Saturday, May 17, 2014
5/17/14
I went to the aquarium today instead of tomorrow so that I could meet with a staff member who would help me with the biostatistics portion of my Olive Rockfish project. I also spent most of the day bleaching my tanks and scraping off the dried hot glue.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Blog 19
"I, Felicia Stears, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
My mentors Andres Carillo and Nicole Nakata, along with the staff of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, were my best sources. They really helped me complete my independent component.
A lot of the time I spent working on my trial 1 and 2 of my Olive Rockfish project. During this period I finished my trial 1, and began my trial 2, also participating in the young scientists symposium where I presented on my trial 1 findings to the public. I found that the Olive Rockfish fed smelt grew the most, both in length and girth, and the ones fed a mix of squid and smelt came in second and the ones that were fed only squid grew the least.
My mentors Andres Carillo and Nicole Nakata, along with the staff of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, were my best sources. They really helped me complete my independent component.
A lot of the time I spent working on my trial 1 and 2 of my Olive Rockfish project. During this period I finished my trial 1, and began my trial 2, also participating in the young scientists symposium where I presented on my trial 1 findings to the public. I found that the Olive Rockfish fed smelt grew the most, both in length and girth, and the ones fed a mix of squid and smelt came in second and the ones that were fed only squid grew the least.
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| Baby Swell Shark from the mane exhibit hall |
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| Shore Crabs from one of the times I went down to the tide pools to collect them for the octopus. |
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| What we think might be a nudibranch with eggs, not 100% sure |
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| I found this little guy in one of the water tables, we knew it was a nudibranch, just didn't know what kind. So we researched it and found that it was a Flabellina trilineata. |
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| Leopard Sharks from the mane exhibit hall |
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| Two Spot Octopus from the Aquatic Nursery. The little white things you see are her eggs. |
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| This is Olive Rockfish #7 |
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| Brittle Stars from the mane exhibit hall |
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| California Spiny Lobster |
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| This is from the night of the Young Scientist Symposium, I was stationed in front of the Fishing Pier tank to do my presentation. |
Sunday, May 4, 2014
5/04/14
Today was an excellent day at the aquarium. ALL of my Olive Rockfish ate today, which totally made my day. Cody told me later that the other rockfish, the Splitnose and Flag juveniles, were to be fed three times a day due to the fact that their heads were growing faster than their bodies so they were being starved or something like that. So I made them a mix of Cyclopeez, Mysid shrimp and Krill..... they don't stop eating. Then, one of the other volunteers brought in a baby Swell Shark and it was so cute!!!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Exit Interview
(1) What is your essential question and answers? What is your best answer and why?
My EQ is what is the best way to raise oceanic fish in captivity? My best answer would be my third answer, which is an Aquarist must provide the correct diet for the needs of each fish throughout its stages of life. This is my best answer for many reasons. In my interviews with Nicole she was talking about diet a lot. She said that diet could really affect larval fish, especially in their development. She also explained to me the 'scale system'. This is pretty much the stages throughout a fishes life of what food they get. It goes in order from smallest to biggest food size: Rotifers, Artemis, Cyclopeez, Mysid Shrimp, Clam, fish, squid, etc.
(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
A huge part of this process was from a research project I'm doing at the Aquarium. I am working with nine Sebastes serranoides, Olive Rockfish, to see how macronutrients such as fat, protein, carbohydrates and calories affect their growth in both length and girth. I was originally going to see how it affected their behavior and activeness but due to technical difficulties with the lab video camera I was unable to continue this part. The way this project works, my fish are fed twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday) and data is collected every two weeks on Sunday. Each fish is fed either 1 gram smelt, squid or 0.5 grams squid and 0.5 grams squid. To collect data I remove the pipe and planet that is their habitat and replace it with a 8x6'' grid that is held to the bottom by a jar. I will then feed each fish its assigned food using a feeding stick, careful not to let any not eaten material float between barriers. After feeding I will drain the water until the fish are 'forced' to sit flat on the bottom of the tank. Then I take photos of the whole fish with the grid. Next I will upload the pictures onto a computer program called ImageJ to calculate the length and girth. I have already completed my first trial and am currently in a second trial. I found that my hypothesis was correct, the fish fed only smelt grew the largest, the fish fed the mix of smelt and squid came in second and the fish fed only squid came in last. This project got me intersted in researching about diet. Another thing that made me realise how important diet was, was from an article I was reading called Commercial products for Artemia enrichment affect growth performance, digestive system maturation, ossification and incidence of skeletal deformities in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) larvae. It was talking about how Sole larvae were experimented eating either enriched or unenriched brine shrimp, and the results found that the fish fed unenriched brine shrimp had skeletal deformities and malpigmintation in much higher numbers.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
As far as research went, I was having trouble getting my stuby little hands on the artciles because most of the sites wanted me to pay for them. Of course I did not want to. So luckily for me, my first mentor Andres Carillo was very generous and said that I could email him the links to the article and he would see if he could get it for me, since he was a current student at UCI. I also went to the Cal Poly Library Database. That was honestly my hardest problem for this answer.
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
My first and best source would be from my interviews/mentorship. I've learned so much from both and they have really helped me grasp topics that had once been really complicated for me like larval rearing. Just reading from articles and books did not give me a full understanding, I needed to experience it for myself. I learned how to prep food, how to find out how much to feed to each fish, and other skills. As for a printed source, I would have to say 'Commercial products for Artemia enrichment affect growth performance, digestive system maturation, ossification and incidence of skeletal deformities in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) larvae.' This one really gave me a good foothold to begin searching deeper into this topic.
My EQ is what is the best way to raise oceanic fish in captivity? My best answer would be my third answer, which is an Aquarist must provide the correct diet for the needs of each fish throughout its stages of life. This is my best answer for many reasons. In my interviews with Nicole she was talking about diet a lot. She said that diet could really affect larval fish, especially in their development. She also explained to me the 'scale system'. This is pretty much the stages throughout a fishes life of what food they get. It goes in order from smallest to biggest food size: Rotifers, Artemis, Cyclopeez, Mysid Shrimp, Clam, fish, squid, etc.
(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
A huge part of this process was from a research project I'm doing at the Aquarium. I am working with nine Sebastes serranoides, Olive Rockfish, to see how macronutrients such as fat, protein, carbohydrates and calories affect their growth in both length and girth. I was originally going to see how it affected their behavior and activeness but due to technical difficulties with the lab video camera I was unable to continue this part. The way this project works, my fish are fed twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday) and data is collected every two weeks on Sunday. Each fish is fed either 1 gram smelt, squid or 0.5 grams squid and 0.5 grams squid. To collect data I remove the pipe and planet that is their habitat and replace it with a 8x6'' grid that is held to the bottom by a jar. I will then feed each fish its assigned food using a feeding stick, careful not to let any not eaten material float between barriers. After feeding I will drain the water until the fish are 'forced' to sit flat on the bottom of the tank. Then I take photos of the whole fish with the grid. Next I will upload the pictures onto a computer program called ImageJ to calculate the length and girth. I have already completed my first trial and am currently in a second trial. I found that my hypothesis was correct, the fish fed only smelt grew the largest, the fish fed the mix of smelt and squid came in second and the fish fed only squid came in last. This project got me intersted in researching about diet. Another thing that made me realise how important diet was, was from an article I was reading called Commercial products for Artemia enrichment affect growth performance, digestive system maturation, ossification and incidence of skeletal deformities in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) larvae. It was talking about how Sole larvae were experimented eating either enriched or unenriched brine shrimp, and the results found that the fish fed unenriched brine shrimp had skeletal deformities and malpigmintation in much higher numbers.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
As far as research went, I was having trouble getting my stuby little hands on the artciles because most of the sites wanted me to pay for them. Of course I did not want to. So luckily for me, my first mentor Andres Carillo was very generous and said that I could email him the links to the article and he would see if he could get it for me, since he was a current student at UCI. I also went to the Cal Poly Library Database. That was honestly my hardest problem for this answer.
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
My first and best source would be from my interviews/mentorship. I've learned so much from both and they have really helped me grasp topics that had once been really complicated for me like larval rearing. Just reading from articles and books did not give me a full understanding, I needed to experience it for myself. I learned how to prep food, how to find out how much to feed to each fish, and other skills. As for a printed source, I would have to say 'Commercial products for Artemia enrichment affect growth performance, digestive system maturation, ossification and incidence of skeletal deformities in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) larvae.' This one really gave me a good foothold to begin searching deeper into this topic.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
4/27/14
Today was a full day. Collected my data again for my rockfish. I found out that my mentor is no longer at the aquarium because he's off working on his P.H.D. So I talked with another staff member and she agreed to be my mentor. I got to talk with another staff member to get advice on how I could improve my project for my fish. Later I did afternoon feedings, including feeding baby grunion out.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
4/13
Today was a data collection day for my trial two of my Sebastes serranoides, Olive Rockfish, project. Unfortunately I will be out camping this upcoming Sunday so i had to prep the food for not only today and this Wednesday, but for next Sunday and Wednesday as well. Then I took out the plants in my rockfish tanks and replaced them with the grids. All but numbers 5,6&7 ate. I've been having problems with 5 for the last few weeks because he has not been eating and has been pretty stressed. I am very pleased to say that 8 is eating with a vigorous appetite, so much so that I am beginning to wonder if just 1 gram of smelt is enough for him. He's always hanging around when food's about. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, bleached three tanks and put five back into the tank shed.
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| Sebastes serranoides (Olive Rockfish) |
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Blog 18
What is the best way to raise oceanic fish in captivity?
An Aquarist must provide the correct diet for the needs of each fish throughout its stages of life.
Sebastes serranoides that are fed 1 gram smelt will grow larger in both length and girth than those that are fed 1 gram squid.
-Conclusion from an experiment I did at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.
If the food given to larval fish lacks in nutrients, then it could result in death or deformities.
-Third Interview
Squid and fish are the favored food for Sebastes serranoides.
- Love, Milton, L. William V. Westphal. "Growth, Reproduction and Food Habits...." Fishery Bulletin. 1981. Web.
The diet of a fish has a profound effect on them. It determines their overall health, how big they get, how fast they grow, whether they have kids or not and if they'll grow up with a deformity or not.
An Aquarist must provide the correct diet for the needs of each fish throughout its stages of life.
Sebastes serranoides that are fed 1 gram smelt will grow larger in both length and girth than those that are fed 1 gram squid.
-Conclusion from an experiment I did at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.
If the food given to larval fish lacks in nutrients, then it could result in death or deformities.
-Third Interview
Squid and fish are the favored food for Sebastes serranoides.
- Love, Milton, L. William V. Westphal. "Growth, Reproduction and Food Habits...." Fishery Bulletin. 1981. Web.
The diet of a fish has a profound effect on them. It determines their overall health, how big they get, how fast they grow, whether they have kids or not and if they'll grow up with a deformity or not.
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