BETTA SPLENDEN LAB Introduction Methods Conclusion Results Madison Cole, Daniela Bonilla, Noa Brown, Tomar Serota Sandy Spring Friends School, Sandy Spring, MD For our models we made three different sized fish out of constructions paper. One was 2.5 cm one was 5 cm and one was 7 cm. Size was our independent variable so it was the thing we changed. We kept things like color, shape, and material of the model fish the same throughout all the trials because they were part of the control group. We used an iPad to time each trial for 60 seconds with 30 second breaks in between each one. Half-way through the 60 seconds we moved the model up to the top of the tank. We did three trials for each size. We put the model right up against the glass of the fish tank, as to catch the fishes attention. We had three dependent variables: number of times the fish surfaced, the number of times the operculum flared, and the number of times the fish stood completely still. For the Betta Splenden Lab we attempted to discover what would activate an agonistic response in male Betta Splenden fish. An agonistic response is a response that has anything to do with anger or the desire to fight. We decided to experiment on size. We asked questions like would a bigger fish elicit a more extreme response or the same response as a smaller fish would. Our hypothesis was that the bigger the size of the other fish (model) we put in the tank would increase the agonistic response from the Betta Splenden. The results we got from the trials proved our hypothesis correct. From our experiment we learned some significant information on the agonsitic responses in male Betta fish. While using our results we can not make any declarations, they definitely showed that size has an effect on reactions. From comparing the lack of activity when the smaller model was put up to the tank to the slight pick up in activity when the larger models were put up we can conclude that Betta fish are more angered or upset by larger fish. The only time the fish flared its operculum was when the 7cm model was put against the tank. Also the fish made more swift movements as a reaction to the large Betta Splendan Model. This second result could actually be due to the fishes fear -not will to fight- of the model. From our experiment we also thought of other questions and other independent variables we could use such as color or shape or species. Asking questions would a brightly colored fish elicit the same agonistic response as a more dully colored fish? To conclude our experiment did not give us completely decisive results but we did learn that size does slightly increase the aganostic repsonse in male Betta Splenden fish. We got larger numbers for when we put the bigger models up against the tank, and significantly smaller numbers for when we used the smallest models. The smallest model was 2.5 cm and for that the male Betta surfaced.33 times, it's operculum flared zero times, and it stayed completely still 3.33 times. These results were pretty different from the results of the largest model which was 7 cm. The averages were.66 for the times the fish surfaced, 3.33 for number of times the Betta didn't move at all, the operculum flared once. While these results are not radical opposites of each other they do lead us in the direction to believe that size has an effect on the agonistic response in male Betta fish.