Which+Brand+of+Fish+Food+Helps+Guppies+Reproduce+Faster?

Tessa Overly & Haley Wiley 7th Hour
 * Title: ** What Type of Fish Food Helps Guppies Reproduce Faster?


 * Purpose **: We wanted to see if the kind of fish food fed to a pregnant guppy affected the rate of reproduction. If you look at fish food containers they always say that their food is the best for your fish so we wanted to test which one is telling the truth. We are going to use the same kind of tropical fish flakes. We found out that they also like to eat baby shrimp and dried blood worms. (http://www.aboutfishonline.com/articles/guppies.html) So, in one tank we will feed the fish just the tropical flakes. In another will will feed them the flakes and some baby shrimp. In the last tank we will feed them the flakes and the dried blood worms. When guppies reproduce the gestational period is 21-30 days. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guppy) The temperature that they are in can affect the rate of reproduction so the water has to be kept at the same temperature for accurate results.We will try to keep the temperature around 75 degrees fahrenheit. (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/livebearer/notso.php) The color of the male guppy also affects the rate or reproduction so a more colorful male guppy will increase reproduction rate. So, we will try to get male guppies of about the same color range. On a On a female guppy there is a small spot behind the front fin called the gravid spot. This is where the eggs are kept. When she is getting close to giving birth the spot will turn the oppisite color than the rest of her. (http://awesomeguppies.wordpress.com/breeding/) Guppies are livebearers so before the fry are born the male fish needs to be taken out of the tank and put in a separate tank so that he can not eat the fry. (http://gup-py.blogspot.com/2010/07/reproduction.html) Also to protect the fry the fish tank the fry are kept in needs to have many plants for them to hide in. (http://www.aquaxen.org/fishes/how-to-breed-guppies.php) For our experiment we plan to test three different brands of food and see. which fish reproduces the fastest. We will test each twice so that we know that the first time wasn't just luck. Overall I think that this will be a good experiment fun to test.

1 Set up tanks- label the tanks A,B,C,D,E (put in rocks, water, plants,) 2 let the water go to room temperature. 3 place the fish while in there bag of water in there separate tanks, wait till water in the bag is about the same temp as tank water. 4 when the temperature is the same let the fish out of the bag and into the tank. 5 Feed the fish give fish amount of food they can eat in a few minuets after several days keep the amount the same by measuring it (Feed the fish in tank A just flakes, in tank B feed them flakes and blood worms, and tank C flaked and baby shrimp, And in D and E feed flakes.) 6 (Repeat step 5 every day) 7 Clean out tank Once a week( empty out less than half the water, and replace with water about the same temperature) 8 when the female guppy becomes pregnate remove the male guppies and put them in tank D 9 When the females are about to give birth place the breeding boxes in tanks A,B,C and place the females in the boxes. 10 After fry are born record day of birth and count how many 11 Take female out of breeding box and put back in same tank 12 Leave fry in box till there big enough to fit with the other fish and place them in tank E. 13 Put the male fish back in with the female and start over with same process and type of food 14 repeat several times for accuracy.
 * Hypothesis: ** If we feed the guppies with dried blood worms and fish flakes then the fish in that tank will reproduce faster than using baby shrimp and fish flakes or just fish flakes.
 * Procedure: **

Make data table 5 fish tanks Fish tank cleaner 3 breeding boxes 3 female guppies that are around the same color 3 male guppies that are around the same color 1 container of dried blood worms 1 container of dried baby shrimp tropical fish flakes a small fish net to move the male guppies water small stones for the bottom of tank fake plants for the fry to hide in thermometer
 * Materials list: **

The amount of food that the guppies eat is a limitation because they don't all eat the same amount of food. The fish color and size differ for each fish. The guppies reproduction cycle will be different for every fish. The biggest limitation we faced was that guppies are living animals so they can die. Because of this limitation we now have only on male fish left, so we couldn't complete the experiment. Weekends, snow days, and days off are limitations because we cant feed the guppies on these days. Temperature was a limitation because each tanks temperature will differ from each other.
 * Limitations: **

In our test we had many limitations and problems trying to conduct this experiment. Our biggest problem was that within the first two weeks 5 of our 6 guppies died. We believe they died because of over feeding since they will eat even when they aren't hungry. The other reason we think they could have dies was that they may have been sick when we bought them from the store and the spread it to the other fish. We started our experiment with two guppies in each tank one male and one female. We fed the guppies in tank A just flakes, in tank B flakes and blood worms, and in tank C flakes and baby shrimp. Because of our fish died we have had to do a research experiment seeing what other people have done and what would have happened to our fish if they did not die. Our hypothesis was that the guppies fed dried blood worms and fish flakes would reproduce faster than the fish fed dried baby shrimp or the fish fed just flakes. Since we did not get to test this we looked at another test that was simaler to ours. They did not use the exact same foods as us but some of them were very simaler. We used tropical fish flakes, dried baby shrimp, and dried blood worms. Some of the things that they used were brine shrimp, white worms, and dry food with flake food. Their most effective food was the brine shrimp. This leads us to believe that if our fish had survived the guppies fed dried baby shrimp would have reproduced the fastest and had the most fry.
 * Data: **
 * Test 1 ||  || Tank A || Tank B || Tank C ||   ||
 * || Day of Birth ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || Number of Days in Tank ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || Number of Fry ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Test 2 ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || Day of Birth ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || Number of Days in Tank ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || Number of Fry ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Test 3 ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || Day of Birth ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || Number of Days in Tank ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || Number of Fry ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Analysis: **
 * Analysis: **
 * Analysis: **

In conclusion we were not able to solve our hypothesis because of the limitation that our guppies are living organisms and can die. Now we only have one male guppy left and before the guppies died they never reproduced. They didn't reproduce before they died since we only had them for a short time period. Since the guppies died we did a research experiment and found out that our hypothesis wound have most likely been wrong and that dried baby shrimp would have given us the best results.
 * Conclusion: **

http://allaquatica.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=feed&action=display&thread=228 http://www.ibcbettas.org/2012/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IBC%20TA%20Articles/F-10.pdf "Guppies." //- Feeding, Breeding, and Care of Guppy Fry //. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. "Guppy." //Wikipedia //. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. "Breeding Guppy (selective Guppy Breeding)." //Breeding Guppy (selective Guppy Breeding) //. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. "Awesome Guppies!!!" //Awesome Guppies //. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. "Guppy Fish." //: Guppy Reproduction //. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. "How to Breed Guppies." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Aquaxen RSS //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">"Table of Contents." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Science Alive! //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;"> N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. I think it would be better if you specified what type of food you are going to use first, then got everything else ready for the experiment. This includes saying what type of food you will use. -Madison Davis (P.S. I also fixed up some spelling errors for you guys! )> What temperature are you keeping the guppies at? (Jessica Tilton)> The color of the guppies also effects the rate of reproduction. Colorful male guppies have a better chance of producing faster. (Katy T)>
 * Citations: **