Clownfish for classroom

[philipwaldram]

I am a teacher and would like to buy a smallish tank and have 1 or 2 clownfish or other brightly coloured, interesting fish. Are there any suggestions for tank size and fish type?
Would it be easier to buy a marine starter kit or buy each of the items separately? What exactly would I need?
Thanks in advance for all of your help.
Phil

 

[DeepSea]

I am a teacher and would like to buy a smallish tank and have 1 or 2 clownfish or other brightly coloured, interesting fish. Are there any suggestions for tank size and fish type?
Would it be easier to buy a marine starter kit or buy each of the items separately? What exactly would I need?
Thanks in advance for all of your help.
Phil

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I know I'm still new here, but I think this is a very good article
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=31715

 

[fraservet]

do you have experience keeping fish?

if not, I would consider starting with freshwater.
a small freshwater tank is cheap, easy, and much less problematic.

if you have some experience then ok.
A 29gallon tank is really the minimum you should attempt.
a "starter kit" will probably be more expensive than diy, and you have to be careful that the components are up to scratch, but in theory should make things easier for you.

You will need
the tank
a hood
a couple of marine white and actinic tubes (one of each or 50/50 tubes)
live rock
aragonite sand
heater
couple of powerheads
protein skimmer
possibly an internal or external filter for chemical media
reverse osmosis water (or de-ionised water/purified water which schools may have)
marine salt
timers for the lights
thermometer
refractometer/hydrometer
buckets etc. for changing water
food - flake/frozen/fresh - a variety is best
a book on setting up a marine tank

and probably a few other things I have forgotten.

in the tank, you can have a pair of clowns as well as perhaps a shrimp/goby pairing and a clean up crew of snails/crabs/shrimps etc.
other possible tank mates are firefish, chromis, blennies.
there are other fish that could go in that size tank, but are less hardy.

NB - clownfish DO NOT require an anemone to host in.

Also, would there be adequate care of the tank during holidays?
They require more maintenance than a standard freshwater tank.

 

[steelhealr]

In a nutshell...keeping a marine tank in a classroom is very 'honorable' and a great thought. But, considerations:
1) nano tanks need constant care and supervision
2) weekends and holidays....who will maintain salinity? topoff? feed? There is always 5-10 minutes worth of work to do on a nano tank daily.
3) in the best of situations there will always be a risk that students may put things in the tank

I agree that a FW tank may be more suitable. I think they are more tolerant of 'abuse' or need less care. What do you think? SH

 

[billa_bong]

I would do a 40 gallon AGA tank with a black stand.

Get a nice hang on protein skimmer, get 1 good power head to move water, and a about 50lbs of liverock (search ebay, i know a guy that sells it for 2.19 a pound and its walt smith premium, very good stuff and the shipping isnt bad)

You can have a pair of percula clowns, a firefish, and a yellow watchman goby. a great, colorful mix.

If you want to get some nice compact lighting or t5 to grow some selct corals, thats a possibility too...

I would say the tank/stand should run you 200, the hang on skimmer probably 250, the liverock (buy somewhere online and cure in you

tank/stand - 200
protein skimmer - 250
liverock - 200
lighting - i would go with something like this: click here it will give you good lighting on a 40 in my opinion. cost ya probably 170


when it comes down to it, your at about 800 bucks give or take a 100 for tax, usually if you go into a fish store and buy a tank/stand/powerhead/protein skimmer they will knock off a hundred bucks..

that would be a great way to start off and for a marine tank, not a bad price.

oh by the way, that lighting ebay seller is great and i recommend him, except dont buy any of his sump kits, they kind of stink...but his lighting is great...

 

[billa_bong]

In a nutshell...keeping a marine tank in a classroom is very 'honorable' and a great thought. But, considerations:
1) nano tanks need constant care and supervision
2) weekends and holidays....who will maintain salinity? topoff? feed? There is always 5-10 minutes worth of work to do on a nano tank daily.
3) in the best of situations there will always be a risk that students may put things in the tank

I agree that a FW tank may be more suitable. I think they are more tolerant of 'abuse' or need less care. What do you think? SH

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i agree, a freshwater might be a lot easier to mantain.

i mean, what happens when summer comes around, you either move it to your house, or stop in school everyday to make sure everything is ok...

 

[Opcn]

in summer you will have to move the tank to your house anyways, fresh or salt because if its left ath the school I garauntee you will fall behind on maintainance. Personally I think a 40 is a great idea, Especially if you or your (Girlfriend/wife/partner/parent/sibling/inlaw/closefirend) are any good at DIT, A 40 gallon tank doesnt cost that much, can get them for 20 bucks at a yardsale, DIY a hood for another 40, tubes still cost as much,LR of ebay, Live sand mixed 30/70 with argonite or dolomite will end up costing a few hundred dollars. 40's are stable enought to last a weekend without a topoff, especially if you have a cover on it (a tight fitting glass cover with an air oulet hole and and air inlet hole with an airpump hooked to it would be a good idea, maybe a little handle to lift it off) a pair of very small clownfish (I recomend false percula or osclarrus (sp) as they are more orangey orange than the yellow orange of true percullas, you can tell because they have a clear border around the edges of there fins) Maybe a firefish, a watchman goby pistol shrimp pair, maybe just maybe a dwarf angel aswell.

But in the end money comes up, if you are a public school teacher in the US then money is a bit tight I'll bet, because you are underpayed and can't get a second job as you spend so much time on the first one. You wont get away with a tank that you can leave over the weekend for under 750 dollars, you can set up a colorfull 20 gallon FW tank that can go two weeks with only one feeding during that time (or an automatice feeder wich you couldset up so that you would only have to take off the tank cover for maintainance) I'm rambling, sorry, 90 dollars or so, after livestock, maybe you could start out with FW and argonite substrate and then after a few years with high PH fish (like mollies) switch to brackish (you could keep the mollies) then switch to full salt and buy live rock and sand.

Good luck, sorry I've been rambling. If your planning on taking weekends off or any vacations at all buy 40 gallons or more.

Edit: didn't look at the name, totally assumed you were a female (male to female ratio for secondary school here is like 1:2 lower still for primary), sorry )