science fair project

[fishboy]

basicly i need a project for my school science fair. I was thinking about doing something on genetics and maybe interbreed some livebearers. My dad suggested fruitflys but i want something where you can tell the difference between parents and their young without using a microscope. Is it easy to interbreed guppies and endlers? I've also heard that male guppies aren't picky and have been known to breed with female mollies as a last resort although the fry are sterile and don't live long i still think it would make a good experiment. Also i heard platies and mollies will interbreed but i doubt that. So do u think this is a good idea or do you want to suggest something else?

[fish_doc]

How much time do you have to do this? Fruit flys breed quicker and you will have offspring quicker. I think that is why your dad suggested them.

[Mobydock]

I don't know about guppies and mollies, but I'm 99% sure guppies and endlers will interbreed.

I just don't see what is being proven by interbreeding. Are you just showing that they will? Maybe breeding a blue guppy and a red guppy and explaining why the babies aren't purple would be a better science project on genetics.

[blixem]

Don't forget that most livebearers can hold sperm quite a while from previous matings, so unless you are sure you have only mated the female with that male, the fry maybe from other fathers.

[fishboy]

how rapidly do guppies breed?

[Mobydock]

They usually drop fry once a month after they've been in with a male and like Blixem mentioned, they can drop fry for several months after being with that male.

[fishboy]

i have from now till feb.

[Mobydock]

That should be plenty of time to breed guppies and raise the fry.

[fishboy]

another(better) idea was for me to test the intelligence of fish. Basicly i need the smartest fish that will fit in a ten gallon. I'll be testing memory and problem solving skills. Any fish ideas?

[Hamm35924]

i think bettas are pretty smart, i've read about some things that people have done to test the smartness of bettas, like if they have certain aggression behavior more towards a certain color of stuff, and then there's their memory...

figure eight pufferfish

[fishboy]

what bout DPs?(no need 4 snails)

i guess, but i like figure eights better.

[cucci67]

Just interbreed a few livebearers, and record your results. Then show the results at the science fair.

Do like guppies and endler, guppies and molllies, swordtails and platies, and whatever else you can think of, bring a few 2.5-5 gallons to the science fair with the parnets and offspring in them.

[fishboy]

Any more ideas??? Please i need help. right now I'm leaning towards Guppy/molly hybrids but i need to collect more info