Starting a Livebearer Tank--Suggesitons

[Fish Folk]

We do two tanks there. One's this livebearer planted one, and the other is a mini-thunder-dome 55 gal up in the high school science class, full of medium-sized American cichlids and hardy tetras. My Dad and I teach the classes about the nitrogen cycle, changing water, etc. 

[StephenP2003]

48 minutes ago, Fish Folk said:

My Dad and I teach the classes about the nitrogen cycle, changing water, etc. 

That's awesome. Meanwhile, my 9-year-old daughter just wants to play Minecraft.

[KaitieG]

1 hour ago, Fish Folk said:

Here’s a video of the 5th grade class tank we set up with mutt outdoor mini pond guppies (33 gal. long)

 

Great video! I'm a teacher too, and I loved seeing that fantastic explanation and setup of a classroom tank!  What a great thing to have in a classroom!  I have a co-worker who has a big tank...maybe a 250...in his office and he teaches in front of it all day!  I'd love that setup, but my office is on the second story of a 100+ year old house, so it couldn't be anything big (5th year teaching middle school online--on purpose!) And small one would still mean hauling water up and down the stairs for water changes.  Though, come to think of it, that might be a good incentive for some exercise!

 

[KaitieG]

1 minute ago, StephenP2003 said:

That's awesome. Meanwhile, my 9-year-old daughter just wants to play Minecraft.

My 10 year old likes to feed, my 7 year old likes to gravel vac, and my almost 3 year old is only allowed near the tanks with constant supervision after she put handfulls of play-doh in the 20 gallon the first week we had it because she wanted to add some decorations.

Electronics can be safer and less messy 🙂 

[KaitieG]

2 hours ago, StephenP2003 said:

Yep! Just filmed today and put some clips together:

 

This seriously made my night!  I couldn't help but laugh because it's just so HAPPY!  So cool!

[Fish Folk]

8 hours ago, KaitieG said:

my almost 3 year old is only allowed near the tanks with constant supervision after she put handfulls of play-doh in the 20 gallon the first week we had it because she wanted to add some decorations

My younger brother once added about _3 month's-worth_ of fish food to our goldfish tank. Somehow they survived. Had to do a 100% water change, deal with bacterial blooms . . . ugh! Now he's very good with the fish. 

[KaitieG]

21 minutes ago, Fish Folk said:

My younger brother once added about _3 month's-worth_ of fish food to our goldfish tank. Somehow they survived. Had to do a 100% water change, deal with bacterial blooms . . . ugh! Now he's very good with the fish. 

Ours all made it through the playdoh too--I caught it relatively quickly and got some of it out while it was still in lumps.  The rest took multiple rounds with the gravel vac and huge water changes but cleared up within about 3 days, and she is much better with the fish now.  She was only about one at the time.  I'm still not totally sure how she managed to get the playdoh in there!  

[Lemon]

1 hour ago, Fish Folk said:

My younger brother once added about _3 month's-worth_ of fish food to our goldfish tank. Somehow they survived. Had to do a 100% water change, deal with bacterial blooms . . . ugh! Now he's very good with the fish. 

yesterday I spilled half my fish food into a 10 I didn't have a lot but I was still like 2 weeks worth of feedings at once