Progress made over the last month: In the past month we have focused on observing our organisms, tank conditions, and relationships in our tank. We learned early on that the snapping shrimp rarely come out of their burrows/caves unless we hand feed them right in front of them. This worked the best with New Life Spectrum Fish Formula, a small pellet fish food. We got all of our organisms early in the month and were very excited. All of the organisms were staying amongst themselves and not bothering each other, even got a conch in the middle of the month. It is typically natural for gobies to hide for about the first week when they are introduced to a new environment. We did not worry about them too much, but after the first week we still had not seen them. We have not seen them in three and a half weeks, so we got to researching what could have happened. Well we have a small damsel fish in the tank and it turns out the damsel fish are very territorial and may have led to killing the gobies. We plan on getting more gobies to continue the experiment of symbiotic relationships, but we will either use a net or a blockade to keep the gobies away from the damsel fish.
Tank conditions: This November was the first time we actually got to measure the water levels on our own, and with all of the organisms in the tank. Mostly every day of the week, except a few Fridays, we have switched back and forth with who measures the water levels and makes observations about the contents inside of the tank. The water levels have stayed pretty consistent throughout the month. The three main water conditions that we measure are pH, salinity, and temperature throughout the tank. The first couple of weeks of the month, we added all of the organisms that we had ordered online. These organisms did not affect the water levels in any way and we were able to keep a consistent record of the water measurements. We have been using the lifeguard, a refractometer, and a hydrometer to track these conditions. If anything changes or seems off, we need to figure out what changes to make for the tank to stabilize the levels.
This has been the most important form of new research that we have used in our experiments in the invert tank. When we had not seen the gobies in a while we thought that something bad had happened to them so we needed to research what might have happened. We saw the gobies after their first week, then one disappeared for a while, then the other disappeared, and we haven’t seen either of them since.
Questions: 1. Why are the snapping shrimp hiding all the time? 2. Should we make more caves and hiding places so the snapping shrimp can move from place to place? 3. What should we do about the goby and damsel-fishes violent relationship? 4. If we were to order more gobies and replace the damsel fish, what fish would not try to harm a goby? 5. How can we notice when the organisms are working together? 6. Why do the urchins always have snails and such attached to them?
Future plans: Since the goby has been missing for a while now, and everything else in the tank has been going smoothly, we have decided to focus on the gobies for this next month. This month’s research will mainly focus on how different kinds of fish react to being in the same tank with a goby. We need to keep an eye on the snapping shrimp because we only see them every once in a while. Since the organisms have been settled in, we can start playing around with the organisms and rearranging different parts of the tank to see how they react. There are more future plans that have been stated in previous sections relating to the topics information.
In the past month we have focused on observing our organisms, tank conditions, and relationships in our tank. We learned early on that the snapping shrimp rarely come out of their burrows/caves unless we hand feed them right in front of them. This worked the best with New Life Spectrum Fish Formula, a small pellet fish food. We got all of our organisms early in the month and were very excited. All of the organisms were staying amongst themselves and not bothering each other, even got a conch in the middle of the month. It is typically natural for gobies to hide for about the first week when they are introduced to a new environment. We did not worry about them too much, but after the first week we still had not seen them. We have not seen them in three and a half weeks, so we got to researching what could have happened. Well we have a small damsel fish in the tank and it turns out the damsel fish are very territorial and may have led to killing the gobies. We plan on getting more gobies to continue the experiment of symbiotic relationships, but we will either use a net or a blockade to keep the gobies away from the damsel fish.
Tank conditions:
This November was the first time we actually got to measure the water levels on our own, and with all of the organisms in the tank. Mostly every day of the week, except a few Fridays, we have switched back and forth with who measures the water levels and makes observations about the contents inside of the tank. The water levels have stayed pretty consistent throughout the month. The three main water conditions that we measure are pH, salinity, and temperature throughout the tank. The first couple of weeks of the month, we added all of the organisms that we had ordered online. These organisms did not affect the water levels in any way and we were able to keep a consistent record of the water measurements. We have been using the lifeguard, a refractometer, and a hydrometer to track these conditions. If anything changes or seems off, we need to figure out what changes to make for the tank to stabilize the levels.
New research:
"DamselCompFAQs." DamselCompFAQs. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2014. __http://www.wetwebmedia.com/damselcompfaqs.htm__
This has been the most important form of new research that we have used in our experiments in the invert tank. When we had not seen the gobies in a while we thought that something bad had happened to them so we needed to research what might have happened. We saw the gobies after their first week, then one disappeared for a while, then the other disappeared, and we haven’t seen either of them since.
Questions:
1. Why are the snapping shrimp hiding all the time?
2. Should we make more caves and hiding places so the snapping shrimp can move from place to place?
3. What should we do about the goby and damsel-fishes violent relationship?
4. If we were to order more gobies and replace the damsel fish, what fish would not try to harm a goby?
5. How can we notice when the organisms are working together?
6. Why do the urchins always have snails and such attached to them?
Future plans:
Since the goby has been missing for a while now, and everything else in the tank has been going smoothly, we have decided to focus on the gobies for this next month. This month’s research will mainly focus on how different kinds of fish react to being in the same tank with a goby. We need to keep an eye on the snapping shrimp because we only see them every once in a while. Since the organisms have been settled in, we can start playing around with the organisms and rearranging different parts of the tank to see how they react. There are more future plans that have been stated in previous sections relating to the topics information.