1. How to Design a Research Project with your Angelfish A presentation for the April 18, 2010 meeting of The Angelfish Society By Tamar Stephens

2. Each of us can be an amateur scientist. Many important discoveries are made by amateur scientists. All you need are good powers of observation and the ability to collect good data.

3. There are many reasons to do a research project. How many times have you asked for advice about food, temperature, stocking rates, water changes? If people answer your questions, how do you know that their answer is really correct? Unfortunately, many people are well intentioned, and will tell you what works for them. But how do you know that their way is really the best way?

4. So what do you want to find out? Do you want to find the best diet to improve health and vigor of your angelfish? Do you want find the best food for fry growth? Do you want to figure out the optimum aquarium size and stocking rate for raising fry? Do you want to determine what factors lead to better expression of a color variety such as half-black? Do you want to determine what effect temperature has on growth of fry?

5. Now what? Do you remember the scientific method? 1.Select a question you want to answer 2.Form a hypothesis 3.Design an experiment to test the hypothesis 4.Conduct the experiment 5.Collect data 6.Interpret the data 7.Reach a conclusion

6. What tools do you need? Your mind Your powers of observation A notebook to record information A camera is useful to make a record of your experimental apparatus and angelfish used in your study Angelfish, aquariums, and other equipment or supplies specific to your experiment

7. Let’s do an example

8. Step 1: Select a question you want to answer. How does temperature affect growth of fry?

9. It always helps to look for existing information Best information comes from professional literature. Look for a description of how the information was determined. Was it an experiment? Is the experimental design described? Is the data given? Norton articles are a good example. Forum information, while generally well-meaning, is largely unverifiable. It is a mixture of reliable information, semi-reliable information, opinions, misunderstandings, and sometimes complete misinformation.

10. Step 2: Form a Hypothesis “I predict that higher temperatures will increase the growth rate of fry, and colder temperatures will slow the growth rate.”

11. Step 3: Design an Experiment to Test the Hypothesis Use a control (baseline conditions) – If you normally keep your fry tanks at 80º, then this is your control temperature. Your test tanks will have warmer and colder temperatures. You decide to use 10-gallon aquariums, and operate them at 80º (control), 78º, 76º 82º, and 84º. You will randomly net 30 fry for each test tank, 10 days free- swimming, all from the same spawn. 76º78º80º82º84º There is no particularly right or wrong way to do this. You might decide to use only three test aquariums, at 76º. 80º, and 84º.

12. Experimental Design - continued Each tank will be set up and operated exactly the same except for the temperature. –Each tank will have a cycled sponge filter that has been operating for a minimum of 4 weeks in the same tank with adult angels. –Each tank will have the same kind of light fixture with brand new, identical bulbs. –Each tank will be fed the same amount of bbs twice each day. –Each tank will receive a 40% water change after each feeding.

13. Step 4: Set up and run the experiment This step is where you actually set up the control and test aquariums, get the temperatures stabilized, and stock them with fry. And you record data at regular intervals.

14. Step 5: Collect Data Now you have to measure the growth of the fish in each tank. This will be tricky, so let’s suppose you decide to do this once a week. There are various ways to do this, and you will have to decide on a way that works for you. One way would be to mount a ruler on the side of the tank, photograph the tank of fry, then get size measurements from the photo by comparing them to the ruler. Another way is to use a scale with good resolution, put a container of water on the scale, get the weight, then net all the fry in a tank and add them to the container on the balance. The increase in weight, divided by the number of fry, will give you an average weight of each fry. Perhaps you can think of other ways to measure their growth.

15. Collecting data (continued) Okay, you’ve collected data for several weeks. Maybe you measured the length of each fry. Now for each week, get an average length. Record the data each week. This table gives an example of what your data might look like. Average length (cm): Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6 76º0.40.50.70.91.21.5 78º0.450.60.81.01.31.7 80º0.60.81.11.41.72.1 82º0.70.91.21.61.82.3 84º0.71.01.21.71.92.2

16. Step 6: Interpret Data You might want to start by graphing the data. You can also use statistical tests to determine whether the differences are significant, or just the result of random variation. Temperature Length (cm)

17. Step 7: Reach a Conclusion You conclude that temperatures below 80 degrees make a big difference in the rate of fry growth. Temperatures above 80 degrees make a small difference in fry growth. (Please note: The data in this example was completely fabricated. In other words, I made it up. I have never done this experiment, so I have no idea if the fictional results are any indication of what real results would be.)

18. Now what do you do with your information? You can use the information to improve how you care for your angelfish or run your hatchery. You can repeat it if you want to verify your results. You can write up a nice little article for FinTAStic and share your findings with everyone else. You can do another experiment to test something else you want to learn about.

19. The point of all this… The point of this presentation is to encourage you to try your own experimentation to discover the answers to your questions. And to be confident that you have valid answers. This will allow you to improve the health of your angelfish, improve your husbandry practices, and learn new things about your angelfish.

20. The End I hope you enjoyed this presentation. Now back to the chat room for discussion.