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Mac Nelson

Bio I

Mrs. Pichette

14 November 2009

Title
In my experiment, we changed the water temperature to see if it would have any effect on

guppies. So we decided to try raising the water temperature by two degrees and lowering the

water temperature by two degrees. My personal hypothesis was if the water got hotter the

guppy’s heartbeat would slow down and vice versa. The reason behind this is that if you heat the

water up the guppy’s blood will heat up as well and thin out and the heart won’t need to beat

nearly as much to move the blood around. I also thought that the cold water would make the

blood thicker and the guppy’s heart would have to beat more to move the blood.
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Guppies were discovered by a man named Robert John Lechmere Guppy in Trinidad in

1859 (Guppy). Trinidad is the larger of the two islands off the northeastern coast of Venezuela.

Male guppies are typically a lot more colorful. When looking at male guppies, you will notice

their coloring of splashes, spots, or stripes that can be yellow, orange, blue, red, black, or even

purple, but the female guppies only have one typical color, which is grey (Wikipedia-Guppy).

The only disadvatage that the male guppies have is that in the wild with all the bright colors on

them they are more likely to get eaten by predators.

Guppy’s can survive in many extreme climates such as a tank with salinity of up to 150%

that of the ocean (Wikipedia-Guppy). The one thing that they cannot handle is extremely cold

water such as that of Antarctica. Most wild guppy’s live in water with temperatures between 55-

105 degrees Fahrenheit (Guppy.com). Most guppies that are used for breeding live in water with

temperatures between 78-82 degrees Fahrenheit (Guppy.com). The temperature of the water that

they live in has a small affect on how long they live. Newborn guppies, called fry, you should

raise them in water that is warmer so they grow faster. Their metabolism is faster therefore they

process food faster and mature faster.

It is not recommended to change the guppies’ water temperature unless it is absolutely

necessary. When changing the temperature of the guppies’ water, it is important to change it at a

rate of only two degrees per hour. If the temperature is raised any faster, the fish will have an

anxiety attack usually resulting in death.

Another thing that changes the life expectancy of a guppy is the quality of the water that

you have them in. If you keep them in a warmer tank, it is necessary to change at least 20% of

the water twice a week (Guppy.com). If you don’t, bacteria will grow and shorten your guppies’
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life expectancy. A third thing that could affect your guppy’s life expectancy is the overall water

temperature. If you grow guppies in warmer water, they will grow faster but will shorten their

life expectancy. If you raise them in colder water, it will have the reverse effect and they will

live a little bit longer.

Most guppies are used for either one of two things: breeding and mosquito control.

Guppies eat the mosquito’s larvae. By stopping the mosquito’s from breeding, it helps slow

down but not stop the spread of malaria. They have been used to slow down the spread of

malaria in Africa. The only down side of this whole thing is that the guppies have a negative

impact on native fish in Africa.

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Materials

Our group made three different Biomes: one was the control, one was the cold, and one

was the hot biome. The materials that are needed are six clear two-liter pop bottles. You will

need a hammer and a small nail. You will need a one-gallon zip-lock bag of soil. You will need

a knife. You will also need some plants for all the biomes. The plants must be one brussel

sprout, one red bell pepper, and two purslane and you must have the same amount of them in

each biome. You need three female guppies for each biome to do the tests on. You will also

need equipment to collect the data such as a stopwatch and a thermometer. Ice and a heat lamp

will be needed as well. You will need water.

Procedures

1. Get all the materials

2. Cut the bottles in half
3. Use a nail and hammer to put a small hole in the cap
4. Put the top half with the cap first into the bottom half
5. Fill the open part of the top half about half way up with soil
6. Pour water into the bottom half so that the cap is not touching the water
7. Plant your plants
8. Put a guppy in the water of each biome
9. Feed the guppy
10. Water the plants
11. Get a stop watch
12. For the control count the number of breaths the guppy takes for 30 sec and times your
answer by two
13. Turn the heat lamp on pointing it at the hot water biome, put a thermometer in the water,
and wait until the temperature. goes up two degrees then do step eleven ignore the control
part
14. Set your biome in a bucket, fill the area around the biome with ice in the bucket, put a
thermometer in the water, and wait until the temperature. goes down two degrees then do
step eleven ignore the control part
15. Record all of your data
16. Turn the heat lamp off and throw the ice in the sink
17. Once your plants start to grow measure them and record the data
18. Repeat steps 9-18 every other day for three weeks starting on Monday
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Table 1: Guppies’ Heart Beats per Minute in Different Temperatures

Days Control Warm Cold

5-Oct 88 70 108
7-Oct 70 84 156
9-Oct 86 72 186
12-Oct 94 96 168
14-Oct 0 138
19-Oct 0 78 150
21-Oct 0 136
23-Oct 0 168
26-Oct 0 72 210
Average 84.5 78 2/3 157.7

Figure 1: Guppies’ Heart Beats per Minute in Different Temperatures

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Table 2: Initial and Final Quantities of Living Things in the Control Biome

Living Beings In My Starting Ending

Biome Amount Amount
Brussel Sprouts 1 1
Red Bell Peppers 1 1
Purslane 2 5
Guppy 1 0

Figure 2: Initial and Final Quantities of Living Things in the Control Biome
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Discussion

My data tables and graphs show that my number of brussel sprouts I started with is one. I

also ended with one (Table2). No change occurred except it only grew about an inch and a half

over the three weeks. My red bell peppers started and stayed at one as well, but it grew about a

quarter of an inch (Table2). My purslane started with two and grew into five so it did very well,

but my tallest purslane grew to be a whopping 6 inches. Sadly, my guppy started out as one but

ended as a great big zero (Table2). This chart was supposed to show the growth in my biome.

This data table and graph shows the guppies’ heart beats per minute. The controls

average heartbeat was about 84.5 beats per minute (Table1). The hot water guppies’ average

heartbeat was 78 2/3 beats per minute (Table1). The cold-water guppies’ average heartbeat was

a massive 157.7 beats per minute (Table1). This chart shows all the guppies heartbeats over the

three weeks.

Conclusion

My personal hypothesis was if the water got hotter the guppy’s heartbeat would slow

down and vice versa. I believe that my hypothesis was proven because the average heart rate

changed with the temperature. As the water got warmer, the guppies average heart rate came

down to 78 2/3 beats per minute (Table1). As I predicted as the water got warmer so did the

guppy’s blood, so the warmer water caused the guppies blood to thin and this caused the heart to

not need to beat nearly as much. The opposite happened in the cold-water biome.

When we cooled down the water, the heart rate went way up. This happened because as

the water-cooled, the guppy’s average heart rate went up to 157.7 beats per minute (Table1). By

cooling the water, it caused the guppies blood to thicken. Since the blood thickened, the heart
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then had to compensate for the thicker blood and so it pumped harder and faster than the control

guppy’s heart rate. The control guppy’s average heart rate was about 84.5 beats per minute

(Table1).

There were a few things that I would have liked to change about this experiment. One

thing that I would have changed is my guppy dying because it messed up my data table. I would

have also changed the way that we heated the water. I would change this because it took so long

to heat up that you would stop paying attention to it. The result was that we accidentally went

over the desired temperature. The heat lamp also heated the water inconsistently. It would have

been nice to have a way to have cleaned the guppies’ water somehow. My research explained

that water quality changes the guppy’s life expectancy. I believe poor water quality was the

reason my guppy died.

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Work Cited

Gardner McBride. Guppies.com. 2009. 14 November 2009

Guppy Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guppy. 2009. 14 November 2009

Terry Watkins. Guppy. science.jrank.org/pages/3176/Guppy.html. 2009. 14 November 2009