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How about a species tank? I have cories in all my tanks. Maybe 7 panda's. Tank watchers love to watch their antics and easy to care for as opposed to needing to feed different foods for a happy community tank meal.

jan

All I can say is that I've got WCMM in my 20 and they more than use the space, now that I have them (6) I'd much rather have them in a 30 Long.

To me swimming space is just as important when considering stocking.

^_^
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A pair of cherry barbs would look nice with WCMMs

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I like the idea of a dwarf gourami for the top, with a school of seven small tetras. Cardinals, lemons, and silvertips are all peaceful, small tetras that look good.

The fish don't need fry control, are happy in most water conditions, are easy to feed and care for, etc. Just a nice, simple tank.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I second the platys. Get one male and 3 females. Let the kids enjoy watching for babies. You could always give the babies away if you have too many or back to the lfs.

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If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished.

I don't know that the WCMM would be do active for a 10. My nephew had them in his and they did fine.

I would recommend sticking with egglayers, but that's just a personal preference. Maybe fry control works, but it just seems that inevitably, you have too many. If you are comfortable bagging them and taking them to the feeder tank at the lfs, then it's not a problem. I have a tough time with that just looking at the god-awful conditions of those things

White Clouds are active and rather amuzing provided you have one or two males in a crowd of 6. Add too many males, and the poor ladies don't get a rest .

If they have pygmy cories near you, they could be on cleanup (but still require supplemental feeding).

How about some guppies or platies? You could get either all males or a mix, and maybe add a dwarf gourami for fry control if that would be a concern.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

ummm off the top of my head, endlers maybe ?
or how about least/exclimation point rasboras.
WCMM's IME are a bit too active for a 10 but it might work
Mosquito fish handle a wide range in temps.

If it's a fish you can move to a larger tank after the semester is over gold barbs would work as well, they're not quite as active as most other barbs.

^_^
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Sorry folks for the unintended lapses of information...

The tank in question is a 10 gallon, that is planted. Last semester we had a gold fish in it...(I know the tank was small for a goldie, and water changes were done biweekly to keep up with the waste) I explained that to the students that Juliet would only be temporary and that she would be going to a larger tank at Thanksgiving. Which she did (55 at home) and then was sold back to the lfs. The students understood why she would be sold back, because we didn't want to stunt her, and cause her unnecessary pain, etc, etc...The kids also enjoyed the fact that they had a fish in the classroom. There is only one other class that has fish and unfortunately it is one of those that the teacher doesn't care much for, was given the taken, and fish by ???, and now just keeps replenishing it with feeder goldfish (I know these too can get quite huge). I've explained this to the teacher, and explained that the tank needs to be regularly cleaned, etc, etc, and that she is way over stocked...no changes have come of it, except that I do do the water changes, and she at least now asks to borrow water conditioners when adding water.

Ok back to the topic...sorry folks, drugs kicking in (what a migraine this one is turning into***squinting into the monitor***)

Ok water parameters again are good, it is a 10 gallon, is seated on the counter, it is for learning but not specifically as a "subject/project". At the end of the school year the fish will be coming home with me, not necessarily going home with a student, unless I have a student who becomes that attached...then we will see...

Also for any other teachers out there or anyone else for that matter; it really is a soothing way to calm a kiddo down who is at the point of exploding...I've had kids that were at the point of losing it just stare into the tank, and it calms them dramastically...I have one child that it is his privelege to be able to do some of the "work" of the tank if he's on track, and doing as asked. I have a couple young ladies that do feedings if I am to be out...fortunately things are great in all respects except that we need fish for the tank at this point...

I'm thinking something that is fairly hardy (ie, why we had Juliette at the time; also why I began this the way I did, as noone really gave any ideas except, DONT have class pets, it's stupid. You are going to kill the fish, etc, etc, etc...); colorful would be nice...and Tim if everyone says your favorites, I'll go for it, but no Pirranas

Now with all this said what shall we do with this tank this tank...it has some plants (anacharis--I can spell it finally; and some of those fuzzy plants that look like mini Christmas Trees--anyone know the name for them?). before Christmas Holidays it had 1 adult MTS and I suspect a few "fry" MTS...don't have a count of them for now...

Help me stock this tank...The kids will love you for it...

Heidi

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"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

are you looking for a tank to teach about fish? or just to have some ooohs and ahhhhs and maybe a few kids being interested? what age range?

Regarding power outages in the previous post... Get a UPS (Uninterupible Power Supply). I got mine, a Belkin 550VA from Dell.com for $60. It will power two 10 gallon tanks (Power filters, heaters, air pumps, etc) for 24 hrs. More than enough time to find a solution to the power outage issue.

-pam

Good topic for discussion and hopefully, everyone keeps it civil and insightful.

There's nothing wrong with a class tank, provided some thought goes into what to do with the inhabitants during the summer when no one is there. I think an important lesson for students is to also learn compassion through their care. When we take hamsters, fish, dogs, etc., home for pets, they are pets for life, not for as long as we feel like caring for them, or when a sememster ends. My nephew often talks of what he percieves to be cruel treatment via neglect, and just dumping fish at the end of the school year. He's only 12 and senses it. He was distressed at the fact that so many goldfish were being kept in a small tank and no water changes were being done. When he tried to talk to the teacher about it, they blew him off. He learned from me, how to care properly for fish and I'm glad he recognized a bad situation. I truly regret that those setting up the tanks did nothing to teach the students about proper care in leading by example.

That having been said, I agree we need to know what size tank. I personally think livebearers like guppies, mollies, platys, swordtails are not good class tanks. The problem is that they reproduce so quickly and so rapidly, that you then have to deal with an abundance of fry or declining water quality from too many fish. I would encourage egglayers.

I think the minimum tank size is good at a 20 long. 10 gallons just don't allow many fish. With a 20 long and its good surface area, you can stock a reasonable number of fish at all strata - top, mid, bottom, and algae eaters.

In a 20 long, you could start out with fish like White Clouds. They are so hardy. They are cool water fish, but do well at about 74-75 - a range that is good for many other trops. I started out with 6. I also have a school of 6 rasboras, a trio of larger cories, 6 pygmy cories (haborosus), otos and 2 male guppies. This is overstocked, but I also have a fully planted tank, which allows me to stock more. I would not encourage overstocking a class tank.

You could have plants, but teach the students how to disinfect and eliminate parasites before adding them.

I would also make it a point to explain the nitrogen cycle, the importance of testing and logging their findings, especially if it is a planted tank.

Hopefully, they will not need to learn how to cure diseases. Prevention goes a long way. I would have a 5 gallon tank, with a seeded sponge filter (one that has been running in the 20 long to build beneficial bacteria). It would have a 25w heater, some fake plants (which helps students to understand the importance of giving fish the sense of security). This would be the staging area. The very best aquarium practice, includes quarantine. Adding fish straight from the source is like playing russion roulette. It takes on sick or parasitized fish to wipe out a population.

Add the white clouds and a bacterial starter like BioSpira or Cycle. Take parameter readings daily for ammonia and nitrite, then start looking for nitrate about 3-5 days in if using a bacterial starter, especially Bio-Spira.

If you were to add some fake, bushy plant, or some real java moss, your students can watch the mating activity around early to mid morning. White Clouds like to lay eggs. Before any cories are added, you may actually get fry, but they usually don't make it in large tanks. You could always take a clump of java moss out to show how the fry can be raised, but this is a ton of work as the fry need to eat 5-8 times daily and often require live foods or specialized foods.

Always stock in increments with several weeks in between. It allows the biofilter to grow gradually (beneficial bacteria grows quite slowly) and if using quarantine, it goes much faster because you don't need to wait and see if disease will break out.

Talk about ich and how ich can be avoided. Many people do water changes without any thought to how much they are dropping the temperature of the tank. When it drops 3-4 degrees or more, the fish are at high risk of ich due to chilling. This is because they do not self regulate their temps like we do, rather it is goverened by the environment. We would also experience temp shock if our body temps went from 98.6 to 95.6 in minutes.

What is the plan for a power outage? There must be one, otherwise the students will come to school with a completely unnecessary reality - a tank full of dead fish. Students can learn about battery back up air pumps. Maybe a night shift or 2nd shift janitor is willing to help in such situations or even someone who lives neary. There are pumps for sale that will kick in automatically during power outages (though pricey). They will work intermittenly for 14 hours and recharge when power returns. Filters also require specific types of maintenance during power outages, otherwise they spew toxins into the tank, ultimately killing the fish after making them sick.

These are just some of the things that students can learn. If I were a teacher I would probably have a tank in my classroom. But, I would have a plan to move it home or into a willing student family's household and actually meet with the parents to make sure they are ok with it. I would most likely award it to one of several students who showed interest and genuine learning. I would help move the tank to their home, and if desired to get it back, would help with the move back to school. AFterall, moving is something fishkeepers need to learn.

I hope this helps and generates some good discussion



Last edited by Cory_Di at 04-Jan-2005 14:17

Last edited by Cory_Di at 04-Jan-2005 14:19

Tank size would be useful ...