Adopted the classroom Aquarium

[HarleyK]

What can I say. When I saw the empty tank in my son's classroom at the beginning of the school year, I offered my help to the teacher. Twice. Then one day it was set up with guppies and black mollies. Within a week, all but two were dead.
My son offered the teacher to take it on, and we did. Started with a water change to remove the rotting flake food. Switched carbon out of the HOB and rigged it up with biomedia that I took out of one of my canisters. Next step was to add plants. Anubias. With java fern to follow. Hardy.

Today we got a couple of guppies, a couple cory cats, and a hoplo cat-cleanup crew. Let's start with that. They're in my quarantine tank now, we'll add them sometime after Thanksgiving if they look good.

Wondering how everyone else's kids' classroom tanks are. Anyone else here who's helping out?

Anything that the kids especially love?

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Bullfrog tadpoles are pretty good for class tanks,I've helped out with a lot of class tanks over the years, what size tank do u have to use? I recommend native fish.

 

[HarleyK]

Bullfrog tadpoles are pretty good for class tanks,I've helped out with a lot of class tanks over the years, what size tank do u have to use? I recommend native fish.

Great idea!
For now, they've got a 10 gal, and I think seeing guppy fry will mesmerize them for a while. I may have to take it down for summer break, and restarting with small natives sounds great! How long did your bullfrog tadpoles take to turn into frogs?

 

[Lepisosteus]

Bullfrog tadpoles are pretty good for class tanks,I've helped out with a lot of class tanks over the years, what size tank do u have to use? I recommend native fish.

Yes that's how we did it in grade 1 as well. Where our house was at the time we had a good amount of tadpoles that we would collect and grow into frogs

 

[Deadliestviper7]

My first batch took 4 years,but if u add some iodine u can get them to mature faster, if u collect a tadpole with legs u don't even have to feed them until they metamorphise ,u can feed them flake fish food and they do well in peaceful community tanks(guppies,darters,most tetras etc)

 

[knobhill]

My classroom tanks are: 140g, 125g, 70g, and 46g. I am the advisor to the "Fish Club". We also have a 4k gallon koi pond just outside my room. I have the students working on youtube videos, with tours of the fish tanks. it will be posted to our youtube channel, dubbed "School of Fish". I think this is the link https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzNoKPlYFIjW9zNQyNydGfQ


Here is something to ponder, I would like the Fish Club to give back to the community/environment in some way that promotes fishkeeping. Something like stocking a local pond or habitat restoration. Does anyone know of anything in the Los Angeles area?

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Contact your local hatchery,they can probably help u.

 

[HarleyK]

How about getting students to clean up a local creek? You'll be amazed how many cups and cans (and other trash) we find in our annual clean-up near where I live.

Habitat restoration is a noble cause!

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Something like stocking a local pond or habitat restoration. Does anyone know of anything in the Los Angeles area?

I don't know any clubs but here is a funny story happen everyday in Orange County (Miles Square Park). We knew it a man made pond and it's huge! You walk around you can see signs "No Fishing", "No Feeding to wild life" and guess what? You can see peoples fishing right there ignore everything, and peoples feeding wild life bird there and some gooses that mirage from Canada and just stay there since they have food all year long from these peoples. The pond was very nice when back in the 80~90's but now it's just a dirty, polluted and over population of wild birds that decided to stay there and their poops making the pond dirty bad. A lot of fish no longer exist there due to those fishing folks don't care, ignore the signs and don't give a damn to the environment.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Yeah that happens a lot here too,goose especially ruin ponds(get permission to hunt some goose with a crossbow