For my school science project i am test how fish(its winter so the only fish i can get my hands on are tilapia in the ag room) react to colors. I was going to put and individual fish into a tank and then have 4 identical types of flies in 4 different colors (red, chartruese, brown, creme) in the tank with it then time their reaction. Then i will add sediment to make the water have low visibility and see what happens. Using a different fly each time.
What fly should i use and do any of you have any suggestions.
The way to a flyfisherman’s heart is through his fly
Sounds like a great idea, seeing how they react to colors. Now, is this a feeding-related study you want to do, or a general color-based study? You could always place a piece of colored paper/ construction paper on the outside of a narrower end of the tank (I’m guessing it is a huge tank to house tilapia, or else a pond) and see if the fish resides primarily in one half of the tank or another - of course, to make it fair, you have to do things for a pre-set time and have the fish start in the middle of the tank.
If it has to be a feeding reaction study, what I’ve done in the past is get a piece of peg- board and make “hanging U’s” of line… by this I mean, thread some tippet up one peg-hole and down another that is adjacent to it. You then tie the desired fly colors on (I use white pom-poms tied to an intentionally- debarbed and depointed hook shank, then dye/ color the pom-pom with a dye color or permanent marker color to my specifications). For my personal studies, I use a dime-sized pom-pom, as size is another variable that may affect whether a fish feeds or not. In any case, in my new-stream tester setup, I attached four styrofoam cups to the pegboard (one per corner, to float it)and glued the cups upside-down so that they made a pocket of air when set on the water. I also tie a piece of fly line to the whole thing to retrieve in case a current causes it to drift. In any case, I just sit patiently and wait for a fish or two to make a decision. I don’t know how well my setup will work for you - I just do this on wide areas of the Delaware River (and others I may be fortunate to travel to) so I get an idea of what color flies to tie for next time… as well as what type to tie on right then and there.
Hope that helps more than it confuses,
Pete Gramp
Peter J. Gramp
Professional Fly Tyer
Specializing in Early- era and Victorian Flies gramp.biochem@juno.com
Quality reserach always begins with finding out what others have already done to answer your problem/question. If you haven’t already done it you should seriously consider going to the best library in your area and doing some research on papers and books that have previously been published on the subject. Don’t be shy about having the librarian help you find journal articles or get them from other libraries on inter-library loan. I have heard of several studies on the reaction of fish to color, so there should be a wealth of information out there. The information will give you a “leg up” with your own project and possibly help you find an answer to a question that hasn’t already been tested.
Thanks alot. I was typing this sitting in the school computer lab so i couldnt be more specific. It is to test feeding reaction to different colors. Originally, i was under the belief that the science fair would be in March so i could use largemouth bass. I was going to have 10 individual bass in a large tank in the ag room. Then transfer them into a smaller tank so they are in there individually then introduce 2 minnows or natural color then 2 with the chartruese powder you can add to the live well and turn the minnow green. I would test to see if there was a trend in the color. After finding out the date had been changed to February 9th and that my lake was frozen over i got on the phone calling up state fish hatcheries. They all had emptied their tanks of lm bass.
So then i decided to use the schools tilapia at the time there was 50. Now there is 20(the animal science class seems to have fun in killing them off 5 or 10 fish at a time).
The book what fish see i actually have that book. Its a pretty good book and interesting but not a huge help on this particular topic.
I have done lots of reasearch on lm bass sight. But i havent been able to find out about tilapia and know very little about them.
Does anyone know of any particular flies that i can alter the color easily. It seems that all the tilapia live at the bottom of the tank. I tied up a chart. dry fly and had a friend test it out on them(I had a different class). He couldnt get any to take it on top but when he managed to drown the fly, he caught one.
That pegboard idea is really cool and i will have to try it out for some of my local streams. But what is a pom pom fly i have heard of it but i dont know what it looks like or the recipe.
Thanks
-Zac
The way to a flyfisherman’s heart is through his fly
[This message has been edited by Bass_Angler_04 (edited 04 February 2005).]
Take care in insuring that the samples are identical. For example, it would be difficult to insure flies are exactly the same. the air entrapment of fly components may be a slight bit different and the stimulus that triggers a reaction. A sample of 24 will give you a reliability of 90 percent at 90 percent confidence level, so low trials may lead to questions about the ststistical validity of your tests. Just a few considerations. Be sure to recommend further research in your conclusions, just like paid reasearchers do “G”.
Two comments. First, the Clouser minnow may be a good choice since you can get bucktail in a good variety of colors and it’s easy to tie. Second, tilapia may not be the best choice of fish since they tend to be more vegetarian. Many years ago I raised Tilapia as part of a research project - your project brings back memories! Any chance of getting some smallmouth bass? They’re a bit more aggressive and might be obtainable this time of year. Also, check some of the commercial producers for smaller fish. It sounds like a great experiment, so good luck!
TxEngr
[This message has been edited by TxEngr (edited 04 February 2005).]
TxEngr,
I would give anything for some smallie but the only chance for me to run the experiment is next monday and there isnt anyway for me to get the bass from the stream to the tanks becuase the ag teacher is out of town for the weekend and there isnt any way for me to get in. The tilapia a mainly herbivores but they seem to like the flies. I was thinking about tieing up a bunch of size 12 dryflies like things. I have tied them in red, chrt, white, and black. Up until recently the due date was a month from now but because of jugging things and grading periods they bumped it up a month with VERY little notice so without the tilapia i would be up the perverbial creek with out a fly rod.
Thanks,
-Zac
The way to a flyfisherman’s heart is through his fly
[This message has been edited by Bass_Angler_04 (edited 04 February 2005).]
Down here in S Florida, I sometimes target tilapia. I catch the majority of them on weighted black wooly buggers. They’re so aggressive down here they even strike poppers. I don’t know if this will help or not, but the best of luck with your project.