How will a green terror fish react to different colored environments?
Each Group Member & Our Role
Hi! My name is Marcus and my role is the water analyst! <3
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Hi! My name is Enrique and my role is the materials engineer.
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Hello!! My name is Natalie and my role is the publicist
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Hi, my Name is Eratzi, and
my role in the group is Animal Behaviorist. |
Hi!! My name is Naomi and my role is graphic designer.
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Project Introduction
Last year our classroom was turned into one of the few rising tide conservation labs. In our biology class we study Icthylogy which is the study of fish. Our class were out into six different groups. Each of these groups are assigned to one tank. The groups are responsible for taking care of feeding their fish, changing the water, etc. Each group is required to create a research question and are required to test their research question.
Our initial research question included changing the aesthetic of our tank while breeding angelfish. It wasn’t realistic to breed them in the time given to collect data, but we knew we wanted to change our tank design. So we created an experiment that was more relevant to what we had in mind. Green Terror species are known for changing the color of their bodies based on their background, our research question tested how green terror cichlid fish react to dark or bright substrate and environments.
Our initial research question included changing the aesthetic of our tank while breeding angelfish. It wasn’t realistic to breed them in the time given to collect data, but we knew we wanted to change our tank design. So we created an experiment that was more relevant to what we had in mind. Green Terror species are known for changing the color of their bodies based on their background, our research question tested how green terror cichlid fish react to dark or bright substrate and environments.
Research Question
How will a green terror fish react to different colored environments?
Literature Review
In our Literature Review we read about color change in Andinoacara rivulatus. We found out that the color change of the fish is dependent on their enviorment. This influenced our project design because we knew what to test. We decided to change the enviroments of the fish to see the color change. We got two different backrounds a black backround and a pink backround.
our sources:
HypothesisGreen Terror will become darker with a dark background.
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NullThere will be no change in color with a change in environment.
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AlternativeGreen Terror will become lighter with a dark background.
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Methods for Experiment
1. Gather materials for experiment, which include; test tank, black and pink substrate, & black and pink background sheets.
2. Prepare test tank; add either color substrate and add the matching background sheets.
3. Add water from the initial tank to the test tank by syphoning.
4. Switch fish from it's initial tank into the test tank.
5. Put background sheets that correspond wuth the substrate on the outside of the tank.
6.Have camera and timer ready
7. Take pictures every 5 min
8. Collect data
Vocab:
Substrate- A substance that underlines something, in this case
2. Prepare test tank; add either color substrate and add the matching background sheets.
3. Add water from the initial tank to the test tank by syphoning.
4. Switch fish from it's initial tank into the test tank.
5. Put background sheets that correspond wuth the substrate on the outside of the tank.
6.Have camera and timer ready
7. Take pictures every 5 min
8. Collect data
Vocab:
Substrate- A substance that underlines something, in this case
Independent variableDefinition: This is the animal or object that you want to change in the expiriment.
Variable in our expiriment: The independant variables in our expiriment are the substrate and the color surrounding the tank |
Dependent variableDefinition: This is the animal or object that you are watching react to the independant.
Variable in our expiriment: The depedant variables in our expiriment are the fish, we can see them change color and see their health by checking the nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia levels. |
Controled Variable
Definition: This is the animal or object that remains unchanged or held constant.
Variable in our expiriment: The controled variables in our expiriment are how often the fish get fed and how often they get water changes. (We don't want data that might be influenced by a change in the either of those variables) |
Results
Here are some pictures of the fish in a normal color environment. The fishes color is not effected by anything in these pictures.
Discussion
The data that we have collected over the past few weeks has came to support our initial hypothesis because the green terror fish became darker when we changed the environment to a darker background. In our graph it shows that the darkness of the fish increases due to the darker background. The pictures that we took may not be that accurate due to the lighting and the angles the phone were at. The fish colors shift due to the way lights reflect it and the angle that you look at it. We don’t know if the color was affected by stress because we had no way to measure the stress in fish when we would change their environment. We were able to control water quality and pH levels because we had the materials to measure water quality and pH levels. When we were changing their environments we did not see a change of water quality and pH levels.
Next Steps
we will have this once our experiment is over