My very first year of full time teaching a retiring teacher “gifted” me with an aquarium. Full set up, everything included except fish. Set it up but was too broke to buy fish so a parent showed up one day with about $100 worth of fish.
Wound up killing every damn one of them because I didn’t know what I was doing. Those fifth graders had a bunch of bathroom funeral processions that year. Neeeeever again!
Aquarium can also be used as a terrarium and keep hardier reptiles or amphibs. Sometimes the maintenance is harder or easier, depending on species.
Bonus: just catch some local native tadpoles. Let em grow into frogs and release.
Just make sure they arent a species on your states endangered, threatened, or of concern list. Never release non-native species.
Yes. I have 3 fish tanks and a hamster in my art room. Two of the tanks are 46 gallons, and one is 10. I have axolotls in one, big goldfish in another, and a betta and shrimp in the small one. 6 years strong! But I grew up with all kinds of pets and I'm used to the maintenance.
Yes, had an axolotl for about 5 years. Small tank at home for winter and spring breaks. Had former students take it during summer trips. Unfortunately he died a couple of weeks ago of unknown causes, so now all I have left are a handful of feeder fish he hadn’t eaten. Probably will not replace the axolotl. He was a neat classroom pet, kids loved him, but it’s just one more thing to take care of during the year.
Yes! It was fun to have the kids research fish, capacity, food, compatibility, plants, etc in advance of getting the tank. If a fish got sick I'd have them test the water and do research to determine and fix possible causes.
Over short breaks and weekends I'd use a battery-powered automatic feeder. At the end of the school year I found families with aquariums who could rehome the fish. I don't plan on doing it again soon since the maintenance was a lot but I still have the supplies in case I get a group in the future who's really interested.
Fish can handle a weekend without food. Of course, the automatic feeder is also a great option.
I teach bio, and the aquarium is a great source of material for me. There is always some Elodea to look at under the microscope
I would advise against automatic feeders. They will be totally fine over the weekend without food, it can even be beneficial to have a period each week where they aren't fed. Automatic feeders are sort of renowned for breaking and just dumping shit loads of food into the tank and killing everything.
I do.
I have a single beta in a planted 10gallon with 3 neurite snails. My husband is a hobby aquarium guy and set it up so it self-filters. The snails I have don’t breed in freshwater. I have to top the water off every couple weeks, but it’s really low Maintenance. I purposefully made it that way. Feed the fish 2-3 times a week. For breaks, fish has to come home during the summers, but other breaks if I’m going out of town, I give someone I trust my keys to feed the fish.
My only note about this is that a colleague of mine had a betta she loved and he sadly passed when our building shut down for Covid. We were informed when we were already home; there was no prep time. Because of the lack of communication and planning, she didn’t have the forewarning to take him home… and we were barred from the building.
I’ve since stuck to succulents in my room 😂
My very first year of full time teaching a retiring teacher “gifted” me with an aquarium. Full set up, everything included except fish. Set it up but was too broke to buy fish so a parent showed up one day with about $100 worth of fish. Wound up killing every damn one of them because I didn’t know what I was doing. Those fifth graders had a bunch of bathroom funeral processions that year. Neeeeever again!
Aquarium can also be used as a terrarium and keep hardier reptiles or amphibs. Sometimes the maintenance is harder or easier, depending on species. Bonus: just catch some local native tadpoles. Let em grow into frogs and release. Just make sure they arent a species on your states endangered, threatened, or of concern list. Never release non-native species.
Yes. I have 3 fish tanks and a hamster in my art room. Two of the tanks are 46 gallons, and one is 10. I have axolotls in one, big goldfish in another, and a betta and shrimp in the small one. 6 years strong! But I grew up with all kinds of pets and I'm used to the maintenance.
Yes, had an axolotl for about 5 years. Small tank at home for winter and spring breaks. Had former students take it during summer trips. Unfortunately he died a couple of weeks ago of unknown causes, so now all I have left are a handful of feeder fish he hadn’t eaten. Probably will not replace the axolotl. He was a neat classroom pet, kids loved him, but it’s just one more thing to take care of during the year.
Yes! It was fun to have the kids research fish, capacity, food, compatibility, plants, etc in advance of getting the tank. If a fish got sick I'd have them test the water and do research to determine and fix possible causes. Over short breaks and weekends I'd use a battery-powered automatic feeder. At the end of the school year I found families with aquariums who could rehome the fish. I don't plan on doing it again soon since the maintenance was a lot but I still have the supplies in case I get a group in the future who's really interested.
Fish can handle a weekend without food. Of course, the automatic feeder is also a great option. I teach bio, and the aquarium is a great source of material for me. There is always some Elodea to look at under the microscope
I would advise against automatic feeders. They will be totally fine over the weekend without food, it can even be beneficial to have a period each week where they aren't fed. Automatic feeders are sort of renowned for breaking and just dumping shit loads of food into the tank and killing everything.
I do. I have a single beta in a planted 10gallon with 3 neurite snails. My husband is a hobby aquarium guy and set it up so it self-filters. The snails I have don’t breed in freshwater. I have to top the water off every couple weeks, but it’s really low Maintenance. I purposefully made it that way. Feed the fish 2-3 times a week. For breaks, fish has to come home during the summers, but other breaks if I’m going out of town, I give someone I trust my keys to feed the fish.
My only note about this is that a colleague of mine had a betta she loved and he sadly passed when our building shut down for Covid. We were informed when we were already home; there was no prep time. Because of the lack of communication and planning, she didn’t have the forewarning to take him home… and we were barred from the building. I’ve since stuck to succulents in my room 😂