Ideas for Research
 

I am an undergrad at NC State University studying zoology with an ichthyology concentration. I am planning on breeding clowns and possibly cardinals in the next semester. I am going to propose a project for undergraduate research but I am having trouble determining something that I could research. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of some kind of thesis that I could propose for my undergrad research. [B]Dr. Marini, I would really appreciate your input on this subject!![/B] Anything that I find would be published on the website that we are provided by the school and I would keep everyone here on RC updated. Someone please help!!!

clown larva growth/survival rates with differing planktonic first food supply has always interested me, but i don't have much access to anything besides rotifers. may not make much of a research topic, tho...not exactly my turf.

looking forward to the updates, no matter what you pursue, tho.

What kind of facility/area you will have to develop your project ? How many tanks, how large, ... ? How long would it take ? There are some interesting options regarding rearing marine fishes depending on what you have available.
Anderson.

I started a honours year looking at clownfish, spawning them proved to be the biggest hurdle.

send me a pm, and ill explain more.

Christian

CH-
thanks for the request.
Research projects at this level will be more about whats do-able and accomplishable in the time frame you've got. So you need to think about projects which you can execute.
So first things, first.

Your main interest is...
and importantly what do you have at your disposal for equipment & resources?
Next once you decide exactly you can do, ask the scientific question.
your thesis is a schorlary work which contributes something to the field.

If you can address a few of my questions maybe we can formulate your thesis hypothesis

One place to start asking questions is google.scholar.com, type in clownfish & breeding and use th elatin names where required. You'll find previous scientific studies. Read a few of the articles to get an idea of the field and framework where to go. Often time question or two will pop into your head when your reading current literature.

lets start here

Check with Rod of Rod's Reef. He is VERY sucessful at breeding beautiful clowns. Just saw some of the brood this past Sat. He's one helpful guy. He also hangs a bit on the Chicagoland MAS site here on RC.

I am dating the daughter of a LFS and I have a professor who is more than willing to help as much as possible. If I need it I can get it or build it. I build acrylic tanks for the LFS and we just took down some tanks that are sectioned that I could use for my larval tanks if need be. They are about 75 gallons each with 4 sections. Feel free to PM me if you have info or more questions that I can answer that way.

CH-
cool you have no tank limits, and an "in" w/ an LFS, so at lest they can get you broodstock
So what specifically about clowns are you looking to do. That as I mentioned has not been done before.
Did you happen to do a google.scholar search?

What are your time frame restraints? Breeding fish, especially clownfish, takes time for each generation. But one of the most interesting areas, IMO, is genetics & phenotypes.

I have thought about the genetics. I thought about working with my professors to work on shortening the growout times of clowns. I am only trying to work with clownfish right now. Maybe later I can work on other species. My time restraint is limited to the next two years at the current location that my setup will be at. I cannot setup until August because of the summer break from school. This gives me time to plan and get finances ready. After that I can expand to wherever I am at the time(hopefully grad school). I can also get this process going on a larger scale(500-1200 gallons) at the LFS that I deal with. I practically run the back of the store with the pumps, setups, and tank building so I can get whatever I need if I talk nice enough. So in that case time restraint is not a problem.