During the time the experiment was active, we set up this FAQ Page to try and help students with problems. Here is an archive of some of the questions:
Hello, I am the student who had to come back to the store to buy two more guppies because the other two jumped out and died. Well I am in that situation again with one of my guppies, particularly the male guppy. Today at 8:19p.m on 10/14/03 one of my guppies died. But this is not my problem, the problem is my snail (black ram's horn) ate the dead fish! So now I want to know will this affect my snail in any kind of way?
please answer back asap
Hi.
No eating dead fish will not affect the snail in anyway. In nature they are scavengers and feed on any organic matter they can find. Take the dead fish out so it does not pollute your bowl too quickly but the snail will be okay.
Make sure you put the fact that one fish died and the snail was eating on it in your report.
1. About how long do the fish live?
Guppies and Platies usually live on aveerage about a year or three.
2. How many times a day should I feed them?
This I'm not sure of, if your teacher wants this to be a closed ecosystem, then the fish should not be fed (ask your teacher for clarification on this). They "Should" be able to live off the plant matter and other organism in the ecosysytem if everything is "balanced". I'm sure this is not the case in most of the experiments, so a small TINY amount of food should be fed. everyday or every other day. I have been advising students to wet a toothpick with HBH Guppy Food (also good for Platies) and feed them whatever sticks to the toothpick at least once a every other day.
3. Do the guppies and the platies need different food?
No, See above.
4. Will the snail eat the fish or be harmful to the fish at all?
No snails are scavengers and feed on whatever organic matter they can find, (Plants, etc) They will only try and eat the fish if they are unhealthy or dead. They can't catch or hurt healthy fish.
5. About how much fish food should I get for this project?
A small can of the HBH Baby Bites food runs $2.79 and is more than enough to feed the fish.
6. How much will the fish food cost if I buy it from you?
See Above.
7. What is really the point of making an ecosystem?
To see how different elements of the project (fish, plants, snail, etc) interact with each other like in nature. Plants give off oxygen for the fish and feed the fish somewhat, fish respire carbon dioxide and produce waste for the plants, and the snail and the algae also interact in that cycle.
8. When do you know that you are done with the project?
It is a ongoing thing that can continue after the due date of the experiment. Guppies and platies make good low maintenance pets.
What you should be doing is observing your observations for the report on a regular basis. What are the fish doing (eating, trying to breed, picking on snail, etc). Do you se bubbles coming from the plant? Is the duckweed growing (producing more). Does it look different in bright sunlight or in the evening.
Ask your teacher for more insight on what you should be looking for as far as the report
Water can be come cloudy for several reasons, but mainly overfeeding and overcrowding. Give me more details about your set-up (what size container, how many and how big are the creatures-guppies, platy, snail, etc).
How can I make the water in my aquarium clear again if it is cloudy?
The “beneficial” or good bacteria growing in the experiment should keep the water from being cloudy, but “bad” bacteria will cause it to cloud. Mainly you may have to change part of the water (use tap water but put conditioner drops in to remove chlorine or let it stand out overnight). Also you need to correct WHY it became cloudy. If you have too many fish/too big of a fish in too small of a container you need to move the experiment to something bigger. If you are feeding them, feed them less.
Make sure you put the results/fact of the cloudy water in your report, that is Data that the teacher wants.
I had to transfer the whole project to another bottle because I cut the bottle and I wasn't suppose to. I wanted to know if since I had it in the bottle for week before I put it in the other one, do I have to wait another week to put the fish in? Cause thats about how long my teacher said it will take for bacteria to grow.
how long do you think it will take for bacteria to grow?
If I moved the rocks you gave me with the culture on it do you think that I should get some more, just in case I messed it up?
Hi,
Usually if you saved the rocks and all the stuff in the bottle and most of the water, you still should have a good bacteria culture going. The bacterial cling to the rock, gravel, plants, and almost anything else wet except the fish.
I would move everything over and try and reuse as much of the original water as U can and you should be okay.