Fish Science Fair Projects

Isabella
Grade 2

Hypothesis
A goldfish can learn to do tricks and can learn to do the 2nd trick faster than it learned to do the 1st trick.

Fish

1 Ryukin Calico Goldfish

Fish Tank

1.7 gallons

Motor and a filter

Gravel

Nutrafin goldfish food

Nutrafin water conditioner – takes the chlorine and dangerous heavy metals out of the water.

Materials to Teach Tricks

R2 Fish School Kit which includes a manual, DVD, feeding wand, and trick items such as a hoop on stand, net, tunnel and more.

Procedure - see step by step details
The fish tank was set up with only the gravel on the bottom and the tank filter so that the fish would not be distracted when I trained it.

I trained it every day for 10 minutes a day with the use of a wand that holds the fish food in it. The dark green wand is inserted into the water with an orange feeding section showing a little bit so that the fish can see it. When the fish touches the orange section I opened it up and the fish gets its food as a reward.

Observation/Data/Results
The goldfish was curious about the orange tip but was very cautious about approaching it. She would circle around it, then hide in a corner, then gradually come close to it again. She was not afraid to go through the hoop until my grandmother shook the wand to get her attention. Then she stayed away from going through the hoop for 5 days.

Conclusions
I proved my 1st hypothesis that you can train a goldfish to do tricks using behavior modification and shaping because Ellie did learn to eat food from the feeding wand.

The goldfish did not learn to do the 2nd trick faster. She did learn it as fast as she did the first trick.

I learned that you cannot go after a fish to give it food. You have to wait for the fish to come to you. If you rattle it, the fish will be scared and will not do another trick for days. Next time I would not let anyone teach the goldfish tricks except me or tell them how to train the fish beforehand.