stocking question and stocking rant...

[nynikki]

If you want to train the staff to feed, use the weekly pill containers. Fill the little sections with the daily amount of food then hide the rest of the food. You may have an easier time getting the resident to feed the fish correctly if she is functioning high enough to take her own meds.

This is exactly what I was going to say. Also, rather then shrimp, since you have the Betta, try Apple or Mystery snails. They are available in many colors - I got my pink and purple snails from Dakotagirl on this site. They are a beautiful addition to the tank and easy to care for. They are also a lot of fun to watch, and can be fed common foods like green beans, lettuce, peas, etc. They could be cleaning up the tank during the week, and on the weekends when you are there you can feed them extra foods to help with their health and growth.

As far as the other lady goes, I don't know what to say there. I have my Betta alone in a 2g tank with a small piece of driftwood and a fake plant. With the heater and filter, I think it's too small and may upgrade him to something larger. I can't imagine cramming anything else in there, my mental image of what you are describing leads me to think there isn't room at all to swim, do the fish just run into stuff or what?

 

[chilligirl]

I won't be able to teach the other staff how to feed properly. I need to be really careful not to step on toes - people get in a huff over the littlest, silliest things. We have a very senior (20 years) cat at the house with a thyroid problem and arthritis. I'm already viewed as a PITA and animal-nut because every staff meeting I bring up that it's important for everyone to give her her daily medication for the thyroid condition. Everyone says "yes yes, of course", but still, it only is given half the time I haven't even broached arthritis meds, as it will never happen - poor kitty People mean well, it's just they're busy, and, well, pets aren't part of their job description. Ours is the only house that has any, and the cat came before there were rules about pets...

The lady who's tank has the overfeeding problem is not independent enough to feed her fish on her own. She sprinkles in the food after staff measures it out, with prompting, but really, she's pretty much fully dependent in all areas.

A snail may work - are they alright in a heated tank?

As for the other lady's tank, the 2g, things are really crammed, but the danios do have a tiny bit of swim room. The footprint at the top is *almost* the size of a 5 gallon, and, since they dwell at the top, they do alright. The cory doesn't really have much swim room, he tends to swim up and down the side rather than on the bottom. I'm pretty sure the fish are all stunted. She's had the cory for a few years and he's still just an inch long. The reg zebra danios she's had for just as long, and they're an inch. The pink zebras she got when she upgraded from the 1g bubble gum tank to the 2 g she has now. They were tiny, and are now an inch long, with somewhat of a balloon body shape. It's AMAZING to me that her fish don't have disease, and don't die off...Danios sure are hardy

 

[Squawkbert]

I was going to suggest printing & posting this, but it sounds as if you've made some progress.

Maybe the cat's meds could be added to the AM checklist for the floor?