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Initial results of the 'closet fish' project


MamaJAM wrote: Well - we've had the 'closet fish' in our hall closet for 20 days now. They are definately a little paler than they were going in. BUT -- we started with 6 fish...and, as of this morning, there are only 2 left! sad.gif The 'bedroom fish' (another group of 6) are all alive and well.....and still as bright orange as ever.

So - while it looks like we _might_ be proving that goldfish kept in constant darkness turn white. We _definately_ are proving that fish don't seem to live very long in our halol closet!

We've been careful to clean the water frequently....DD is feeding them twice per day - so they are definately getting enough food


crud....gotta run - my girls are getting out of school in 20 mins (it's a 20 min drive!)

I'll finish this post later

C&K*s Mommie replied: what is the average life span on goldfish anyways??

sad, that some have died~ but at least the science project turned out in the way it was expected!! And PETA never came a knockin' dry.gif

is it a snow day for your girls? rolling_smile.gif ~~ I bet they were excited to get out of school. redbounce.gif woohoo.gif

Kaitlin'smom replied: humm interesting when is the project done?

MamaJAM replied: darn - gone too long...can't edit my post...gotta finish it here -


Let's see...

I have no idea what the life span of a goldfish is...over the years I've had some tht live 48 housr and I've also had one that lived 4.5 years. I admit - we bought the cheep 'feeder' fish for this project - so who knows how long they live (naturally).

Where was I -
Oh - they are being cleaned and fed plenty. DD thinks they might not be finding the food in the dark -- but that doesn't make much sense to me.
The science fair isn't until Mar 22 -- so, even if we lose the last 2 'closet-fish' -- we should have plenty of time to get new fish and try again. I just wish I knew what was killing them -- too much dark? Is that possible....but every bit of light they are exposed to skews the experiment. The closet isn't 'air-tight' or anything....so they should be getting air (at least as much as fish need!).

**Crossing fingers that things improve** (especially for the poor fish!)


Oh - and - the weather people are predicting sleet around here later today. The schools are all closing...the district that my girls' school is in closed at 10:30....made it just in time for pick-up! There is NOTHING happening out right now though - and nothing on the radar...I think they could have waited until closer to lunch-time to dismiss the kids. I'm not sure their school day was long enough to 'count' now. dry.gif

coasterqueen replied: Maybe just a fish that had a problem when you got it? If it had some infection it might be making the others sick? dunno.gif

I know we bought several 'rounds' of goldfish for Kylie and they all died on us and we couldn't ever figure out why. rolleyes.gif

Cool experiment. thumb.gif

MamaJAM replied:
This was my thought too.....DD had said maybe we should move one or two of the 'bedroom-fish' into the closet now in hopes of having more time to change color. But - I'm worried about adding any new fish to that bowl unless everyone is dead -- in case it is an illness. We bought all of the fish at the same time -- but the other half of the fish seem fine -- I'm afraid to make them sick.

Well - even this is part of the 'scientific process'. blush.gif Poor fishies! sleep.gif

Hillbilly Housewife replied: You can overfeed fish... they're like dogs. Leave out 3 days worth of food, and they'll eat it all anyways in one day. rolleyes.gif

Is the water cool? They prefer cooler water...it holds more oxygen.

Insanemomof3 replied: Wow, odd that some died, but it would be so cool to see the changes. Interesting project!

ediep replied: what grade is your child in? I used to teach 7th grade science and we did a science fair. I would say that its fine that the eperiment took a different turn, the result being that the fish didn't live as long insted of getting pale. Your daughter should just include that in her results and conclusion.

As long at all other conditions are the same....type of food, water temp, air temp, time and amount of food

good luck

cool project

luvmykids replied: I'll have to remember this one! Sounds cool.

Kentuckychick replied: Hmm... I'm not sure if this necessarily has anything to do with it or not, but I guess anything is a possibility?

Anyway, we did a study in my college biology class last semester (yes evil making a college student take biology in her fifth year isn't it?! lol) where we tested the respiration rates of fish and one of the things the study suggested to show a difference was to place them in the dark as this seemed to rapidly increase their respiration rates. They aren't sure whether this is because the fish are afraid of the dark (hehe) or what, but in every study we did we had one fish in and one fish out of the dark and in every study the fish in the dark had a much higher respiration rate. So perhaps the fish are producing too much CO2 in the water? or something along those lines? Any biologists out there???

Anyway... could be possible? Are the fish that are dying different sizes or the same?

Well anyway, that's a possible theory... Good luck!
~Rachel

MamaJAM replied:
She's in 8th grade. The school does the science fair for all 6-8th graders....so this is her thrid year. Though there is a new science teacher this year -- which is working out well.

We actually are friends with the science teacher and DH and I were discussing what's been going on with the fish with her last week. She agrees that everything is part of the process and - even if we don't have pale fish - we'll be able to make some type of conclusion (hmm - maybe we have a toxic-closet sleep.gif ). She's actually really excited about this project - as she's never heard of it before.



Kentuckychick -- interesting about the respiration experiment. I wonder if that might have something to do with what's going on. Maybe we should be cleaning/changing the water more often. I'll have to talk to DD about that tonight. Thanks!


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