Since the beginning of October, students in Mrs. Scotts environmental science class have been taking care of beta fish in an Eco column lab. Students work together with their lab group and use plastic gallon bottles to grow plants like peas and radishes. They water those plants with the water that their fish lives in creating a cycle of fertilizers and energy for not only the fish but the plants. Every day students will walk into class set down their bags and go to water their plants with the fishbowl water and feed their fish freeze dried bloodworms.

It’s been hard work to keep all the fish alive due to the greenhouse temperature falling to concerning levels causing many fish to die, because of this they had to move them back into the classroom and soon the survival rates picked back up.

Senior Clara Diepenbrock and her lab group had many errors with their lab from the first fish dying, plants not growing and bright green Alge filling up the bowl she definitely had some trouble. Despite that Clara has had a very positive experience with this lab.

“The fish lab has been very fun getting to care for our fish and come up with ways to make him enjoy his stay. We have also learned a lot about proper care and the necessities for a fish,” Diepenbrock said.

But a fish isn’t the only living thing in these ecosystems there are giant earthworms living in the dirt and one groups decided he wanted to go on a little adventure. “Our worm Alvin kept trying to come out of our Eco column he was halfway dangling out it was really freaky,” Junior Avalon Lacy said.

The lab has been a show of trial and error, but Mrs. Scott has pulled it all together in the end. As of November 21, the greenhouse has been fixed back to the right temperature and the fish have been moved back in where they will spend the rest of the lab living there.