Suggestions for 2 empty tanks

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
G

gally

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 3, 2005
10
0
0
St. Louis, MO
Hi everyone :)

I am new here. I am the Lead Science Teacher/Technology Coordinator at Gallaudet School for the Deaf in St. Louis, MO.

In my lab we have a 20 gallon freshwater (mostly tetras and guppys--planted), a 5 gallon fire belly frog habitat, a 30 gallon breeder with hermit crabs, an african giant millipede, a sudan plated lizard, 3 long tailed grass lizards, a trantuala and 2 rats. Oh ya, we have a 2 gallon with 3 Africian Clawed frog tadpoles.

I have an empty 10 gallon and an empty 21 long. I am looking for suggestions for interesting additions to our zoo. I have a 30 gallon that we are going to try to setup a fish only saltwater tank. I have lots of experience with reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, mammals, etc. and I've kept the freshwater tank going for 3 years now. The 30 gallon will be our first saltwater attempt.

Any suggestions, advise will be greatly appreciated by my class and myself.

Gally
 
an alligator snapper or soft shell turtle maybe a couple fish for the 20 long and a axolotyl (mudpuppy)for the 10 maybe???
 
gally said:
Hi everyone :)

I am new here. I am the Lead Science Teacher/Technology Coordinator at Gallaudet School for the Deaf in St. Louis, MO.

In my lab we have a 20 gallon freshwater (mostly tetras and guppys--planted), a 5 gallon fire belly frog habitat, a 30 gallon breeder with hermit crabs, an african giant millipede, a sudan plated lizard, 3 long tailed grass lizards, a trantuala and 2 rats. Oh ya, we have a 2 gallon with 3 Africian Clawed frog tadpoles.

I have an empty 10 gallon and an empty 21 long. I am looking for suggestions for interesting additions to our zoo. I have a 30 gallon that we are going to try to setup a fish only saltwater tank. I have lots of experience with reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, mammals, etc. and I've kept the freshwater tank going for 3 years now. The 30 gallon will be our first saltwater attempt.

Any suggestions, advise will be greatly appreciated by my class and myself.

Gally
Click to expand...
Hi,with the 30 I think it would be more interesting to do a reef tank.it would show a greater biodiversity and the relationsips within an ecosystem.All you really need is 20-25lb. of live rock,enough aragonite to put a 2-3 inches on the bottom,a heater,a protien skimmer and some lights.The lights really depend on what type of inhabitants you decide on,although there are many corals and invertabres that do not need large amounts of light.http://www.thetfishplace.com is a good place to get equipment for a good price.Hopefully you have a good Local fish store that belongs to MAC(marine aquarium council)http://www.aquariumcouncil.org.hers a couple more sites of intrest http://www.aqualink.com http://www.coral.org http://reefcentral.com http://www.oc-creative.com/reef/index.asp(this is one of my favorites,lots of good info on nano reefs,anything smaller than 50 gals.animals,equipment,water parameters,lighting it covers pretty much evrything you need to know about nanos)well i hope thats enough to get you started and I hope you go with a reef rather than an all fish,I think your kids would get a kick out of it.Reefs are not as difficult as they sound,its more of a self sustaining system that takes alitte care.If you have any more ?'s just let me know.WIsh i had a teacher like you when I was in school.
:thumbsup: Not sure about the 10 gal. how about a killie breeding tank or even use it as a sump for the reef tank.I twould take a little more doing,but it would be able to house algae or a deep sand bed to help with filtration.How handy are you?Theres a few DIY plans for sump tanks on the web,dont have them handy or id give them to you.making it into a sump would increase your water volume also. :grinno:
 
cuban jey said:
an alligator snapper or soft shell turtle maybe a couple fish for the 20 long and a axolotyl (mudpuppy)for the 10 maybe???
Click to expand...
Alligator snapper,what are you thinkin.That would out grow a 30 in no time + its in a class room with kids i.e accident waiting to happen. :screwy:
 
Being in Mo. you might be able to get a true mudpuppy and although they reach 12" they can be kept alone in a 10g tank, just give it a few rounded rocks to root around and use a fine smooth gravel. It will do very well in an unheated, well oxygenated tank on a diet of earth worms and the occasional small crayfish, it is best to remove the thumbs from larger crays though. For the 21g I personaly would go for small local minnows, daces, or darters, some are quite attractive, most adapt well to tank life, and they would add a bit of local interest to your collection. I don't have much experience with salt water other than hardy tidal zone local fish (when I was in other countries the fish there were local at the time) bt since your tank is fairly small I would suggest live rock and sculpins of some type, or the rock and tropical pipe fish and seahorses, they tend to be inexpensive, not hard to keep, and different enough to be interesting, you could even add a cling fish or snail sculpin to them without worries.
 
do some bichirs get them into ncient fishys try senegalis and palmas thy are airbreathers and go way back,. I understand you limited on space but you could try a exsperment with a lung dfish also by haveing the calls make it go into hybernation in a mudd ball then wait a few weeks and bring it back out
 
I would use the smaller tank for a holding tank for any and all incoming fish. You have a great collection, which Im sure you would want to protect with a simple holding tank to prevent mass infections.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom