February Monthly Update Aaron and Claire Progress made over the last month: This month was a slow month in regards to new behaviors in the tank, but there were some interesting things that happened. One of these things was early in the month in the afternoon we came into the room to check the tank and the goby was out of the tank laying on the ground! We immediately got him back in the tank and stayed with him until he was doing better, but this caused some concern for us. We continued throughout the month to check in on the goby and the tank at different times to make sure the goby was staying in the tank. Our first thought was that if the snapping shrimp and the goby were not getting along in their burrow, the goby might have been trying to escape it. We then thought that maybe the introduction of two new damsel fish may have caused the tank to feel a little crowded and that the damselfish ganged up on the goby. We do not know for sure what caused the goby to jump, but we will continuously make sure that he is safe during the next few weeks. The sad occurrence of this month was the loss of one of the new damsel fish. We went to check for him and he was no where to be found. This made us think that maybe the damselfish were fighting over territory and killed one because of it. We also rearranged the layout of the tank by taking out some of the corals the sexy shrimp like to hang out on. We also moved some of the live rock around and changed the format of the tank. We are hoping to see some changes in the territory layouts that certain organisms had built, and monitor how they react. Tank conditions: The tank conditions have been pretty consistent throughout the month. There were about 3 days in the middle of the month where the salinity was extremely low at 1.016-1.018. This was easily fixed by adding salt water to the tank. Towards the beginning of the month, someone rearranged a lot of the corals and rocks in the tank, which made it harder to find our animals and conduct our observations. This rearranging made organisms such as the sexy shrimp more exposed because the corals were spread out which left the shrimp to be more exposed to the open water. Other than that, the conditions of the water and the tank in general stayed consistent this month.
New research:
Behavioral Ecology (2007) 18 (1):53-61.doi: 10.1093/beheco/arl055First published online: September 29, 2006
This website was a source that we used to learn about why the goby may have jumped out of the tank and why the damsel fish was killed. The source talks about how when marine animals move from a habitat that they are used to, to somewhere new they begin to act differently in their new surroundings. This may be why the damsel and the goby acted differently, they were introduced to a new habitat and then new organisms were added to the tank.
Questions:
1. Why did the goby jump out of the tank?
2. Why do the urchins like to “decorate” themselves?
3. How would the goby react if one of the damselfish tried to harm the snapping shrimp?
4. What type of corals or rock do the peppermint shrimp prefer?
5. Since we have finally experienced the organisms working together, what do they specifically provide for each other?
6. What caused the damsel fishes death?
7. Will the new layout of the tank change the territories of the organisms inhabiting it?
Future plans: Since the goby and the snapping shrimp have a very strong mutual relationship, next month, I think we should pay more attention to how they react to the three damsel fish from the tank. We have only seen the snapping shrimp and the goby under the same rock in the right top corner of the tank. It could be interesting to see how they would react if we moved the rock and rearranged the set up of the tank. Also something we could focus on is mapping out the new arrangement of the tank. We got rid of some of the corals and moved some of the live rock around to see the reaction by the organisms, and a week later the goby jumped out of the tank and the next week a damsel died. We should see how this new arrangement is causing the territories of the tank to change.
Aaron and Claire
Progress made over the last month:
This month was a slow month in regards to new behaviors in the tank, but there were some interesting things that happened. One of these things was early in the month in the afternoon we came into the room to check the tank and the goby was out of the tank laying on the ground! We immediately got him back in the tank and stayed with him until he was doing better, but this caused some concern for us. We continued throughout the month to check in on the goby and the tank at different times to make sure the goby was staying in the tank. Our first thought was that if the snapping shrimp and the goby were not getting along in their burrow, the goby might have been trying to escape it. We then thought that maybe the introduction of two new damsel fish may have caused the tank to feel a little crowded and that the damselfish ganged up on the goby. We do not know for sure what caused the goby to jump, but we will continuously make sure that he is safe during the next few weeks. The sad occurrence of this month was the loss of one of the new damsel fish. We went to check for him and he was no where to be found. This made us think that maybe the damselfish were fighting over territory and killed one because of it. We also rearranged the layout of the tank by taking out some of the corals the sexy shrimp like to hang out on. We also moved some of the live rock around and changed the format of the tank. We are hoping to see some changes in the territory layouts that certain organisms had built, and monitor how they react.
Tank conditions:
The tank conditions have been pretty consistent throughout the month. There were about 3 days in the middle of the month where the salinity was extremely low at 1.016-1.018. This was easily fixed by adding salt water to the tank. Towards the beginning of the month, someone rearranged a lot of the corals and rocks in the tank, which made it harder to find our animals and conduct our observations. This rearranging made organisms such as the sexy shrimp more exposed because the corals were spread out which left the shrimp to be more exposed to the open water. Other than that, the conditions of the water and the tank in general stayed consistent this month.
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New research:This website was a source that we used to learn about why the goby may have jumped out of the tank and why the damsel fish was killed. The source talks about how when marine animals move from a habitat that they are used to, to somewhere new they begin to act differently in their new surroundings. This may be why the damsel and the goby acted differently, they were introduced to a new habitat and then new organisms were added to the tank.
-
- Questions:
- 1. Why did the goby jump out of the tank?
- 2. Why do the urchins like to “decorate” themselves?
- 3. How would the goby react if one of the damselfish tried to harm the snapping shrimp?
- 4. What type of corals or rock do the peppermint shrimp prefer?
- 5. Since we have finally experienced the organisms working together, what do they specifically provide for each other?
- 6. What caused the damsel fishes death?
- 7. Will the new layout of the tank change the territories of the organisms inhabiting it?
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-
Future plans:Since the goby and the snapping shrimp have a very strong mutual relationship, next month, I think we should pay more attention to how they react to the three damsel fish from the tank. We have only seen the snapping shrimp and the goby under the same rock in the right top corner of the tank. It could be interesting to see how they would react if we moved the rock and rearranged the set up of the tank. Also something we could focus on is mapping out the new arrangement of the tank. We got rid of some of the corals and moved some of the live rock around to see the reaction by the organisms, and a week later the goby jumped out of the tank and the next week a damsel died. We should see how this new arrangement is causing the territories of the tank to change.