School Tank

[natalie265]

I just got the OK from my principal to put a fish tank in the counseling office! Now, what to put in it? Some factors to consider:

size will be 30-55 gallons
fish and their care can't be too expensive
our water here is very hard and basic


Also, the thermostat is turned down to 60 degrees faranheiht over xmas break. At what temp is the room too cold for the heater to be effective?

 

[AdamM]

as far as the heater goes, just put 2 or 3 in.

 

[Shelby]

I think it depends on what look you are going for.

Regardless of what the room temp (as long as it's reasonable) you can get heaters relatively inexpensive.

Also there is the whole cycling the tank issue. There is tons and tons of information on here. Pouring water in a tank and dumping in fish will net you dead fish for sure. If you don't cycle the tank we are talking water changes daily to keep the amonia down.

 

[AdamM]

In my opinion the best bet would probably be to put in a massive school of tetras, probably neons, and a few bottom feeders, such as some BN plecs...

Afterthought:

and as far as cycling goes, you could always swap some of the new media that comes with the new tank with some of the media in your own tank at home to kick start the cycle, that way the tank will cycle VERY quickly.

 

[drobbyb]

With hard, alkaline water, I would vote for all male livebearers. They do better in those water conditions than tetras.

 

[ian]

tetras also don't tend to do well in a new tamk either.

 

[natalie265]

Multiple heaters!! What an obvious solution that for some reason i never thought of! Thanks!!

I like the live bearers idea. What else could i put in with a bunch of male guppies? Are there any bottom dwellers that do well in hard, alkaline water? What about plecs? Kids love them. How do they do in alkaline water? Are there any that wouldn't outgrow a 55 gallon?

Thanks for the ideas.

and btw, i am not new to fish keeping and understand the nitrogen cycle. cycling comments are not needed, though appreciated.

 

[AdamM]

As plecs go Bristlenoses are ace in that size tank, you could get 3 or so nicely. As far as livebearers go, i would put in females, because the males could very possibly fight.

One more thing, whos gonna feed the fish and take care of the tank on summer holidays, over xmas, easter etc?

 

[drobbyb]

Well, the reason I said all males is that if you get females, they will breed. This in itself isn't a bad thing and the kids would love it, but as what usually happens is they will continue to breed until the tank is severely overstocked. This also leaves a problem of what to do with all the babies. Every 28 days there are going to be more, sometimes 20 per female, every month. This gets out of hand pretty quickly.

 

[AdamM]

i didnt mean both male and female, i meant just females to stop aggression

 

[NinjaSmurf]

AdamM, I don't know how well you know livebearers, but almost any female you get at a petstore is already pregnant, so unless they can get a hold of virgins... I agree with all males, although with a 30 to 55 gallon I would want more than just livebearers and some bottom dwellers. And I would only go with one plec, as they are very messy.

Also, if you put driftwood in it might help a little with the hard water.


Edit: Perhaps a center piece cichlid of some sort? Not sure what type though.

 

[mr130gallon]

couldnt you do an mbuna tank, they like hard water dont they? nd they are colourful

 

[Kitty_Nin]

What about barbs and danios, and some bottom dwellers? Both are hardy and can have water on the cooler side, very colorful and active.

55 gal example:
2x Pitbull Pleco
10x Danio (you could get different ones, they'll school together)
5x Odessa Barb
6x Tiger Barb
5x Pygmy Cory or Tail Spot Pygmy Cory

Now that is 100% stocked, but if you have good filtration it should be alright. It's not ideal from a hobbyist pov, but I imagine that they'll want a full, active tank.

You could also try Rosy barbs, they get bigger than Tiger Barbs, but my Rosy barbs and Odessa barbs school together, so that might actually be better than Tiger barbs, Odessas can be aggressive. So maybe 4x Odessa barbs and 4xRosy barbs.

 

[natalie265]

As for caring for them over winter and summer breaks, my secretary lives just across the street from the school. She has agreed to feed them every few days throughout the summer and winter breaks. She seems excited about the tank too, and offered to do it. Plus, she has a teenage son that i could probably pay to do it. Additionally, i take weekly horseback riding lessons near the school throughout the summer, so i'll be in the area for that anyways and can feed and clean the tanks before or after my lesson. The custodians are in the building daily and can alert me if they find any problems: leaks, dead fish, whatever.

I really like the barbs, danio idea. A big school of zebra danio would be fun, with maybe a smaller school of odessa barbs. If i go with guppies, i think i'd do all male. I don't want to deal with hundreds of fry.

One thing i forgot to mention: i love having live plants in my tank, and would like to do this tank as a low tech planted. I believe this rules out most, if not all african cichlids. The hard water will rule out the south american cichlids. (Unless i can find a cheap, second hand RO unit!) This might also rule out the plecs, unless someone can recommend a small, plant friendly one.

 

[drobbyb]

BN plecs can handle hard water. I've seen them in quite a few african rift lake setups.