Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

1. Take temperature of fish in tank.
2. Record respiration rate by amount of times gills move
3. Take another bowl and stabalize the temperature in that bowl to 4 degrees cooler than tank with fish.
4. Net fish in tank and place them in the bowl that is 4 degrees colder.
5. Record respiration rate immediately.
6. Repeat until water is 16 degrees colder.

Hi Swordfish,

Here are a few things to think about when designing your experiment:

Do you have approval to use vertebrates in your experiment?
What is your hypothesis?
How many fish will you use per group/temperature? How will you keep track of individual fish? How will you change and maintain the temperature of the water? How long will you allow the fish to adapt to the new temperature - do you think immediately recording the respiration rate is appropriate?

Hope this helps.

Mary