10g stocking

[appaloosatb]

I do tank maintenance for a local nursery school, and the 10g in room three recently had an entire can of fish food dumped in. The teachers couldn't figure out why all the fish died. :rolleyes: Anyway, I'm taking down my 35g community tank, so I'm just going to restock their tank with what I have. What do you think of this?

2 cory cats
3 swordtail fry (currently about 1/2" each)
1 betta (the only survivor from the food experience)
4 zebra or leopard danios

I know that's pushing it just a bit when everything grows up, but the tank is kept really clean and I think the kids will enjoy the active fish. If the danios get too nippy with the betta, the betta can be removed.

[Sting]

It sounds really great to me! You've got all the swimming zones covered, bottom, top, and middle too. I think your tank will be great! Just don't let the food incident happen again ;) The Danios should keep to themselves, the Betta, well I've never kept one before, but it shouldn't cause problems, And the swordtails will be great! Good luck!

[appaloosatb]

I got there, and the tank was awful. From what the teachers had described I thought all the fish but the betta were dead, but there were still two cory cats and one swordtail hanging out barely alive on the bottom. I'm still not sure they'll make it. The tank had a 90% water change and I got most of the food out. I'll do another 30% water change tomorrow and a 30-50% one next Saturday, depending on how everything's going. Keep your fingers crossed for the poor little survivors! :(

[JamisonBWolsh]

I dont think you can mix ANY live animal with a child that young. Its just going to be a matter of time when a child wants to give the tank a drink of fruit punch. Obviously the teacher does not have the kids in control. So the inevitable will happen. If you give your fish to them, then you are sending them to their death. If this happens, then you would be held responsible for the fishes death in my eyes. You are NOT a true fishkeeper. RESPECT your fish as if it were your kids. NURSERY age kids does NOT understand much about life at that age.
The BEST thing you can suggest is provide them with some computer games that involve fish.. or even a screensaver (many good ones out there).
Do something wise and dont send your fish to imminent death. Trusting a child that young with a life form=Irresponsible.

[Sting]

I don't think the kids maintain the tanks, I think they just look at them Jamison ;) There's a childrens hospital that I visit sometimes that has lots of fish tanks too! The kids obviously don't maintain them, but they do look at them, and they really enjoy looking at the tanks! Why shouldn't children be able to enjoy fish tanks as well? They really help calm roudy kids down!

[JamisonBWolsh]

Obviously they dont take care of the tanks. Its just that the tanks are in a dangerous area where the kids can cause trouble such as feeding a whole can of food.... I am sure for insurance reasons in the hospitals and various other places, the fish tanks are in areas COMPLETLY SAFE and CHILD PROOF. Appals class is NOT prepared to handle this tank! If they make certain modifications of the tanks location and CHILD PROOF it.. then maybe...


The kids in this class does not have supervision 100 percent of the time. That means trouble can be had easily had.. poor poor fish..

[Cichlid Woman]

Er ... JamesB ... do you have kids?

Extrapolating logically from what you're saying, no one with a family of kids should have a fish tank. I speak as a parent. I think you're being pretty hard on appaloosatb, who obviously cares about the fish and cares about the kids.

Appaloosatb, a serious word to the wise (the teachers) should prevent a recurrence, especially if you include an explanation about why the fish died. I think you are sweet to give them another chance, and it will be a learning experience for all. And the fish can still watch (and learn from) the fish.

By the way, are you going to have any tanks left for yourself after you tear down your 35-gal community tank?

-- Pat

[JamisonBWolsh]

Having a tank at home and at school are 2 seperate issues. At home, kids know the rules and mostly, respects them. They can be punished and will learn that the "tank" is not a cesspool.
AT SCHOOL, there are many other kids. This brings misbehavior and with a large class that is unsupervised (like apals) could only cause downfall for ANY TANK. If he adds more fish without making any changes, then I hold him responsible for the death of his fish. Just another step down into...:)

[DrDeath]

For the sake of argument, I think a realistic scenario (from one who is used to recreating scenario's) would be:

It was the eager child's turn to feed the fish.
The teacher was most likely there to assist.
The teacher opened the tank lid.
The eager child had the cap off the food.
The eager child accidently "dumped" too much food in.
The teacher says "oh no"
The eager child now starts to cry.
Appaloosatb to the rescue.

Give me a break Jamison. I suggest you never have children or if you do to never let them out of the house in case "god forbid" someone "loses control of the rowdy child" and an accident occurs. Even a preschool is a learning institution. I am sure the offending child has learned.

DrD

[Cichlid Woman]

JamesB, how do we know it's a large class? How do we know it's unsupervised? How do we know the teacher didn't accidentally up-end a can of fish food into the tank (as has happened to at least one recent poster on these forums)?

I'm not ready to assume that this classroom is the mayhem-ridden chaos that you suggest it is, or that the kids can't be taught at school about these things as well as at home, and that the teachers can't be taught as well. It's a good thing to expose kids today to anything wholesome and wondrous whenever possible, and a tropical tank would surely be included on that list, as I'm sure you'll agree.

As far as holding appaloosa "responsible," you're laying a lot on a guy who's just trying to help out a local daycare enjoy the benefits of a tropical fish tank, which are many. With respect, I'm not sure you have the authority to do that.

-- Pat

[JamisonBWolsh]

Ok.. Thats one way it could have happened it. Here is another:

kid 1.) The fish look hungary.
kid 2.) Dare you to dump all the food in the tank
3.) No way.. i will get in trouble
4.) Teacher aint here. They will eat all the food. You chicken?
5.)No way! Give me the can!

Now, we all know kids that age do not talk that way, but this is an example of what happened. This will happen once again to the new fish. Over and over until the vicious circle is closed.

[JamisonBWolsh]

By the way.. have you SEEN hidden cams on some daycares?


A fish tank would be a GREAT addition to any RESPONSIBLE DAYCARE. This one is not it and I would think that someone should have the decency to hide a cam to watch this class.....

[DrDeath]

You have no personal knowledge or experience with this daycare correct?

You are jumping to conclusions because of what you have previously seen on the news or television. I can personally tell you that what you see on TV and read in the paper is NOT ALWAYS ACCURATE OR EVEN TRUE.

DrD

[JamisonBWolsh]

whatever. I know when you get a UNSUPERVISED group of nursery age kids, things bad can happen. This is fact. Adding a fish tank to this concept is just plain evil! I dont need experience for this info. It is widely known and accepted!


Besides...Your name explains it all DR. DEATH! Your intention is to bring death to these fish and I am here to win this battle against evil.

[Sting]

LOL This is almost funny. You must be joking right Jamison? How about, before anyone says anything more, since I know this thread is only going in the absolute wrong direction, we get the information from apaloosatb about how the food ended up in the tank. ;) For all we know, the tank may have been child proof. And anyway, he said "nursery" which implies young children. I don't know about you, but nursery where I live means 3 or younger. I don't think three year old children have a mentality of destroying all fish tanks in the world by overfeeding the fish, like you're implying DrDeath wants as well. That comment alone was kind of rude :( Im think you are prejudging, let's just hold out before we make any assumptions :D

[DrDeath]

You are absolutely, 100%, ignorantly correct.

With the username DrDeath I MUST have the desire to cause death to one and all.

Get a life.

[silver_leaf]

Jamison, i belive you are treating apalossa much to unkindly! Whatever happend to giving children a chance to learn responsibility? If you are worried about the childrens treatment of the fish, why doesn't appaloosa like set up a day to explain what a fish aquarium is to the children, like how it is properly cared for, how certain things are bad for the fish, etc. Turn it into like a fish learning day for the children! That way they can truly experience and learn from the fish, and learn responsibility for other life forms. Young children are perfectly capable of understanding this.

Also, what if God treated us all like you want appalossa to do? Life would be miserable! If He never gave us a chance to learn or grow in holines, where would we all end up!!!!!!!

Or for another example. Your boss says "Oh no, theres a chance of you messing up on this job, im not going to let you do it, youll just have to go this month without a paycheck." !!!!

Peace
Anna

[Richer]

This thread is going no where fast. Consider it closed.

-Richer