost impossible to obtain aquatic invasive species for your project without get an approval from DNR and also your teacher that handle your projects. Also there's not lot of do experiments in a 29gal alone. Perhaps you can do a prey/predator relationship or at last how the predators selected their prey? Like how the perch prefer minnows over the sticklebacks?

There is a growing concerns about non-native three-spined sticklebacks in Great Lakes.
 
zebra mussels
 
All great suggestions. Maybe when I rescape my 125 I can use it as my tank for experimenting. What options would this open up for me? Also, replications of the experiment would help me ensure accuracy and establish patterns or relationships in what i choose. Any suggestions on how to achieve this without having to buy another 125 (out of the question unfortunately).
 
You know you can do experiment with marmokrebs to see if they can be harmful to the native crayfish populations.
 
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