Questions for teachers with tanks in their classrooms

[BigMatt14]

Whatever your husband decides to do, make sure he checks with the administration and maintenance staff before he starts setting up his aquarium. Most of the time teachers will ask the administration, but forget to talk to the maintenance department.

I am the director of maintenance for a school and this little detail often times gets overlooked. I have no problem with aquariums in classrooms, so long as they're not giant, and there is a reasonable location for them. Basically, so long as they're not creating a fire hazard due to their location, or blocking anything we need access to, and small enough that we can move them if we absolutely needed to, then they're fine. I currently have 2 classrooms with aquariums, a 29 gallon and a 20 gallon and I love them.

Just thought I'd share that. The maintenance staff will really appreciate the consideration. It's the small things that make us happy. Hope it helps.

 

[AA79606]

Matt! This is exactly why I posted my question on here, thank you so much for your input. I would not have thought about checking with the maintenance staff, but of course it makes perfect sense to do so.

And thank you EVERYONE for your responses, you guys are great, I really appreciate the advice and insight! I definitely think we will need to see his actual classroom before we make any concrete decisions on tank size and inhabitants. And also ask some of the experienced teachers and staff about the average room temps, etc. in the building. Perhaps I can just come up with a couple of possible options in my head and then when the time comes, go with the setup that is best suited for the situation.

Oh and please keep sharing your thoughts, experiences and opinions! Thanks so much!

Whatever your husband decides to do, make sure he checks with the administration and maintenance staff before he starts setting up his aquarium. Most of the time teachers will ask the administration, but forget to talk to the maintenance department.

I am the director of maintenance for a school and this little detail often times gets overlooked. I have no problem with aquariums in classrooms, so long as they're not giant, and there is a reasonable location for them. Basically, so long as they're not creating a fire hazard due to their location, or blocking anything we need access to, and small enough that we can move them if we absolutely needed to, then they're fine. I currently have 2 classrooms with aquariums, a 29 gallon and a 20 gallon and I love them.

Just thought I'd share that. The maintenance staff will really appreciate the consideration. It's the small things that make us happy. Hope it helps.

 

[AA79606]

And keep the food out of reach too!

Oh yes! It's funny because my two kids completely ignore my tanks, so I never think about telling them not to mess with the fish. Then this summer, one of my teenage son's friends decided to feed them and dumped a bunch of food into one of the tanks.

 

[AA79606]

I put a pleco (BN), Briggs snail, shrimp and some guppies in my son's preschool class. The kids loved the tank. With the more unusual critters...it was a big hit!

Good idea! A full grown BN with all his bristles is quite a sight to see! And you don't have to worry about him eating your shrimp either!

 

[AA79606]

Know the room before you choose livestock! Many older school buildings have pretty archaic climate control systems and the temp of the room could vary widely, particularly over breaks. Heating a tank is easy but cooling one isn't.

That's a great point, especially here in Texas.... yet another reason I don't think we'll be able to leave a tank up over the summer. Seems like the newer school buildings are all kept very very cold, but the older ones can get quite hot, even during regular class hours.