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Mapping Fish – Are Fish Territorial?
The aim of this experiment is to see if fish exhibit territorial behaviour. (Do they prefer a certain area of their environment?)
1.The first thing to do is observe the fish for a while. Write down anything you notice.
2. Now focus on where your fish are travelling. Using adhesive coloured dots or whiteboard markers/highlighter you could track how your fish move. Use a different colour dot or marker for each fish.
3.Place a dot at the place where the fish is every 30 seconds for five minutes.
After a while your aquarium might look like this!
Questions:
4.Do certain fish tend to hang out in certain places?
5.If so, why do you think they do?
6.What might happen when you add food or other objects to the aquarium?
7.What are some other ways you could keep track of the movements and habits of your fish?
8.Assess whether fish are territorial using observations gained during this practical.
Extension
9. To have a record of fish mapping on different days, get some clear plastic and tape it to the side of the aquarium and place the dots on that. Take that sheet off and record your information on a separate worksheet. This sheet can be cleaned and the experiment can be repeated for several days to see if there are any changes
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