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Primary School's tank

catxx

Member
Joined
11 May 2009
Messages
36
Location
St Albans, UK
Following on from this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7011

Here's the tank as of today:
3881470092_7deda331c8.jpg

They've lost a few fish over the summer sadly, but it has made their stocking a little more reasonable!

Going to give it a good water change next week. It's a Juwel, can anyone ID exactly what model? It doesn't say what on it.

This will become a fairly basically planted tank, can't go high end! I have some Hygrophilia polysperma and java moss I will be adding once we've got bogwood in.

The current stocking is:
1x RTBS
1x lonely Neon Tetra
2x Rummynose Tetras
4x Long-Finned Zebra Danioes
1x male Swordtail
They are most attached to the RTBS, sadly, was thinking of a few more Neons and Rummys to build up those schools a little.
 
it wont be long before the noens and rummies become dinner for the RTBS. and then it will eat all the others when it gets a little bigger. not suitable for that tank unfortunately.
 
I did fear that, there was a Bala in there too but that's already keeled over. I'll have to see if ADC will take the RTBS and find a suitable alternative - any suggestions? What about Kribensis? A friend has fry growing on.

I'll have to see what I can do, the kids get attached to these critters and the "shark" ones are always the favourites!
 
as its a primary school tank i would stick to very colourful easy to keep fihs, like tetras and barbs.
Are you addressing why these fish keep dying? i wouldnt be adding any more fish whilst the problem is there.
 
ah ha! I haven't yet had the chance to have the lid off this tank nor experimented with a vision 180. If I can get the heater inside the filter casing, in it will go!

Oh and I suspect the reason fish died is that no one has done a water change since the end of term (and it may well be longer than that)! The headmistress doesn't even have a gravel syphon...

This will be resolved next week and I won't be restocking the tank until I've got some new decor in there and rehomed the RTBS.
 
I'm sure the kids will like it! Like you said, I would get the Tetra numbers up. I'm not sure if Kribs would be suitable, they tend to be quite aggressive and I'm not sure if the tank is big enough for the other fish to have their space. Maybe try Rams as an alternative when you're sure things are stable, German Blues are really colourful.
 
I think I am going to stay non-Cichlid. My brother had a German Blue Ram that killed everything! A bit untrustworthy.

I will rehome the RTBS, bring up the tetra numbers and see how we're doing then once decor and plants are in!

The Danios have kinda ruled out any "centrepiece" like Honey Gouramis. There used to be a Dwarf Gourami in there before the summer holidays, I imagine it was one of the first to keel over as it was looking particularly poor then. There were also Odessa and Rosy Barbs as well as the Bala in there too, all disappeared now!
 
Well I paid my trip to ADC and picked them up a syphon, algae scrub, thermometer and a huge bottle of dechlorinator - plus a few freebies from the lovely store and their (slightly reluctant) agreement to take the RTBS too! The clean out will be next Wednesday.
 
I wondered what "a few" meant when you said they had lost some fish? There has obviously been quite a mixture of fish put in there and I also wondered if they are quarantined first. dwarf gouramis have a bit of a reputation for carrying disease. I once had a commmunity wiped out after adding some dwarf gouramis that i had only quarantined for a week - obviously not long enough. I wouldnt add any more fish until youre sure theres not anything nasty in there.
 
Noooo quarantine, these will all have been bunged in at once, approximately a year ago. The poor headteacher was lumbered with the tank more or less when the original person went off on long-term sick leave, she doesn't even know the name of the fish species (like the lonely Neon Tetra - which was a pair before the summer!)

I really think, based on how active the current fish are now, that the missing other fish were a combination of complete lack of tank maintenance and the RTBS!

I won't be adding to the stocking for a few months, not until I've got the new decor in and got a proper routine in place for water changes! But it's good to plan ahead as that is all the kids/teachers are wondering!

This was the stocking before summer, as you can see a LOT is now "missing". Apparently there were more fish when the tank was first set up!
2x Rosy Barbs
4x Zebra Danios - long fin
2x Neon Tetras
2x Rummynose Tetras
1x Swordtail
1x Bala Shark
1x Red Tailed Black Shark
1x Dwarf Gourami
2x Odessa Barbs
and a bunch of Apple Snails
 
Oh dear, they lost quite a few then!

As for the
The poor headteacher was lumbered with the tank
I think shes really lucky to have found someone who will give the time to looking after it, as Im sure it will look fab again soon. This makes me feel a bit guilty as I should really have one set up for the school I work in. Yep the kids would love it. But I know I wouldn't have the time to look after it like I do my own. Either that or I'd get no work done! :D

Don't know if i'm teaching a granny to suck eggs, but a lot of the fish on that list should've been in larger groups anyway. Yes that was quite a mixture! Does the rtbs have a nice big, round tummy? :rolleyes:
 
Yes the RTBS does have a suspiciously round tum tum ;)

And no, I don't work at the school but the headteacher and one other member of staff is going into "training" on basic maintenance on the tank (water changes etc). And afterwards they'll have contact details of our little central london fishkeeping group and the store that we trust in any emergencies! I discovered the tank when I went to vote earlier in the year and emailed them on the chance they needed a hand as it looked so sad! I live only a 5 minute walk from the school.

The kids LOVE the tank though, always say hello to the fish as they pass, it's definitely a great learning tool I think. If you do set one up in your school, train a couple of members of staff on the care of it, just in case of long holidays/people leaving etc.

Before I came along the tank had been entirely neglected as the original member of staff that got it set up has gone on long-term sick leave and is unlikely to return sadly.
 
Hi Cat,

Firstly I have to apollogise as I haven't sent the box of goodies to the school yet as I haven't had time, they will be in the post this week though I promise. :thumbup:

Secondly stocking wise I can't recommend Pentazona Barbs enough, they are non aggressive, look beautiful and schoal brilliantly, they are also very playful with each other. :thumbup:
 
Pentazona's are the ones that look a little like Tiger Barbs but don't have such a tall body and thinner bands right? I'll bear them in mind!! Thanks!!
 
Cro said:
Hi Cat,

Secondly stocking wise I can't recommend Pentazona Barbs enough, they are non aggressive, look beautiful and schoal brilliantly, they are also very playful with each other. :thumbup:


These are a great fish - I bought some odessa barbs (12) many moons ago and I wish i had bought these instead - also known as Fivebanded Barb, they shoal tight and in the right light slivers of green can be seen on their bodies - truly a stunning like fish and the male fish are redish / pinky colour. I always look at these when I go the fish shop - see atached shortcut for details.

http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Punt ... tazona.php

Regards

Paul.
 
Well it got its little water change today. The filter media was deeeesgusting! It turned into a nice yellow cloudy gunk tank once i'd run the syphon through the gravel, but never mind! One of the nice ladies who's taken over readily agreed to weekly changes so it should be looking much better in no time!

Have yet to remove the RTBS, will do asap though. Maybe at the end of the week if the box of goodies from Cro arrives.
 
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