For an inquiry a classmate, Nicole, and I wanted to do a biology based animal inquiry. We wanted something we could physically experiment ourselves without having to research anything, and because of course we were limited on animals we could experiment on and have in the school, we ended up with goldfish. We purchased 3 goldfish and kept 2 of the goldfish together (BoJack, BillyBob) in one tank and had 1 goldfish on its own (Bubbles) in another tank. The experiment was to see which tank of goldfish would be healthier. Will the goldfish with a companion seem healthier? Or will the goldfish on its own, not getting bullied for food, and having more space be healthier? To limit a variable in the experiment we had a small scale to weigh the amounts of food we put in the fish tanks to make sure the amounts were equal to the number of fish. We continued this experiment, weighing, and observing the fish for about a month. The following is the final write up about the fish and our conclusions drawn from this inquiry…
- Started weighing one week after purchase
- Bubbles is the fish in a tank on his own
- Bojack and BillyBob are the two fish together in a tank
From this I think it’s healthiest for the fish to live on its own. It doesn’t seem to mind being alone, it’s just as active as the other two. Being the medium weight, it is most likely to be the healthiest.
Tank 1 has the fish with the medium weight
Tank 2 (with two fish) has the heaviest out of three fish and the lightest
When there’s one fish in a tank you can monitor exactly how much food it’s getting.
In a tank with two fish (even when you double the amount of what would be given to 1 fish) you can’t monitor how much each is getting and if it will be divided up equally.
In this case one fish (BoJack) is eating more than the other (BillyBob), who weighs the least.
Bojack is eating more than of half of what they are being fed because he also weighs more than the fish on its own (Bubbles).
