I was going to suggest Craigslist as well. Once I saw an ad on there for a dog rescue group that was asking for yarn donations to knit dog stuff to raise money. I'm sure you'd get a good response from your request. Good luck!
Need Help/Advice! creating tank for Developmentally Disabled. Important!
- Thread starter Aegla Wish
- Start date
JI am wondering about the power thing as well, how often and for how long does it go off? I am sure you know that having constant fluctuating temperatures and having the filter not work for a period of time is not good for the bacteria or the fish.
Anyways, I feel like your selection of fish is wrong for what you are going for. You want fish that are outgoing, colorful, and hardy; while rummynose tetras, glass catfish, and otos, really aren't. Rummy nose tetras aren't the hardiest of fish, and are kinda pricy in my opinion. Glass catfish are very expensive (or at least here they are, at least $5-$15 each depending on if you go to petsmart of an actual fish store) and they are quite shy little guys, and you need a school of at least 5. Otos are very fragile, and you either need abundant amounts of algae, or you have to feed them fresh veggies, and they need water that has very high o2 levels, such as a planted tank with a spray bar or 2.
Aquatic frogs are awesome, I love DAF!, but they are a pain in the butt to feed. You have to use a bastor or tweezers or something to make sure they get food, and they need food like frozen bloodworms/shrimp, they can't survive on just flakes that drift to the bottom or something. Definitely not low maintenance.
As for kuhlis, they are fairly low maintenance, I feed mine shrimp pellets and frozen food, but I hardly ever see them about unless it's dinner time or after a water change or something. For the most part, they just hang out in the driftwood, and poke their little heads out at me. Also, they are better in groups of at least 5, three is not enough for them to be happy.
As for shrimp, I've only had hitch hiked ghost shrimp, an a hitch hiked cherry shrimp, both which my betta decided to eat of course, so I don't have much to say for shrimp.
As for plants, what I would do is do what I have right now in my 29 gallon aquarium, I have 5 pieces of Malaysian driftwood and anubias nana (both nana and golden) attached on them. It makes for a pretty tank, my betta has tons of hang out spots, and if I need to move stuff around/out of the tank for any reason, all the plants are attached to the driftwood, so it makes it super easy. I just have the light that came with the hood when I got it from petco, and the anubias have been thriving, although the javas aren't (I believe the water is too soft maybe for them?). Even without fertilizers, the anubias are thriving. I bought the anubias nana and anubias golden on ebay for super cheap, I got like 20 plants, some were small others large, but they grow fairly quick.
As for substrate, I really, really, love this stuff, money well spent! Check out Carib Sea Instant Aquarium Substrates on Dr Foster and Smiths, I'd post a link, but for the life of me I can't go to their site, it keeps saying internal error. Grr. For a 20 gallon long, all you would need is 1 20lb bag, which runs $15-$20 on there, and you also can get some cheap Malaysian driftwood too.
As for the filter, there really is no room for a hang on? My aquarium is only 4" away from the wall for my HOB filter. To save money, I would purchase a cheap whisper or marineland HOB power filter from walmart or something, but then buy aqua clear foam on amazon and trash the cartridges the power filter came with.
Some fish I would consider for your 20 gallon long
-corydoras catfish (5 or 6, 6 if you go with panda, 5 if you go with pretty much any other species, don't get peppered or emerald~which aren't even cories because they get to be 3"+) Just make sure you get shrimp pellets as well to feed them, although they do eat spare flakes and pellets like and love to vacuum up bloodworms, it's adorable!
-male platies (4) They are very colorful, and with a group of 4 then can establish a hierarchy, just don't get females because then you will end up with far too many babies (unless you want that, and will find good homes for the babies, then make sure you have 3 females and 1 male)
OR
-male guppies (4 or 5) They are very colorful, and very pretty fish. Most people know what a guppy is. Get all males to avoid babies, or get 3-4 females and 1 male)
(If you get both genders of the livebearers, then I would leave the stock at that so you have room for babies, if you just do males, then you could add 2 or 3 more males, and leave the stock at that, it would make for a very colorful tank to have the cories on bottom, then having 8 male guppies or 6 male platies on top)
If you want to go more of a soft water route, then some good fish would be for a calm tank
-Glolight or black neon tetras (6 or 7) They are very pretty, and seem to be fairly hardy tetras in my opinion.
-Dwarf gourami (Although I have never had them myself, I do know it's a hit or miss thing for them and they can get bacterial infections pretty easily, so make sure that you get one from a very good fish store)
-Betta, male or female (don't get with the gourami, but I know at most fish stores I go to now they have bettas with their other fish, get one that gets along with other fish, I am always biased to bettas, I absolutely adore them and hate they are kept in tiny cups)
Some other fish to consider
-Danios (I personally love danios, especially the long finned leopard ones, get a school of 6 or 7, but since these are cool water fish, make sure you get other fish with similar temperature requirements.)
-White cloud minnows (Same as danios)
-Cherry barbs (a school of 5 or 6, with 1 male and 4 females, or 2 males and 4 females, good midwater fish)
As for finding cheap/free stuff check out
-Craigslist, both the PETS section and the GENERAL section, search "fish, tank, tanks, aquarium, aquariums, heater, heaters, filter, filters, driftwood," etc, CL is very finicky with wording, so search different terms, I can't tell you how many times just by adding an "s" that my results doubled
-Freecycle (yahoo group, join the one for your city)
-ARC, The Good Will, any thrift stores
-Garage Sales
-Newspaper
Hopefully this helps you! I wish you luck!
Anyways, I feel like your selection of fish is wrong for what you are going for. You want fish that are outgoing, colorful, and hardy; while rummynose tetras, glass catfish, and otos, really aren't. Rummy nose tetras aren't the hardiest of fish, and are kinda pricy in my opinion. Glass catfish are very expensive (or at least here they are, at least $5-$15 each depending on if you go to petsmart of an actual fish store) and they are quite shy little guys, and you need a school of at least 5. Otos are very fragile, and you either need abundant amounts of algae, or you have to feed them fresh veggies, and they need water that has very high o2 levels, such as a planted tank with a spray bar or 2.
Aquatic frogs are awesome, I love DAF!, but they are a pain in the butt to feed. You have to use a bastor or tweezers or something to make sure they get food, and they need food like frozen bloodworms/shrimp, they can't survive on just flakes that drift to the bottom or something. Definitely not low maintenance.
As for kuhlis, they are fairly low maintenance, I feed mine shrimp pellets and frozen food, but I hardly ever see them about unless it's dinner time or after a water change or something. For the most part, they just hang out in the driftwood, and poke their little heads out at me. Also, they are better in groups of at least 5, three is not enough for them to be happy.
As for shrimp, I've only had hitch hiked ghost shrimp, an a hitch hiked cherry shrimp, both which my betta decided to eat of course, so I don't have much to say for shrimp.
As for plants, what I would do is do what I have right now in my 29 gallon aquarium, I have 5 pieces of Malaysian driftwood and anubias nana (both nana and golden) attached on them. It makes for a pretty tank, my betta has tons of hang out spots, and if I need to move stuff around/out of the tank for any reason, all the plants are attached to the driftwood, so it makes it super easy. I just have the light that came with the hood when I got it from petco, and the anubias have been thriving, although the javas aren't (I believe the water is too soft maybe for them?). Even without fertilizers, the anubias are thriving. I bought the anubias nana and anubias golden on ebay for super cheap, I got like 20 plants, some were small others large, but they grow fairly quick.
As for substrate, I really, really, love this stuff, money well spent! Check out Carib Sea Instant Aquarium Substrates on Dr Foster and Smiths, I'd post a link, but for the life of me I can't go to their site, it keeps saying internal error. Grr. For a 20 gallon long, all you would need is 1 20lb bag, which runs $15-$20 on there, and you also can get some cheap Malaysian driftwood too.
As for the filter, there really is no room for a hang on? My aquarium is only 4" away from the wall for my HOB filter. To save money, I would purchase a cheap whisper or marineland HOB power filter from walmart or something, but then buy aqua clear foam on amazon and trash the cartridges the power filter came with.
Some fish I would consider for your 20 gallon long
-corydoras catfish (5 or 6, 6 if you go with panda, 5 if you go with pretty much any other species, don't get peppered or emerald~which aren't even cories because they get to be 3"+) Just make sure you get shrimp pellets as well to feed them, although they do eat spare flakes and pellets like and love to vacuum up bloodworms, it's adorable!
-male platies (4) They are very colorful, and with a group of 4 then can establish a hierarchy, just don't get females because then you will end up with far too many babies (unless you want that, and will find good homes for the babies, then make sure you have 3 females and 1 male)
OR
-male guppies (4 or 5) They are very colorful, and very pretty fish. Most people know what a guppy is. Get all males to avoid babies, or get 3-4 females and 1 male)
(If you get both genders of the livebearers, then I would leave the stock at that so you have room for babies, if you just do males, then you could add 2 or 3 more males, and leave the stock at that, it would make for a very colorful tank to have the cories on bottom, then having 8 male guppies or 6 male platies on top)
If you want to go more of a soft water route, then some good fish would be for a calm tank
-Glolight or black neon tetras (6 or 7) They are very pretty, and seem to be fairly hardy tetras in my opinion.
-Dwarf gourami (Although I have never had them myself, I do know it's a hit or miss thing for them and they can get bacterial infections pretty easily, so make sure that you get one from a very good fish store)
-Betta, male or female (don't get with the gourami, but I know at most fish stores I go to now they have bettas with their other fish, get one that gets along with other fish, I am always biased to bettas, I absolutely adore them and hate they are kept in tiny cups)
Some other fish to consider
-Danios (I personally love danios, especially the long finned leopard ones, get a school of 6 or 7, but since these are cool water fish, make sure you get other fish with similar temperature requirements.)
-White cloud minnows (Same as danios)
-Cherry barbs (a school of 5 or 6, with 1 male and 4 females, or 2 males and 4 females, good midwater fish)
As for finding cheap/free stuff check out
-Craigslist, both the PETS section and the GENERAL section, search "fish, tank, tanks, aquarium, aquariums, heater, heaters, filter, filters, driftwood," etc, CL is very finicky with wording, so search different terms, I can't tell you how many times just by adding an "s" that my results doubled
-Freecycle (yahoo group, join the one for your city)
-ARC, The Good Will, any thrift stores
-Garage Sales
-Newspaper
Hopefully this helps you! I wish you luck!
Thank you. I think that will be my project this week in between teaching and planning activities for out program. Out theme this week is Dolphin Awareness.
They are really enjoying it.Thank you Dani! I relish your suggestions and expertise. I think I will go with some of your suggestions. I think I will stick with a few shrimp. I'm a shrimp lover. Maybe 5 Khuli loaches then, a few aquatic frogs.. I've been able to feed mine a mix of frog pellets and live foods. They are so awesome I think they are worth it. a mystery snail...
But I keep thinking about the fish stock and going back and forth. I want something tightly schooling for better affect, not super sensitive, and they don't have to be colorful, just interesting. I'm driving myself crazy. Most of the for sure stock so far is bottom dwelling, I need some middle, dither, and surface fish.
From what I have seen the power isn't a huge issue, but it is a concern for her. I've noticed that sometimes it flickers or flicks of for a few seconds then back on, but only a few time. I guess once in awhile they might have had it go out for an hour or so, but I haven't heard of anything like that happening recently. I just want to keep it in mind.
I'm driving myself crazy.
But I keep thinking about the fish stock and going back and forth. I want something tightly schooling for better affect, not super sensitive, and they don't have to be colorful, just interesting. I'm driving myself crazy. Most of the for sure stock so far is bottom dwelling, I need some middle, dither, and surface fish.
From what I have seen the power isn't a huge issue, but it is a concern for her. I've noticed that sometimes it flickers or flicks of for a few seconds then back on, but only a few time. I guess once in awhile they might have had it go out for an hour or so, but I haven't heard of anything like that happening recently. I just want to keep it in mind.
I'm driving myself crazy.
It is a built into the wall, and the shelf I chose has additional supports to the floor.
Wow I appreciate the compliment!
I have always liked shrimp, and I bet that the people there will too! As for loaches, to appease the snake people, then do 5 kuhli loaches, they are quite fun little guys! Just make sure to get the yellow and black/purple striped ones, they are a lot easier to see, and so pretty! (no offense my lovely black kuhlis!) I normally hate petco for fish, but the best place I have gotten striped kuhlis at was petco, they were only $2.99 a piece and my local Petco is really good for fish (I have written letters complimenting the staff, but saying my concern for the bettas or something, and surprisingly, THEY LISTENED! and CHANGED IT!)
And if you don't think feeding the African dwarf frogs will be an issue, then by all means, I would get 2 (not just one since they will be lonely of course), they are fun to watch and not just a "fish"
And like you said, the power won't be an issue then from the sounds of it. I am sure we all at home have had power outages for 1-4 hours, and usually the fish are okay except in over stocked tanks.
I could see how this could be driving you crazy!
So so far your stock is
-5 kuhli loaches
-2 ADF
-some shrimpies
From what I have been reading now, in order to have a tight knit school, you want to have a dozen or so fish to see the behavior. I've also read that rummynose are among the best schoolers out there.. so if you can find some healthy ones and willing to shell out a little extra cash, they would fit the bill for middle, tight schoolers.
Perhaps do
-5 kuhlis
-2 ADF
-A dozen rummy nose tetras
And using the wonderful AqAdvisor your stock would be at 81% http://www.aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor....AqSpeciesWindowSize=short&AqSearchMode=simple
I would add a center piece fish, like a pair of dwarf gouramis, sparkling gouramis, or a peaceful male betta, and call it good
(unless you want to add another ADF 
Then do some low light live plants, like java fern/anubias attached to driftwood :0)
Hope this helps! It's wonderful what you are doing!
It's a very lovely idea, but I see some very large practicality problems with the fact that the power goes on and off - you can't have a tropical tank with power that does that as more than a couple of degrees variation in temp and fish get stressed... too low temp or too high for too long and they'll die. Similar problem with the filter for any kind of fish.
In terms of power back-up I've researched this for my own future tropical tanks (and for my current coldwater one for when I can afford to go on holiday) and the only really practical solution is a generator, which is a further cost.
In my opinion fish are high maintenance pets as they're delicate creatures and you can't tell what's wrong with them always and nor can you take them to a vet. Are you prepared to deal with having to tell a particularly attached resident that their pet just died? What about all the water changes, filter cleanings, water parameter checks etc - can you guarantee that your replacement will do all that? Are you able to commit to it too?
I'm not very DIY handy so I didn't really understand what you meant about the shelves and I brackets - are you planning to put the tank on a wall shelf? Is that even possible with all that weight?
I don't want to bring anyone down, especially when you have such good intentions, but to do this unprepared will result in another nightmare like your boss had, and I don't want that to happen either to the fish or to such vulnerable residents
I just want to make sure that you know all the responsibilities and practicalities of keeping fish!
In terms of power back-up I've researched this for my own future tropical tanks (and for my current coldwater one for when I can afford to go on holiday) and the only really practical solution is a generator, which is a further cost.
In my opinion fish are high maintenance pets as they're delicate creatures and you can't tell what's wrong with them always and nor can you take them to a vet. Are you prepared to deal with having to tell a particularly attached resident that their pet just died? What about all the water changes, filter cleanings, water parameter checks etc - can you guarantee that your replacement will do all that? Are you able to commit to it too?
I'm not very DIY handy so I didn't really understand what you meant about the shelves and I brackets - are you planning to put the tank on a wall shelf? Is that even possible with all that weight?
I don't want to bring anyone down, especially when you have such good intentions, but to do this unprepared will result in another nightmare like your boss had, and I don't want that to happen either to the fish or to such vulnerable residents
I just want to make sure that you know all the responsibilities and practicalities of keeping fish!
That isn't entirely true. As long as the power doesnt' go off for long periods of time the fish aren't going to get that stressed out. I wouldn't worry that much about the power unless it goes out for like 6 hours at a time.
I think a 20 gallon long is really your best best for the dimensions you want. I don't think you need a top water fish on top of your current stocking. A 20 gallon long isn't very tall so a swimming fish then a bottom dwelling fish will work out great.
I don't know about the kuhli loaches and the shrimp, loaches have a taste for snails and shrimp, so you might have to pick one or the other.
Lighting wise you don't need anything super powerful it's a shallow tank so the light will hit the bottom really fast. This fixture in 30" would be my choice. I can donate some java fern and a red lotus plant if you would like them when your ready. Send me a PM when the time comes.
To save on money with the power just pick up a power strip from any hardware store, it doesn't need to be a lot of juice as you won't be drawing a lot, then get a regular old timer, it will probably be cheaper then getting a full on aquarium with timer unit.
for filters if you don't have room for a hang on the back do you have room to run at least the hoses of a canister filter? You can look on ebay or craigslist for a used canister. There are generics online that people say work pretty decent for the price. I think one of the brands is sun sun but I have never owned one of them so don't quote me on that.
To monkey around with stocking choices and tank maintenance check out www.aqadvisor.com but after you are done with that post your choices back here because its not perfect and can't account for everything.
I think a 20 gallon long is really your best best for the dimensions you want. I don't think you need a top water fish on top of your current stocking. A 20 gallon long isn't very tall so a swimming fish then a bottom dwelling fish will work out great.
I don't know about the kuhli loaches and the shrimp, loaches have a taste for snails and shrimp, so you might have to pick one or the other.
Lighting wise you don't need anything super powerful it's a shallow tank so the light will hit the bottom really fast. This fixture in 30" would be my choice. I can donate some java fern and a red lotus plant if you would like them when your ready. Send me a PM when the time comes.
To save on money with the power just pick up a power strip from any hardware store, it doesn't need to be a lot of juice as you won't be drawing a lot, then get a regular old timer, it will probably be cheaper then getting a full on aquarium with timer unit.
for filters if you don't have room for a hang on the back do you have room to run at least the hoses of a canister filter? You can look on ebay or craigslist for a used canister. There are generics online that people say work pretty decent for the price. I think one of the brands is sun sun but I have never owned one of them so don't quote me on that.
To monkey around with stocking choices and tank maintenance check out www.aqadvisor.com but after you are done with that post your choices back here because its not perfect and can't account for everything.
