Setting up School Tank

[JessTheTeacher]

Hello to everyone!

I am a 3rd grade teacher at Columbia Grammar School in Manhattan. I have been refered here by my friend Phil (Rookie07), as I am looking into setting up a Fresh Water Tank in my classroom.

I do not know much about setting up & maintaining a tank, so I am here looking for help as Rookie07 said he was clueless with Fresh water.

I am looking to setup a 5 Gallon tank, but do not know where to begin aside from the 5 gallon tank.

This tank is in a classroom and will be unfed for a day here and their during vacations and weekends, but I am willing to take it home over the summer. So, any livestock must be hardy and easy to care for.

I plan to integrate the tank into my lesson plan for science, general life skill and how to care for other animals. The students will have some responsibility when it comes to feeding and cleaning the tank.



Any and all advice is appreciated.

Thank You All Very Much

Jessica
:spin:

 

[rookie07]

Welcome Jessica!
I hope you get the help I could not give.

 

[rkaragozler]

Welcome Jessica, Another member here also set up a freshwater tank in a school that he was in. my question to you is why only 5 gallons?? it will be small and really can house only a couple of fish, mainly small tetras.

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

Hey jess if i was you i would do a simple twenty gallon with cichlids, i have done cichlids for years and can tell ya that they can be healthy eaters and hardy fish once they are in a steady invironment , and they are extremely colorful and fun to watch .

 

[skene]

I have done freshwater for years. I can only advise that you would be severely limited to the types of fish that you can keep within a 5 gal tank. You can probably best look towards neon tetras and probably some pygmy coris. Due to size constraints.

 

[Fu-Manchu]

Perhaps Gupies would be a really nice fish for a nano tank, hope this helps brow

 

[al0ha]

welcome, i'd say do at least do a 10 gallon. if u want i could donate a piece of malaysian driftwood to you too! cichlid tanks are nice but i think the kids would love a cherry shrimp tank, cute and eyecatching....you can easily achieve a sustainable population as they are very easy to breed and keep. also you can probably go for a while without major feeding.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

If space is not a constraint, try to use at least a 10G for beginner. 5G and less will require more skills.

I can donate plants and couple baby fish to your school, I have platy(originally from SMOG), guppies and mollies. They are hardy and liver bearers meaning you can see their life cycle from being born to giving birth in very short period of time and even in a small tank like 10G.

Since you said you do not know how to setup the tank, do you know(or will you learn fast enough) to maintain the tank?


Basic setup is:
1)a filter
Depends on amount of fish and type of fish a simple bubbler filter can do the work for very small population of fish and that your class will not over feed them. Else, you should go for at least a power filter. Petland <$20 10G Kit has a bubbler filter.
2)a light source for viewing and for plants to grow
Avoid the light from Petland, they are too weak for the plants and the light color is very ugly
3)a tank
I think a 10 is a good start for beginner
4)an extra bucket for aging water
This bucket, you put tap water in and age for at least 2 days before using it
You can even teach your student about the dirts in the water that settles at the bottom of this bucket and the gas forming on the side of it
5)some type of substrate
When setting up the tank in this minimal setup, the parameter of the tank will fluctuate quite a bit. The substrate will stabilize a tank better BUT make sure you do not use direct tap water. Depends on what inhabitants are in the tank, the substrate will be different. A cichlid tank may use crushed coral; general tropical fish like the platy, you can use pebbles; planted tank, you may want planting substrate like Flurite(If you are skilful, you can use topsoil from your plants and top it with pebbles.
6)A heater
Do not trust the cheap one, they break too easily
There are couples ways to use the heater. If you get the one that you have the controller outside the tank, I like to put in under the substrate.

 

[rookie07]

She wanted to keep it small bc of size restraints.

 

[tentacles]

Echoing what others have said, starting with a 10g would give you much more options than a 5g wout. At Petland (on LI at least), they sell a basic 10g kit for $16.88 that includes the tank, filter + air pump, substrate, a small bottle a water conditioner and maybe a few decorations, I'm not totally sure. It's a pretty good deal, and depending on your budget you can invest more money in a hood with plant supporting lights, a decent heater, plants, etc. Good Luck

 

[yah-the submariner]

hey Jessica,i think it's great you're doing this. great advice so far.M.R helped me set up my first school tank build of a 90 gal african cichlid tank by donating the tank,equipment you name it and it's thriving now. i've since set-up 5 more tanks in my and other schools for friends,including puffers,african tetras ect. i would go with a ten gallon as stated. you could also do barbs (cherry,green,tiger.ect) they're lively and hardy. but platy and other suggestions are fine as well. you can also use fake plants,rocks,driftwood.over filter if possible, 20 gal filter for a 10gal tank. feel free to pm me. i can donate fake plants rocks air bubbler,driftwood,i even have 6 serpae tetra i can donate from my school tank. let me know and good luck!

 

[rookie07]

She will get a 10 gl. I will update when she gets something. Thank you for all your advice! Really helped so far.

 

[rookie07]

I spoke with Jess and she has a plan for a 10 gl, and she is getting approval this week, and will get back to us this weekend

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

I agree w/ the above for the most part, fish will definitely be limited but I would suggest getting a decent filter those bubble filters are crap. Definitely do NOT do cichlids they will outgrow a 10 gallon or even 20 very quickly and kill eachother they can get very aggressive and large quick. Stick w/ the cheaper and easy to keep fish like tetras,dwarf species and guppies. Although they might not keep interest that long do to minimal coloration.

Yah was fortunate enough to get the ok for a 90 and turned it into an awesome tank w/ cichlids w/ great color. Just keep us posted and we will help any way we can. I can probably help you out w/ some deco stuff I'd have to check what fresh water stuff I still have around.

 

[howze01]

I was a nursery school teacher for a little while when i was younger. I had a little tank with Guppies in it and the only drawback was the questions about the babies and where they came from.

Soon after I got rid of the fish and kept a couple little Green Tree Frogs instead.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Good idea howze..a reptile or amphibian tank might be a much better idea. You will have way more options and don't have to worry about water.

 

[jeffvmd]

Good day Jessica.
Go with a 10gallon specially now that petco and petland has $1 per gallon sale on tanks.
There is a 10 gal on petland discounts that comes with an aqueon hang on back filter for $20. That will be a good one to begin with.

As for lighting if it is a fish only tank you could go with the stock hoods that come in with other kits.
Or you may try to look up some lights on aquatraders for cheap nice lighting which can handle live plants.
It will be really great if you go with a planted tank. Just go with easy low light plants.
A great site with vast amount of info on planted tanks are on plantedtank.net

I could give you some endler's livebearers which are really great nano fish for a small tank and some plant trimmings if in case you'd want to go planted.
Other choices are nano fishes such as Celestial pearl Danio (galaxy rasbora), Chili rasboras and a whole lot of other nano fishes which will be good on a 10g.