Setting up a Aquarium tomorrow in a Child Care Center

[AtomixIGN]

I work at a college with an on campus daycare. The Director of the center brought in a used 75e and told me I had $200 to work with to set it up.

I went to big Als with her CC# and picked up a Emp 400, a pair of 250w Stealth heaters, a Penguin 66R powerhead sponge filter, a Marineland 3000 Air Pump to power a 48" dual input aircurtain, and all the basics. Testra crisps, Stresscoat, a net...


Anyway tomorrow we're going to Petco to pick up substrate and decor and I still don't know how I'm going to stock it. Price is a big issue. I'm thinking about cycling the tank with redeye's and danios for a few weeks and then hitting up the "assorted africans" tank. Of course if I do that I'd pick up a couple bags of african substrate tomorrow to mix with estes to help keep the PH closer to recommended.


The main issue here is lack of care. As in I'm the only one that will and only once a week. Beyond that they'll feed once a day and scoop out dead ones when and if they notice and probably only of it's an easy to reach floater.


Talk to me.

 

[rayman45]

i wouldent go africans... for a day care.... do something more.... kids...
do goldfish and koi...
nice lionheads and purdy koi..

that way you dont need to worry to much about water Quality... and u can return the heaters

 

[JardiniBoy]

How about parrots and clown loaches? Hardy, active and very cute

I would also recommend having the tank properly covered ... or little Johnny will be feeding the cute fishies sherbet, or giving them some of his cool drink ... cos they look thirsty, of course!

Good luck!

 

[Carg R]

You might try silica sand (sand blasting quartz) from homedepot. 100lbs $7.00. If you really want the cichlid sand look pickup some black sand (tahitian moon?) and you'll have the same look for 1/4 the cost.

When I setup my 125 gal, I used convicts to cycle it-they were cheap, and are interesting to watch and breed like mad. I've still got the original convicts and have since fed many a african cichlid w/ the babies.

Don't you think the kids would like to see fry?

reed

 

[AtomixIGN]

Not goldfish. I'm really only interested in something... a little nicer. I suppose Shubunkin and Guppies would go over well. But meh. if I go peaceful, I go schools of tetras and a school of cories. Call it a biotope.


Convicts would be great for me! But colorwise they don't appeal to little kids.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Convicts are an interesting idea....

In my classroom due to upkeep and budget (or lack of) Ive always had fancy gold fish (bubble eye, telescope, fancy tail, etc.) and various loaches. The upkeep is simple and they tend to be KID PROOF!!! You would also be very surprised at how you can train or incorporate the kids and assign a specific task for each one rotating the kids through each week. One of the classroom jobs in my room is "zoo keeper" where the child for a week is in charge of feeding the fish and frogs. Goldfish and loaches also tend to survive things kids do to them! Like banging on the glass and stressing them out! You would be surprised at the things Ive found in my tank through the years. Things like pencils, crayons, scissors, erasers, paper, lollipops, gum, hair braids, etc.

Kinda reminds of me that old MFK lesson where the kid wanted to share his kool aid with his dads monster salt reef tank! LOL

 

[loach43]

Common pleco would be a good dirt cheap interesting fish once it grew out a bit, and as you probably know, that doesn't take long!

 

[concord]

whatever you put in get a african fan shrimp mmy lil' bro cant stop watching it lol and a mad oto

 

[loach43]

Common pleco would be a good dirt cheap interesting fish once it grew out a bit, and as you probably already know, that doesn't take long!

 

[fish head )'>]

A gar with guppies. The gar should be just fine for a whole week! Plus they get a leason on the FOOD CHAIN!

In seriousness: Get one of those one week pill containers ( Monday, Tuesday, etc.) and you restock it every week, for them, so they can keep track ----if they got fed that day and keep them from overfeeding.