Golden Fish Aquaponics

Event Year: 2023
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Critter Comfort Cottage
Division: 3-5
School: Ocean Breeze Elementary
Team Size: 2

Callie, Helena 4th graders at Ocean Breeze ES

Day 1: We got our tank ready for decorations! Our tank is a recycled cheeseballs container, we cleaned it out for about 20 minutes! We also got rocks for our tank and put them in!

Day 2: We got a cute plant for our tank! We also got grass clippings for our mosquito larvae farm.

Day 3: We got our mosquito fish! And we have to buy our water because we can’t use tap water since it has chlorine in it.

Day 4: We make sure to dump a bit of water out each week and pour new water in. One of our fish died. We predict that it got crushed by the rocks. So instead we get some water in a clean container and then take the fish out before dumping a bit out. And we think that if we take the fish out before dumping it that should help so they can no longer get crushed by the rocks.

Day 5: We finally got our mosquito larvae!! We fed them to our mosquito fish. They loved them! When we used grass clippings the first time for larvae, it made the water really gross. So we tried no grass clippings and so far no mosquitos but we are hopeful that we will get some by Saturday.

Day 6: We dumped the fish into our local pond. We don’t have any more fish or mosquito larvae. we also got rid of this (look down) plant. Because it had algae on it and it was also just disgusting.

After the virtual competition we wanted to make some changes to our project. We added aquaponics! Our fish would fertilize plants!

Research on Mosquito fish:

What does the temperature need to be for the mosquito fish to survive?

Around 33°F and 104°F. But the mosquito fish preferer the tempter to be around 80°F

How many fish can a mother mosquito fish birth

Each pregnancy can deliver 40 to 100 young

What does a mosquito fish eat?

They eat mosquito larvae as soon as they hatch from the eggs laid by mosquitoes, thus reducing the mosquito population. The Mosquito Fish feeding habits also include a variety of insects and plant materials.

What habitats do mosquito fish usually live in?

Mosquito fish are found in shallow fresh and brackish waters, including marshes and swamps, but can occur in lagoons.

research on aquaponics:

when using aquaphonics, you don’t need any soil

Research on aquaponics

No need to use soil!

In stead of dirt you can use lava rocks

Nutrients come from fish, no added nutrient costs (no fertilizers)

Limited pesticide use.

No weeding for you to do!

Flexible in location

All natural fertilizer source because of fish waste!!

You don’t have rely on mined and manufactured fertilizers.

Its Chemical Free!!!

Your plants will grow faster!!!

It does not smell!

MATERIALS

A recycled cheese ball container

Rocks

Plant

Net

Water

Food

Shells

iPad

Paper

Markers

goo-gone

double sided tape

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We received help from…

Mrs. Mentillo helped pour the water out for changing the first time. She also got some more minnows, we were only able to get three. She also took the surviving mosquitofish back to her pond.

We are still making changes to our tank……

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