How Does Music Affect Fish Feeding Behavior?
Our Experiment
We want to know if we can train the fish in our tank to associate music with being fed. We will be playing jelly fish jam 30 seconds before we feed our fish to hopefully have them associate that song with them being fed. Hopefully when they "hear" the song they will move up to the top of the tank to be fed.
When we were coming up with our experiment we wanted to know how fish could hear. One of our assignments for class was to learn all about the external anatomy of fish. We learned that fish have an organ that helps them detect motion, vibrations, and pressure called the lateral line. Since fish ears aren't very good the lateral line work like their ears. Since they can't really hear the music we put the speaker up to the tank so the sound waves could vibrate agaisnt the glass to create motion in the water that the fish can sense with their lateral line.
When we were coming up with our experiment we wanted to know how fish could hear. One of our assignments for class was to learn all about the external anatomy of fish. We learned that fish have an organ that helps them detect motion, vibrations, and pressure called the lateral line. Since fish ears aren't very good the lateral line work like their ears. Since they can't really hear the music we put the speaker up to the tank so the sound waves could vibrate agaisnt the glass to create motion in the water that the fish can sense with their lateral line.
Hypotheses
Hypothesis - Fish will spend more time on the top layer of the tank when the song is played.
Alternate Hypothesis - Fish will spend more time on the bottom layer of the tank when the song is played.
Null Hypothesis - Fish will not spend more time in a designated layer when the song is played.
Alternate Hypothesis - Fish will spend more time on the bottom layer of the tank when the song is played.
Null Hypothesis - Fish will not spend more time in a designated layer when the song is played.
Variables
Independent Variables - Feeding time, amount of food we give
Dependent Variables - How many fish go to the top of the tank
Controlled Variables - We can control the volume of the music, play the same song, feed the fish at the same time of day, feed the fish after 30 seconds of the song.
Confounding Variables - We couldn't control the external environment, the amount of food, and the temperature.
Dependent Variables - How many fish go to the top of the tank
Controlled Variables - We can control the volume of the music, play the same song, feed the fish at the same time of day, feed the fish after 30 seconds of the song.
Confounding Variables - We couldn't control the external environment, the amount of food, and the temperature.
Literature Review
Before formulating our experiment, we conducted a literature review to learn more about the ways that fish hear and if they could even hear music. Through extensive research, we came upon multiple studies that gave us sufficient background information. We learned that:
All of these findings contributed to our knowledge about how fish hear and how we can conduct our experiment to find the most accurate and measurable results.
1:“Effect of Musical Stimuli and White Noise on Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss) Growth and Physiology in Recirculating Water Conditions.”
Aquacultural Engineering, Elsevier, 19 Feb. 2013, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144860913000046.
2: Gray, Richard. “Goldfish Are Music Connoisseurs.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 30 Aug. 2013, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/10276759/Goldfish-are-music-connoisseurs.html.
3: “Fish And Sound.” BIAS, 3 Dec. 2013, biasproject.wordpress.com/news-from-the-ocean/fish-and-sound/.
- Rings of bone called otoliths in fish's ears relate to their age and size (FishBio)
- Musical stimuli is beneficial for growth in rainbow trout (SciDirect)
- Fish can detect sounds from each other from particle motion and pressure differences (BIAS)
- Goldfish can distinguish between two composers, sometimes preferring one or the other (The Telegraph)
- A new developing invention can be used to attract or repel species of interest (Google Patents)
All of these findings contributed to our knowledge about how fish hear and how we can conduct our experiment to find the most accurate and measurable results.
1:“Effect of Musical Stimuli and White Noise on Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss) Growth and Physiology in Recirculating Water Conditions.”
Aquacultural Engineering, Elsevier, 19 Feb. 2013, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144860913000046.
2: Gray, Richard. “Goldfish Are Music Connoisseurs.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 30 Aug. 2013, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/10276759/Goldfish-are-music-connoisseurs.html.
3: “Fish And Sound.” BIAS, 3 Dec. 2013, biasproject.wordpress.com/news-from-the-ocean/fish-and-sound/.
Methods
Steps
- To conduct the experiment, we placed the speaker on the side of the tank and began playing the song, Jellyfish Jam.
- To collect data, we distinguished the top and bottom half of the tank with a dry erase marker.
- We tallied how many fish were in the top half of the tank during the first ten seconds of the song (0:00-0:10) in a journal or on piece of paper.
- We repeated Step 3 for the next ten seconds (0:10 - 0:20).
- We repeated Step 3 for the next ten seconds (0:20 - 0:30).
- After the 30 second period of observation, we fed the fish in 30 second intervals up until the two minute mark in the song (0:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00).
- Finally, we let the song play out and we closed the lid of the tank.
Setup:
We blocked the sides of the tank with cardboard so the fish don't see us while we feed them. We have noticed that when the fish see us and we raise our hand above the tank, they go towards our hand, thinking they are going to be fed. By covering the sides, we take away the human interaction that could potentially affect how the fish react in our experiment, generating inaccurate results.
The speaker is placed against the right side of the tank.
Training:
We played Jellyfish Jam for 30 seconds so the fish can register the music. Then, we recorded their placement to see if they lingered at the top, expecting to be fed. Next, we continued with our normal feeding routine. We conducted this training for several days at the same time.
We blocked the sides of the tank with cardboard so the fish don't see us while we feed them. We have noticed that when the fish see us and we raise our hand above the tank, they go towards our hand, thinking they are going to be fed. By covering the sides, we take away the human interaction that could potentially affect how the fish react in our experiment, generating inaccurate results.
The speaker is placed against the right side of the tank.
Training:
We played Jellyfish Jam for 30 seconds so the fish can register the music. Then, we recorded their placement to see if they lingered at the top, expecting to be fed. Next, we continued with our normal feeding routine. We conducted this training for several days at the same time.
Results
Discussion
- Our data suggests that fish can be trained to associate a musical stimulus with feeding behavior. Figure 4 shows this because you can see as time progressed, the fish moved towards the top of the tank.
- Our data supports our initial hypothesis, but we found something else. The fish moved towards the source of the music, which was the right side of the tank in our case.
- If this experiment were to be replicated, some variables that could be changed or controlled are the:
- Volume of the music
- Type of speaker (underwater, bass)
- Genre of music
- Design of the tank (acoustics)
- Temperature
- External environment
- Amount of food
- Volume of the music