…and this is a 
Student Post: More on (not) sleeping with the fishies
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Posted on: December 9, 2007 12:58 AM, by Katie Glasrud
My fish have (theoretically) been sleep deprived for three days. I can't tell much of a difference. If anything they seem more active than the other fish, but they do have to constantly outswim a rotating ruler and their tank is pretty small. There is also a bright lamp on a timer that turns on and off every 30 minutes, so even if I can't prevent sleep I know they're regularly disturbed.
This is what the set up looks like:
I'm testing the sleepless group against control fish in a behavioral assay. I wanted to use a T-maze adopted from Mark Antimony's experiment but the initial results were dismal. It took some fish over ten minutes to find the food reward (during which I once left to find a food reward of my own. Sweet sweet NutterButters...).
So... I modified the test. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that now I'm prodding the fish with a pen and timing how long it takes them to "escape" (go to a protected side of the tank). The results are definitely cleaner than the ones from the maze, but I still don't think I'll be able to describe a difference between the groups. What is cool is to see the way fish learn. Individuals generally get faster each trail; I think that trend should be significant.
Comments
I'm not sure this whole ruler/waterboarding thing is going to work on fish, but maybe you'll get some interesting confessions from the sleep-deprivation part.
Better skip making videotapes, tho. Even if you call a press conference now to say you're destroying them, there won't be time to charge you and convict you while lameduck is still around to pardon you.
Posted by: CG in Tucson | December 9, 2007 3:24 AM
I don't know what you are trying to prove or discover, but the whole thing seems rather cruel.
Posted by: Stegve | December 9, 2007 8:09 AM
Maybe you can measure the thickness of their slimecoat? I hear that it gets thinner due to stress, leading to disease which is why some people put a little salt in their goldfish tanks/koi ponds. Make it a little irritated so they make a thicker slime coat.
Posted by: k | December 9, 2007 8:37 AM
Now if you'd just used undergrads, you could tell if they're sleep-deprived or not. Of course, they probably wouldn't fit so easily into the tank...
Interesting experiment.
Posted by: Jeremy | December 9, 2007 9:06 AM
I've heard that forcing fish to move constantly using a current in a small tank can have detrimental effects on their hearts, which could confuse results that are supposed to show the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation. I don't actually know anything about sleep cycles in fish, but perhaps if the experiment were repeated it would be better to find a way to, say, disrupt them every five minutes instead of continously.
Posted by: Fish keeper | December 9, 2007 9:55 AM
Well, that does it. I'm forming the
Prevent Zebra-fish Manglers Educating Young Eager Researchers Society.
For every zebra-fish so mangled we shall cook one extra calamari dish.
Posted by: jimvj | December 9, 2007 10:26 AM
I think this experiment is unethical. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. If you want to see the effects of sleep deprivation you should use human volunteers.
Also read "The Plague Dogs" by Richard Adams.
Posted by: Che | December 9, 2007 12:27 PM
Have you considered getting someone else to do the pen-prodding assay, someone who doesn't know which group of fish is "sleep-deprived"? That is, you could make your experiment blind.
Posted by: Pete | December 9, 2007 1:02 PM
What kind of music are you blasting them with?
Posted by: Boko999 | December 9, 2007 3:56 PM
"Just keep swimming... just keep swimming.... just keep swimming...."
Posted by: donna | December 9, 2007 5:02 PM
Ah, bright lights, sleep deprivation and some person constantly harrassing you and not leaving you alone. Add a disco ball and some Bon Jovi and you've just described my nightclub-filled misspent 20's.
Posted by: Bride of Shrek | December 9, 2007 9:31 PM
Let me know if you find any undergrads who aren't sleep-deprived.
Posted by: Paul | December 10, 2007 11:52 AM