# Classroom tank!!!



## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Here is the thread to my last classroom tank from my grade 6/7 kids http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/freshwater-chat-9/4gal-classroom-inhabitants-20572/

Last year I could not set up a tank because I was pregnant and going on Maternity leave at the end of November. I had my second child, a daughter born Dec 11, 2013. 
I am going back to work early and begin Sept 3.

A wonderful local donated a 10 gallon tank to me for my classroom YAY! However, my plans for it had to very quickly change when I learned that the only job available for me was a grade 1 full time position. This tank needs to be simple, colourful and active. However, kids very much appreciate a natural aspect. My son who is 3 LOVES the super duper coloured tanks with clown puke gravel, fluorescent plants, ceramic decorations, bubblers and lots and lots of fish. But he still says he likes our fishies better 

I was on vacation for the majority of the summer (June 13-Aug 24) traveling with my husband and kids across Canada. It was AMAZING!
My home tank suffered a few losses though. The only plants that survived were the java ferns. Anubias is barely holding on. The lights were never turned on and the fish were fed 3x per week. I need to wait for a shipment in from the lfs to get more plants, or wait for a low light package on here to re stock my tank. Anyway, that is a different issue.

The plants and livestock that were donated to me for my last classroom tank are long gone. I am basically starting from scratch again.
I will be bringing my tank into the classroom within the first few weeks, probably during a personal property/space/respecting others and their things type lesson.

This will be a journal of its progression and ideas from it. I am thinking of getting just one fish, like a betta with some snails and maybe cherry shrimp. The students can use them as a writing lesson by making a 'blog' from the viewpoint of our fish or other inhabitants in the tank.
My classroom is WARM so I wont be needing a heater. That I am confident of. No really, that room is a sweat shop.

There is also someone local selling 2 hermit crabs and a tank with accessories for $40obo. I am strongly considering them but I need to do more research first. 
Updates soon to come


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I wouldn't put a shrimp in with a betta, I've heard that some people didn't experience issues, but the kids would likely need a lesson about losing loved ones after that.

Bettas are good, especially for 10g tanks, they're colourful and attractive. I don't know how they would do with all the bubbling though, I know they like a calmer surface area. Some bigger sized snails (not pond snails) would add to the liveliness of the tank and can keep him company without the betta feeling territorial.


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## inuudo (Sep 23, 2012)

My planted ten gallon has a betta, six small cories, and apple snail, a nerite snail, and four ghost shrimp. It's always active and interesting. If you add a floating betta log, there will be some respite from the bubbler.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Yeah, a bigger fish like a betta would be sweet, be far more visible with bright colours and all the action going on. Doesn't take much to feed them either, and they're hearty.


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## coppercloud (Apr 14, 2012)

maybe guppy's/ endlers


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Oh I wont add a bubbler. I just said my son likes them... but he is 3 lol. This will be filter, lights, plants and livestock kind of a tank. 
Yea I read a bit about bettas eating shrimp. If it fits in the mouth, it goes in the mouth. I am looking at larger shrimp species.

I love endlers but the kids would need to be pressed up against the glass to see them which wont allow for others to see them. That being said, they are one of my faves and I have not seen them for sale since I was a teenager. They breed readily and the students would LOVE that. I had hets donated to my intermediate elementary class. The students loved them to bits esp since they give birth to live young


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## fishobsessed (Jan 1, 2013)

clown puke gravel - hahahahahahaha. I love that


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## Hollyhawk (Mar 28, 2011)

I never knew that!
I must pick the weirdest Bettas ever.... eveyone of them I have had, including this one plays in the bubbles. They ride them up and down, in and out, go eat, go rest, then go back for more. I always thought that Bettas loved bubblers. Good Grief!


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## jona31 (Jun 28, 2013)

my bettas are the same they all treat there bubblers like a ride they just stay there and ride them all day long lol


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

i think something like cherry shrimp, snails and guppies would be nice..


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Tank is now in the classroom, water in. I put the light fixture from my 20 gal over it. 15watts of normal output fluorescent but it looks a bit dim. Next time I go to the LFS I will need to pick up a new bulb. I will try to remember to bring my school camera tomorrow to take some pics for all of you to see. 

On a side note the 5 gal jug we were using to carry the water unexpectedly and surprisingly broke. My husband put it down gently on the concrete steps to help me with the security door into the school and the jug started to leak from the top corner. He picked it up by the handle and it just exploded in the opposite top corner. A piece of plastic went flying and we lost about 2 gals of water. It was so weird.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Here are the pictures I promised of my classroom and tank  Its all a work in progress.

My desk, student supplies and tank


My unorganized library. I am waiting for book bins (on order) so I can catelogue all books to make it easier for students to find and put them away.


Calendar and Daily 5 


Word wall and CAFE menu


Close up of tank with nothing in it... yet


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Alright, so I picked up 2 15watt 6500k CFL bulbs and installed them into the original hood which I will bring back to school tomorrow to make a hood swap. I also picked up a fluval nano filter. Much better than the HOB I have now. No kids will be sticking their hands in that one


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

what about like 3-4 femail bettas and some corys mabie a few barbs ?

or you could go the live berrer / crs or cherry rout 

btw class room looks great


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I currently have endlers, shrimp & cories (at least one pygmy) along with some plants ready. I will have a few more shrimp and endlers Sunday. Will ship up Monday or Tuesday.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Looking forward to seeing this all put together!

Cheers,
Chris


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

scott tang: I have not seen female bettas for sale at my lfs in 2 years. I even put them on order once to have in my own tank. They never came in. In all actuality, the last time I have seen them for sale was when walmart sold fish in the pet section.

Seahorse_Fanatic: Thank you, the kids will be so excited!

effox: I am looking forward to it too  Mostly, I want to see the kids reaction. I have already been teaching them about cycling and why the water is cloudy, etc. The tank is clear now. Its funny. We had an open house and my students were explaining to their parents why we could not add fish or plants right away to a tank. One even said "SEE! That's why ours died!" lol.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

LOL iv goten that responce when talking to friends about seting a tank up kinda sad realy 

i havent seen them any where but island pets


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

GEEZ! I was working on my saltwater tank the other day removing the LR to let it die in the sun on my deck (The tank crashed; long story). I ended up with a rash all over my arms for a couple hours. Then, we went out to the next town to get bulbs, sand, etc and I ended up with blisters under my eyes, where my sun glasses rest. It took a couple of hours for them to disappear. Today my upper cheeks broke out in blisters again! SUPER ITCHY! Its everything I can to not scratch. I soaked some tissue in vinegar and laid it on my cheeks just in case there were bristle worm hairs in there. The vinegar burned my skin. I ran my face under cool running water for about 10 minutes. I have also been using an icepack to help reduce the blisters/swelling. They are not itchy anymore, but the blisters are ugly and very noticeable.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

If the blisters persist, try to grab some witch hazel and see if it helps. My grandmother had an old remedies book, and I remember it saying it was good to heal blisters, amongst other things.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

i hate brisle worms !!!!! i get rashes all over my hands cause of em its almost whereing gloves lol


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Ouch. I was planning to ship out the fish, shrimp and plants Tuesday morning. Do you want me to hold off another day to let your body recover?


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

no, its fine. blisters are gone now. I'm hoping the vinegar took care of it. It was just itchy and ugly; no pain. But, that was like last time too. I hope they don't come back. That was the second time those blisters appeared since I cleaned my tank the other day. grrrr.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Fish, plants, snails, and shrimp are on the way. Canada Post Express but they said there is only 2 days delivery service. Hopefully everything arrives alive.

Some of Felicia's PFRs and Red cherries are in the shipment.

Anthony


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Hope the tank will do well and kids will enjoy seeing it develop. Endlers will start having babies pretty soon and kids would love it 

Great job with helping this project out, Anthony!


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

Skabooya- ouch that sounds very uncomfortalbe. Hope it doesn't happen again. yikes.

I've been watching these pots about your classroom tanks and when i found out that my sons grade 1 teacher kept a fish for the kids i got all excited. hehe ( we all love to share our hobby ) She only had a little plastic betta bowl that i think are meant as bug holders, but i've asked her if i could set up a little 5 gal for the kids with endlers and shrimp and she seemed to be excited about it. So we'll see how it goes. Thanks for the inspiration.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I am home sick today with a cold, possibly tomorrow too but, I hope not. I feel like I was hit by a mac truck. UGH! But I did go in today to prep for my sub. She came in and I explained everything to her. I told her about our tank... I guess it takes a certain personality to be interested in it. lol.

But yes, the kids were very excited yesterday when I told them that the shipment was on the way. I did explain that going through the mail is very difficult for animals and some may not make it. And when our new friends do show up, we need to be very quiet and walk softly and hands off the tank for a while to let them fell better after a very big move. I will explain it again tomorrow hopefully or the next time I am with my monkeys. And of course again when our friends show up and daily for constant reminders.

I am also going to print out simple profiles of the inhabitants in our tank (plant and animal) and post it above the tank after explaining each to the kids. That way anyone that comes into our room has information, the kids are reminded of what we have and they can explain to others what we have as well. 

Later in the year we will be looking at living things. I will be asking the manager of the humane society to come in and speak with the kids about taking care of their animals and what to do when they see a loose animal or someone else s animal (don't run up to pet it) Right now we are talking about responsibility and the tank fits right in with that.
Maybe by then I can talk my husband into adopting a rabbit, then I can keep it in our classroom and bring it home for summers. The next year I can have students bring bunny home for weekends to help enforce responsibility. He is quite against it though. If I had it my way, my home would be a zoo lol. A tank for every biotope plus many other animals  I am such a bad girl. lol.

Anthony I will let you know when the shipment arrives. Pictures will be posted  I will put the animals in with no kids around because of the chaos it would cause but, I will show them the packaging it all came in 
Thank you so much again for helping out. I will make sure the kids know who sent the package


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Tazzy_toon: Thats great that the teacher is excited and you want to help. A fish tank has so many uses and possibilities in the classroom. I love it and I will always have one in mine.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

i garuntie a rabit is way to much work for students to take home on week ends a hamster might be a bit better and easyer to transport


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

No work for me again today.  I hate this cold and I want it gone! I received my plant shipment from rwong2k10 aka Raymond. Plants are ludwigia red, rotala roundofolia, and hygro brown. I also threw in some java fern, pellia and a very small anubias into the classroom tank from the leftovers of my last classroom tank and some of my personal tank.

I got the shipment late yesterday (mail lady was quite late) so I threw the plants into my tank until today when I brought them over to my classroom. Some pieces ended up being left behind in my tank. Small broken pieces from the larger stems I brought over. So, I hope those teeny pieces of stem will grow in my tank too  They are all floating right now, too small to plant.

The ones in the classroom look great! I cant wait until they acclimatize and start to grow and look more natural in that system. I wish I could see the kids faces for them. But I will get to see their faces with Anthony's shipment with living moving things  That will be amazing to see.  I am so looking forward to teaching them all the wonderful things about these animals and plants and caring for our classroom aquarium. This is so exciting


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Hope you feel better very soon! And I hope you get the fish today and every one of them is in good shape. The endlers are young and very healthy, so I hope they will acclimatize fast.
Get well soon!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Guess who just knocked at my door.... MAIL LADY WITH A STYROFOAM COOLER!!!!

I opened up the package and pulled out 3!! bags. I inspected them all and it all looked good. I am floating the bags in my tank until lunch or afterschool when I can bring the packages over. WOW! is all I have to say. I am so happy and I can only imagine what the kids reactions and emotions will be.

What I can see in the bags are shrimp hopping around, endlers adult and lots of babies so small it makes me wonder if they had some in transit. I count 2 males so far and lots and lots of females. I can see 1 corydoras, 2 shrimp and lots of plants. Hornwort, java moss I think and anarchis. I think I also see an anubias, java fern and pellia. One bag is flat so its hard to pick out exactly what is in there just by looking through and the other two bags are somewhat opaque so it is difficult to see what is in there very clearly as well. So What I say are just guesses. This is so exciting


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Yeah, I am glad you received them all  I put a few baby endlers as I thought the kids would love to see them before the adults start having some. But they were just a few, if there are more than 4-5, somebody might have been pregnant  I doubt it though, they are still young.
Hope you and the kids will have a lot of fun with this tank!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I had a look at the bags again and noticed 1 dead female endler and a lot more males than I saw before. 0_0. It will be nice to release them later into their home so I can see exactly what I was given. Then I can start making profiles of the inhabitants for the kids.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

OMG WOW WOW WOW! My husband dropped me off at the school and I tried not to drop the cooler as I coughed and staggered my way in BUT I put everything in the tank. IT LOOKS AMAZING! My Sub was amazed as well. The principal came in to see the commotion and he was just asking about how I got the fish if I was so sick. I told him "through the mail" and I showed him the cooler. He said "you can do that?" yup.

The PFR shrimp are RED! just beautiful. I should set up another tank at my home and buy a few for my own private enjoyment. 
The endlers are very active and sexing up the tank in more ways than one LOL. I counted 7 babies  The cory looks HUGE in that tank but it is very very active. Snails were already gripping onto the glass and leaves when I left so they are doing good as well. I tried taking a pic with my school camera but they look horrible. I will bring my good camera in tomorrow to snap a few shots and post it. 

Tomorrow there is no school but I still need to work so, after our pro D talk I will create some profiles during my lunch break and then review more about Daily 5 for Pro D. Gotta bring lots of cough drops and tea to work tomorrow to try and sooth this debilitating cough.

Everything is so lovely. Thank you so much to everyone who helped out. I will keep everyone posted about how our aquarium develops


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

So happy to read that sweet update  I am glad it turned out so well! And hope both you and the kids will enjoy it a lot!

P.S. I think I put less than 7 babies, so if Anthony haven't added any, some of the females is not so young anymore


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I added a couple of preggie females I got from Momobobo, along with InfraredDream's endlers and plants:bigsmile: as well as his cool male endlers. I tried to throw in enough red cherry and PFR shrimp so you can keep some for your own tank when you have it set up. 

BTW, Skabooya, don't worry about sending me any $$ for the livestock or shipping. My treat for your kids. I'll just slip some $$ into Felicia's piggie bank cause those were shrimp, fish and plants from her tanks

Anthony

P.S. Shipping for everything is about $20 (for future reference) which is quite reasonable for 2 days express to Kitimat.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

BTW, the Sterbai cory was born and raised in my tank in Burnaby, as were all the shrimp and plants. The endlers were also captive bred so none of the fish, plants or shrimp were shipped from overseas but born and raised locally. You can let your kids know that this is a highly sustainable tank of livestock with a minimal carbon footprint (other than shipping).

Felicia hopes your kids enjoy her shrimp, fish, plants and snails.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

does she have any more shrimp for sale ? lol sory geting off topick


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

I hope my Endlers treat you and the kids as well as they have for me! :bigsmile: 
Post some pics soon~


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Oh my gosh! Thank you. What a treat! I will definitely let the kids know about the animals being bred locally and not being shipped from overseas or taken from the wild. That will fit in nicely when we do our water unit (water cycle, under the sea, rivers and lakes as well as what lives in them). See, aquariums are very useful and can be applied to almost anything in the curriculum. 

I can not say thank you enough to everyone for helping out. I will be taking pictures of the tank today and post them up later 

I will try to make you all proud


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Okay well I took some pics but I cant crop to zoom them in here at the school. No program to do that. But here they are anyway.

Full tank


Cory


Endlers




Cherry Shrimp


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Great addition to the value of the tank, Anthony!

P.S. The tank looks awesome! I am sure kids will enjoy it!


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

wow looks great !!!!!!

i gota go buy some plants lol


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks very good, I'm sure the kids are loving it!


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## jhj0112 (Jul 30, 2013)

That is beautiful!!! I'm sure many kids now will ask for their own fish tank to their parents!!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

No kids in school today. They have an NID but, they will get to see everything on Monday. Things should be more settled in by then. The tank does look lovely. The plants are still pretty scrunched up from shipping but they will grow and look more normal in a couple months/weeks. Needless to say I am excited for Monday 

I need to set up one of my small tanks at home for my son. He wants his own tank, but he wants a goldfish. No persuasion to anything else. He is fixated on goldfish. I will only allow 1 fish and it needs to be a small one. I will need to get my husband to build a simple riser so the tank does not sit directly on top of the furniture and it will be easy to clean. The tank will add humidity to his room and give him a nightlight which he got used too on our trip across Canada over the summer.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Just an idea about the goldfish. I had the same problem with my daughter, especially after the father of her friend got 3 in a 12 g tank. They grew pretty fast, 2 died and now there is one and some neons, etc. but it is still VERY crowded for a goldfish, which was my concern from the beginning. My daughter sees that and she still asks every now and then could we setup a bigger tank in her room or anything. So on a trip to the fish store for something else, we saw a lonely gold ram and (I think it is "she") was lovely. So we brought her home a few months ago. The fins grew up a lot, she is very golden and an awesome little fish to have in her 10 g
Just an idea for you to consider 

P.S. After I posted I saw my avatar. That was my girl's puffer and she asked for a goldfish after this cutie died last year


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Yes, I am trying to show my son lots of different bright coloured fish. Anything but a goldfish in my mind. They are messy and need a larger tank. He is stuck on the goldfish. Even at the petstore, that is what he gravitates towards all the time. I think we are going to the next town over (where our LFS is) tomorrow. I will take him into the LFS just to look around again and see if I cant pursuade him to be interesed in something else. Platy's are colourful and they follow your finger. Maybe some yellow and red ones for his little tank I thought, but noooo.  

Either way, he wont have a tank set up until the riser is built and knowing how busy my husband is lately with his mancave reno's/build, it probably wont happen for a while. There is time for me to fill his mind with other pretty fish


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Try with gold ram, they are really adorable and very close to a small gold fish. I personally like them MUCH more. And my daughter really fell in love with Moby (that's the name of her ram)


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Today is Monday and the kids got to see the tank. They were SO EXCITED! What a swarm! They were discovering all these 'new' things in the tank. I explained how endlers dont lay eggs *shock* they give birth to live young. I also explained the red shrimp called cherry shrimp *laughs* because they are red. I spoke about their babies. And oh the spotty fish lol. Our corydoras has been named spotty aparently. The kids are great. We learned about being scientists today and part of being a scientist is to be curious and ask questions, which is what they were doing.
They love the aquarium so much. Its so great to see. I even have kids that are LD come in to see the tank because it helps to calm them down. They also focus really well on that when they have trouble focusing in general. 
The magic of aquariums at its finest


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Wonderful update


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

That is great to hear! I get to set up my classroom tank on Friday during recess  Then the teacher asked me to give a "presentation" on the fish inside. She was so excited and very happy to hear that i would take it on myself. Thanks again for the inspiration. Can't wait to see their faces, i hope i get as good a response as you have.  Way to go!


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Looking forward to see your tank and hear about the kids' reaction, Tazzy_toon


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

More pics please

Thanks for the update. I'll read it to Felicia tomorrow after kindergarten. We're going to check with her K/1 teacher if they want a class tank.

Anthony


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

The tank looks the same but with a few more finger and nose prints lol. I cant post any pictures of the kids swarming the tank for privacy reasons but I can take a few more shots and post them up for you anyway


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Felicia is very happy to hear that your kids love all the livestock we sent up. Irene is amazed at how it helps your LD kids.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Some bad news today. My students started screaming at me to come see the fish. They pointed not in the tank but on the desk beside it. There was a female Endler lying dried up on the desk. I grabbed it and I thought it was dead. It was dry dry dry. but I felt it jump. I threw it back in the tank. It sunk to the bottom but as it did it was trying desperately to move. She gave seizure like movements. After 15 minutes she managed to swim to hide behind the ledwegia. Before I left to go home she was behind the filter, still breathing but moving less than she was before. I really have no idea if she will make it or not, but I don't have much faith in it. 
I taped some cardstock to the filter opening in the hood of the tank. It is only a small opening at the back. How she jumped out of the back of the tank to land on the desk close to the front of the tank but on the side is beyond me. She must have either ricochet off the chalkboard or flew.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

I am sorry that happened. I know endler do jump and I cover all my tanks pretty tight. I hope she makes it. You still have a few females and some babies, so hopefully they will start breeding for you soon!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Be glad you don't have saltwater fairy wrasses. Those are notorious jumpers and each time one goes carpet surfing, it's another beautiful, expensive fish down the toilet (most of these are about $30 per fish or more). I find that some fish are just bound and determined to commit suicide, no matter how well you cover your tanks. Its one of the frustrating realities of this hobby. At least your kids spotted the female and now she has a fighting chance to recover. 

Anthony


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Written update: I am once again sick. Others are saying its because I am overworking myself. I cant help it though, I want the best for my monkeys  We had a lesson on living and non living things. A couple funny stories on this one. A student found a dead endler in the tank (male has been sick since I received him, my fav too  ). Anyways, They pointed not living. As the class watched, the shrimp were eating the fishes head, then it separated from the body. EWWWWWW! Then a female endler came and proceeded to suck the inerds out from where the head had been moments before. Double EWWWWW! So, we had a review of omnivores, carnivores and herbivores lol.

We had a mini field trip outside in the forest to find living and non living things. I put down hula hoops and broke the kids up into groups so they could find living and non living things in their hoop. 
Here is a conversation with one student in the forest:
boy: "Mrs.Combden look what I found!"
me: *walking over* "What did you find"
boy: A living thing! Its a snail!
me: *looking at it.* "That is a slug sweetheart. Snails have shells just like the ones in our fish tank. And yes, it is a living thing."
boy: "not for long" ..... *pulls slug apart*

yup disgusting, kinda funny, but disgusting. We went back in and had a little "talk" about killing living things.

We spoke about how living things grow. I used the plants in our tank as an example. I pointed out the new little green leaves and little green tips on the moss. I pointed out that the rotala (yes we use the scientific names) did not touch the top of the water before, and now it does. The students each had a turn to look at the tank and see how it had grown.

PS Anthony, your thank you card from our class has been mailed out


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Love reading the updates! Sorry you lost the endler  But hoping there will be babies soon. It will be very exciting for the kids


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

or at least the explanation will be funnier than the living/non living one.. haha


InfraredDream said:


> Love reading the updates! Sorry you lost the endler  But hoping there will be babies soon. It will be very exciting for the kids


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## Adz1 (Apr 21, 2010)

.........................................................................


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Received the "Tank You" cards today. Brought big smiles in the Shieh household, especially when I told Felicia it was from the kids whom we sent some shrimp, plants and fish from her tanks out to a couple weeks ago. Made her day:bigsmile:

Anthony


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Thats great! Im so glad you liked the card.  The majority of the kids participated in making it, the rest are busy focusing on other things like behaviour or they were away. I have 16 in my class, so you got quite a few of them. All my monkeys do say thank you though.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Everything is still going well. Shrimp are making more and more appearances and there have been a few molts  Still no babies from either the fish or the shrimp. Plants are growing well everywhere... including the glass LOL. 
Our principal comes in when there are no kids to sit and stare at the tank for a while. I told him one of these days I will give him some fish of his own to put into his office. So, my students and I made a fish mobile and I hung it on his door at Halloween. It still hangs there and every time anyone walks into or out of his office they need to walk through the mobile. LOL.

It is report card season and I am super swamped with paperwork. I will try my best to bring my good camera in to take a picture of the tank and post it here


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Thanks for the updates! Endlers should start breeding fairy soon. Shrimps might need some adjustment of the water parameters, it took me quite some time to get to the right condition for them.
I am very happy that everybody is enjoying the tank!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Still working on report cards. I finished them and they are now being edited by another person. Then I need to make adjustments for them to go out on Monday. I cleaned the tank with some of my students the other day. The glass was covered in algae. The kids got a real kick out of seeing me scrape it all off. So, now that I can clearly see into the tank I noticed my lewdegia has melted away. Also, all the shrimp are gone. No bodies, nothing. Nothing in the filter either. The only thing big enough to eat them is the cory. I am thinking I should set up a bowl or something separate for shrimp. The kids really loved seeing the red shrimp. I did too. They were fun to watch.
Endlers are more active and doing well. Still no babies other than the ones that I received initially but its like they are not growing. They all look the same.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

What are your water parameters? How often do you change the water?
Are you sure the shrimps are gone, they like to hide and the shrimplets are quite small.
Your fish are peaceful and will not go eat the shrimps unless they are dead.
What do you feed them?
Certain water conditions are important for shrimps to survive.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Shrimps can be sensitive, it took me some time to figure out the right conditions for them. Good that the endlers are doing well, but I wonder why they are not growing. And they should be mature enough to have babies by now.
Give some more information about the water parameters, water changes, etc. when you can.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I need to bring my water testing kit from home. But I use the same water from my house because the water in the school is horrible. My fish at home are doing quite well. Plants that did not melt are growing wonderfully with all the algae on the glass lol. I wonder why they are not growing either. It is very strange.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

In all honesty I think I need to put a heater in the tank. I truly believe it is temperature swings. During the day the classroom gets nice and warm. On weekends and nights the heat is shut off (I found this out by accident) and the classroom gets horribly cold. I have been reading that the warmer the tank the faster the endlers grow. Im thinking the tank is just not consistently warm so that is where the problem may lay. I bet that is what happened with the shrimp too.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Oh, yes, it could be the reason. I have shrimps in unheated tanks as well. But the temperature at home is relatively the same.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Yup, the big swing in temp, especially deep cold on weekends is what killed the shrimp.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Yea I pretty much figured. My classroom started off so warm! So I assumed (silly me) that my classroom would be pretty much warm all year but never super cold. The heat gets shut off in the school on weekends and after school. I actually found out the other day from other teachers that went in on the weekends and were complaining about how cold it was. They had to wear jackets and mittens just to stay in their rooms. Then another mentioned that they turn off the heat and lights to save on energy $. 
I need to get into my crawlspace and dig out a heater for this little tank. Then I will buy some more cherries/fire red shrimp. They were awesome.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I have been away for some time from my classroom with a very bad cold. I had to go to emergency because I couldn't breathe. Anyways I am pretty much all better now, just an annoying cough to get through. Anyway, I had a TOC in and I knew my tank would suffer a bit but OMG THE ALGAE! The light was left on 24/7 for nearly a week. Fish were not fed at all. Parents came in for interviews and accused me of abusing the animals in my tank because it was so dirty. It was my first day back and I tried to explain that it was just algae on the glass that needs to get scraped off, the tank is not dirty and gets cleaned with water I bring from home. My gosh one couple tried to rip me a new one. Yes it looked pretty bad and it is going to need a good scraping and water change and about a week or so of normal light intervals for it to start looking good again but holy jebus!
Pics to come when it is clean and presentable lol.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

You can buy a timer to control the light, it is about $10 or so for one.
Have you gotten a heater yet?
For feeding if you knew you cannot feed them ahead of time you can get an automatic feeder.
I am not sure why you need to bring water from home? It will make water change more work for you. If you are worried about ph crush you can age the water in a water barrel in your class room, or just add prime with your tap water, which can detoxify most stuff harmful to your fish, including heavy metal. Activated carbon in your filter can remove metal as well, as long as you change your carbon regularly.
Your algae may not go away that easily with just some scraping. You can do a few water changes, add aeartion, and may be add excel and h2o2 treatment if they keep coming back.
How are your plants after lights on 24/7 for a week?


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Really take care of yourself first. Yes the tank may look like [email protected] but it's your health that should be a priority.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I cant use the school water because it is full of copper and lead. It has killed every fish anyone has kept in the school. Even our salmon need water brought in regularly. Because of that I bring my water from home. It is much less hassle. So, until the pipes all get replaced (heh) it will be small tanks and water from home. Even the kids and staff are advised to bring bottled water to drink. Testing says it is not harmful to humans and safe to drink but if my fish cant handle it, hell if I am drinking it.
I found a heater and now just need to put it in the tank. Because it was report card season and so many staff members have been working weekends they left the heat on so I was not to worried about getting a heater there right away. Now that report card time is over I suspect they will shut the heat off again. 
I do have a timer at home but I don't think it will fit into the outlet which already has an extension cord with multiple outlets on it. It is full. My work laptop, student pencil sharpener, proxima projector, and 2 soon to be 3 spaces for the tank are used up. My entire classroom has 3 outlets. One by my desk, one for the student computers and one right next to the sink that is useless and dangerous. 
As for the algae I know it wont go away that easily but I can clean the worst of it off with a scraping and a water change. The plants seem to be fine but its difficult to tell through green glass lol. I do see some movement so I assume those are the fish.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Nice of you to try make the most of what you have (limited plug-ins, bad water, no heat..etc). 
I am glad to hear your students enjoyed your tank.
Good luck.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Geez what luck. Just before Christmas break I was taking pictures of the classroom tank to show all of you. What happens... my camera breaks. Something inside, I don't know but it will not focus anymore. I took it home, replaced batteries tried again and nothing. So, I need to buy a new camera for my classroom. Blah. On another note, my daughter pulled my beautiful Nikon D90 off the dining room table and snapped the lens off the body.  $200 later I have a new lens. I still do not have a classroom camera but I am looking for one that will take decent pictures and will not cost an arm and a leg. Something in the $100 range.

The tank has been looking pretty sad with the lack of plants. The java ferns and mosses are doing pretty good. Pellea and Anubias are doing good as well. Everything else is gone. I did have some duckweed that infested the entire top of the tank. I offered it to students parents and staff that had or wanted plants in their fish tank if they had a tank. Some was taken but not much. The rest I threw out. I kept a couple plantlets so I am sure that within a month or two the top of the tank will be covered again.
I grabbed some ricca, brazilian pennywort and asian ambula (looks like camboba) from my home tank as those plants were originally donated for the classroom tank a few years ago. I put them in my tank when I had to go on maternity leave and tear down the old tank. I picked up some Flourish Excel to help the plants out and fill it up faster for the kids to see a difference. I would like to get some more plants to put in there as now I have a heater to keep the temperatures stable. 
On the upside my tank at home is the most beautiful I have seen in a long time. The Java ferns are very happy and have filled out wonderfully. My crypts are doing amazing and I want to get more red ones. The only change I made was aluminum foil on the warped and melted reflectors and new bulbs


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Bought a new camera  Cannon Powershot. And some good news... one of the big fat endler females is skinny again. I found one baby in the tank so far.  The students and I are very happy family members.

PS I started a classroom blog. Here it is: 
Mrs Combden's Classroom - Blog


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Congrats on the babies! I am sure there are a lot more hiding in plants


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Skabooya,

If I shut down one of Felicia's small fw tanks, would you be interested in the endlers or maybe other tropical community fish?

Anthony


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## Phillyb (Jan 18, 2011)

Happy to have some one bring a fish tank in the class room! Keep up the great work!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Yes I would be very interested Anthony ! 

It was actually pretty funny when I told the kids. I started by discussing how fat the girls in our tank were. They all nodded their heads, and during the "pregnant" discussion (other kids mommy's were expecting as well so it fit in good) one child happened to stare into the tank and saw one of the girls was quite skinny (I was counting on that happening  kids can be so predictable ). She SCREAMED, "ONE OF THE FEMALES IS SKINNY, NOT FAT!". I said "Really? Well what do you think happened? Why did she suddenly become skinny". Some kids said she went on a diet like their mommy, or she was exercising and then I hear 5 or so kids at once "SHE HAD HER BABY!" I said "yes she did have some babies". They all swarm the tank. I don't believe I have ever seen kids move so fast as a mob without someone getting at least mildly hurt lol.

Probably one of my fav things is that the principal comes in to my classroom to check on the tank quite often and has said that I should do a larger tank. I would LOVE to do a larger tank but the maintenance on that would be the end of me for the simple fact that I could not do water changes. So unless he wants to fork out the $$ to buy a water filter to get rid of the copper and lead or replace all the pipes in the school, it aint gonna happen... maybe lol.

If I can find a 30 gallon with filter and substrate for free I may consider it lol.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Today was the 100th day of school. Another teacher and I held and open class so that our students could go to either her class or mine any time they wanted to do 100th day activities.  It was fun. One child in particular was very interested in the fish tank. One of the babies we had is officially a male. A BEAUITIFUL male. Not in its full colours yet but from what we can see now WOW! And really, all the males are really starting to shine and even the females are getting some green iridescence to their scales. Some places in the body are stronger than others.
I can still only see one baby from the female. Oh well. The other female is quite large and should have her own little ones in a couple of weeks. 
The Java moss needs a trim. It is nearly reaching the top of the tank. I will shear it off and then put it in another part of the tank.  Everything is looking great.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Brings a big smile to my face


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

We flushed our friend Sterbai today.  He was acting strange the last few days. The space between his eyes went pale and he stopped eating. The students noticed. This morning I found him in the corner of the tank very still and dead.  I scooped him out and put him in a little plastic cup with some water. I went over it with the students and we had a little memorial service for him. Said some words, took him to the boys bathroom (It was vandalized a lot less) and flushed him. The kids took it surprisingly well. 
As I removed our cory in the morning I noticed the water was quite cold again. The heater light was not on. I looked at the plug in and the heater was unplugged. I have no idea how long it was like that but I sure as sugar didn't do it. I have noticed however that some things have been moving around or things are being re-organized in my room when I come in the morning. Someone is going into my room and messing with it. I don't know who but I am not impressed.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Dang.

If I have time to send another shipment of fish & plants up, I'll include another Sterbai.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Oh, I am sorry 
Hope you can understand what is going on in your room and they won't change your stuff anymore.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Caught a staff member shuffling through papers on my desk today during lunch break. 
Me: What are you doing? 
Coworker: *startled* Nothing. *Walks out of my classroom*

I am not a happy camper.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I guess punching would teach your students the wrong lesson.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

unfortunately yes, but the thought did cross my mind lol.

Some good news otherwise. I put in an order to raise butterfly larvae in May AND I received my Tomatosphere seeds from Chris Hadfield after being wait listed for nearly 2 years. We will begin germination after spring break. But joy of joys we get to grow seeds that were actually on the ISS.  AND once they get some nice tomatoes on them, we will make space salsa 

I am also confirming the fertilized chicken eggs and incubator for May as well.  Things are going to get very exciting  And I hope there will be no sabotage. Grrrrr


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Good news! As for the staff member... hm...


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

5 new little babies swimming in the moss  2 more males getting their colouring


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I found a great literacy unit based on the book "Memoirs of a Goldfish". In it is a comparison between goldfish and guppies. I will change that to endlers because that is what we have in our classroom 
In the unit is also an experiment involving creating a habitat for guppies in a bowl and then observing. Guppies are rather expensive here and I don't have enough endlers to do something like that. What I may do is get a bowl and create a habitat for a Betta instead of a guppy. I'm not sure. It would be nicer to use our endlers because they can all go back into the tank after the experiment. But there just isn't enough. The population is still not sustainable. I would need more females for me to consider it stable. The babies keep turning into males. I only have one breeding female. (I used to have two but one female is currently very very thin and flopping around after giving birth  )The rest are still to young and the ones I thought were females have begun turning into males lol.

Any ideas?


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Yay! for good news. I was on the hunt for more endlers and no luck. I was at one of the monthly workshops I attend on Tuesday in the next town over while my husband was getting the tires changed over on our SUV. Once the workshop was done I walked to the nearest lfs (Total pet) as my hubby was only JUST getting serviced after waiting nearly 3 hours. I was looking around and I saw a tank with a few endlers in it. OH I was so happy! I asked if they were pure or mixed. The worker did not know and called up the manager. He said they were pure and so he kept them in a separate tank so they would not mix with the guppies. Also, they only had male guppies in for a long long time as the females don't sell as well. I decided to purchase 2 female endlers 5.99 each 0_o. The tank was also FULL of babies. I inquired as to what they were going to do with the babies. He said they dont sell so they are used as food for the larger fish. Well, I asked if I could buy them for my classroom tank. He asked about my teaching, what school I work at etc, then GAVE me the babies. He also gave me a couple others from other tanks. So, I have about 20 endler fry in addition to the ones I already have in my tank and a couple of other livebearer fry. Not sure what they are. Platy, sword or molly. We shall see as they grow.

My little tank is full and very active. It is time to upgrade lol. I have a 20 gal sitting at home in my crawlspace. Chances are good that I will have this classroom again next year SO, when I confirm my position for next year I will bring in the new tank.
The endler tank is such a success with staff and students that upgrading it just makes sense. It will go into a new location. I want to re-org my classroom for better efficiency.
My 20 gal needs a new bulb but is in otherwise good shape. I will do a leak test before I take it to the classroom because it has been in storage for a few years now.

All is going GREAT! so exciting


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Happy for you. If your tank is full I guess I will hold off shipping any endlers up. If you need livestock next school year, send me a pm or post on the board and we'll see what we can do.

Anthony


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

If your cell phone has a camera built in, take a pic if you catch someone messing with the tank or your stuff.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Sure thing Anthony. I will be upgrading to a 20 gallon and when I had guppies there were 80ish of them in the tank and I started with 10 lol. I had other tanks with guppies going as well as I was trying to selectively breed them. Unfortunately in one of my baby tanks (300 babies) the heater broke and they were all cooked. A sad smelly sight to come home too  I gave up on them and gave away all my guppies.

We have started the fish unit and the students are LOVING it so far. Its so silly and fun. There will be a focus on Goldfish and endlers  I need to find a nice easy goldfish drawing that students can easily do in order to create a project I have in mind. Same goes for endlers. I am posting everything on my new blog lol


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Another sad day in the Combden Classroom tank. One of our females (a fav because she was so fat) burst. She was very ready to give birth and we were all excited waiting for it. Before I left to go home I checked them all as I normally do and everyone was happily swimming around. The next morning I turned the lights on fed them and went about my business getting ready for the day. When the students came in; "Did she give birth yet?" was the normal question for the last week or so. One of my boys who is very interested in the entire process of life, searched for our pregnant girl. He found her, dead.  He called me over and we could see her stomach was split open from just behind the vent to the middle of her very round tummy. It literally looked like she exploded. There was a rather large baby curled half in and half out of her. I scooped her out and disposed of her. Poor girl  
Some of my students were quite upset and some very worried for their mommy's or aunts or family friends who were currently pregnant. What if it happened to them! We had to have a talk that morning about it. Pretty sad. 
I cant image the pain that poor Endler went though. I carried my daughter in the front when I was pregnant and boy did it hurt. It felt like I was going to be split open myself. I had to hold and squeeze my very pregnant belly in for the last month and a half of my pregnancy from the sheer pain of it. And this poor Endler girl actually split open 

On a happy note the butterfly larvae we received on May 7 have grown tremendously. The are very large in comparison to what they were. We also have chicken eggs incubating in our NEW incubator that I asked for. Currently they are on day 5 of 21 to hatch. So exciting! I have raised both chickens and butterflies in the classrooms in the past with great success. It is a treat every time and I love doing it.  
We are nearly done our fish unit and the students enjoyed it very much. I currently have 2 parents asking how to set up a tank like I have at school and I also have a few staff members who want to set some small ones up in their room. Our principal wants to set one up in his office because he sees how it helps out students who have... temporarily elevated emotions. I told the principal and other staff members that when I set up my 20 gal and it gets full of endlers I will give some out to them and help them stock their tanks  I am so glad that this is catching on and everyone is enjoying it.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I remember incubating chicks and ducks when I was young, and that was over 20 years ago, very fond memories. Good for you!

Sorry to hear about the brutal death, glad you were able to re-assure your students.


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

skabooya said:


> Our principal wants to set one up in his office because he sees how it helps out students who have... temporarily elevated emotions.


I've recently set up a 33Gal long in my grade 5/6 classroom. I've asked my most distracted kid to be in charge of feeding the fish -- he's thrilled to be given the responsibility. The funny part is, he's been lately far less distracted by his peers, and can be often found staring vacantly at the fish. What have I done? lol

Sorry to hear about the exploded endler... would any babies survive that?


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Not tank related but what an interesting day. Our caterpillars are hanging in the "J" shape and some have turned into a chrysalis. VERY COOL! It is also day 8 of our egg incubation. We candled each of them today. We watched the embryo's moving in some of them and the black eye spots. OMG what an exciting day. All 7 eggs are fertile and growing well.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

OH HAPPY DAY! Our chicken eggs hatched today with a 100% success rate.  OMG they are so cute! I came into work and there were 4 little wet babies in the incubator. I wanted to keep it a secret and have the students discover them. As I was putting up the new calendar for June I noticed that our butterflies had come out of their chrysalis.  What a day for life. How amazing. 
As I brought my students in they ran to the butterflies first (as they are right by the door) to check on them. They screamed at seeing REAL BUTTERFLIES! Then they remembered our egg tracking. They ran screaming to the incubator and saw the 4 little chicks. The rest were still in the eggs working their way out. By the end of the day, all 7 had hatched. 
Just to add to the fun today; I took the kids on a forest walk to collect dirt. Yes we got to play with dirt. I also had them all collect one rock for a project later.

I thought they would be wild today because of all the stuff going on but nope. They were perfect kids  
Terrific day.


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

skabooya do you work at a private school? , if not why aren't all teachers like you? sounds like a fun classroom.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I went to Montessori from a youngin to grade 5 and we did all sorts of these things. When I went to public schooling we went to camp for a weekend and the water slides for a field trip, but that was all.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I am a public school teacher. I try to make learning as fun as I can. Kids learn better if they do stuff that is interesting to them  I LOVE teaching. The other teachers I work with are amazing too. They are my mentors and I try to learn as much as I can to become a better teacher myself. I am a lot better than what I was when I started but I still have a long way to go to be the kind of teacher I want to be.
One of the keys to teaching is to always revise your material to keep it relevant and make it fun for the kids today. Some stuff though will never get old  ex playing in dirt hahaha

I actually have a guest speaker coming on Wednesday, with animals, from the Humane Society to talk about pet care as it is coming up in our current animal unit. 

The government lockout sucks so bad though, I am so far behind in prep and I can not give my students the attention they deserve. Its horrible watching some of my students struggle and knowing that there is no longer anything I can do to help them. Everything is so rushed.  And on top of that they cut our pay by 10% for time we don't get paid for anyway. Whatever, I chose to fight for my kids so if they want to cut my pay then go ahead. It makes it a lot harder for all of us financially but what I really want resolved is classroom size and composition. Those are getting ridiculous and I go home and cry some nights because of the hardships of some kids. It is very difficult to not just take some of these kids home and care for them  Hug and squeeze them until they feel better. But oh to celebrate in their joy. That is the best gift ever. 

That being said. I know of a teacher living in a camper trailer down at the river because she cant afford a place to live and another teacher who because of this cut will be out of a home by the end of the year if she can't come up with the money. If I did not have a dual income household then my family would be screwed.


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

it sounds fun, i had 1 teacher like you in all my days in the public education machine, you're the way teachers should be cheers


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Wow, that is one of the best compliments I have ever had in my career. Thank you.


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

Being an awesome and inspiring teacher is financially draining and personally exhausting. A few years ago I chose to go down to 4 days/week (with corresponding pay cut) so that I could continue to be an awesome teacher: it was the only way to deal with the work overload as a result of the many demands now placed upon us. Attempting to remain at 5 days/week would have resulted in burnout, or in becoming less than awesome.

The current state of affairs is making an already very demanding job that much more difficult to do well. Getting a 10% pay cut off an 80% paycheque is going to make paying for housing AND food something of a challenge this month...

Today's fun and games: My students were instructed to make two "Thank you" banners to decorate the library for tomorrow's volunteer appreciation tea. Instead of using Crayola felts as directed, they decided splatter paint was the better choice. Thus paint was splattered on the banners, the floors, the walls of the hallway, and their clothes and shoes. And then the bell rang.

"Do you teach grade 1 as well" you ask? Nope, I have 30 grade 5 and 6 students.

<le big sigh>


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Oh that sound like so much fun! I taught grade 6 and 6/7 split a couple years ago and it was so fun. Sometimes I miss it because it is so much more detailed. That being said, when you get them to do stuff like spatter painting, they all become 5 year olds again.  Stuff like that never gets old and its awesome to watch them have fun. 

But I agree, this month and the rest of the summer will be a bit more difficult then normal and YES it is mentally EXHAUSTING!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

*Sigh* Unfortunately this tank and everything I own needs to be removed from the classroom. The room will be left virtually bare. I put so much time and money into the room to make it as educational as possible and to try and get it ready for next year. Now, everything needs to be removed in 3 days just in case there is a strike. All I will have in the room are the absolute bare necessities that I can remove and take home in one bag.  ... that and whatever was in the room when I arrived. Nothing more, nothing less.
I really hope an agreement will be reached soon. However I don't think that will happen until the government allows discussion on classroom size and composition. Nothing will move until then, and the court date about that with the Supreme Courts for the THIRD time is not until October.  
1st time: the initial ruling that it was unconstitutional. We won
2nd time: clarification/ re ruling because the govt did diddly squat. We won again... and then some.
3rd time: Government appeals the courts decision... we shall see what the results are.
Its so sad and depressing.


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

Skabooya, are you only there til the end of the year, as opposed to having a continuing contract?

From what I understood, the lockout doesn't apply to summer time  which means, I think, that we could go back in July/Aug to get stuff.

Also, even with a strong "yes" strike vote, it doesn't mean immediate withdrawl of services. It depends on the response to the vote. 

That having been said, I've been wondering all this week whether I should fish out all my tank inhabitants and bring them home on Friday as well, just in case. 

(By the way, according to BCTF statistics, teachers spend an average of $1000/year of their own money on classroom things. I'm curious: how much did you throw at your room this year, if you don't mind sharing?)

Hang in there!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

No I am supposed to be there next year as well in my classroom. I am on a continuing contract and already found out my placement for next year. I was also asked to take a student teacher next year but I said no as I want to remain in one position for at least 2 years before I start teaching anyone how to be a teacher. That being said, I had a student teacher in my class this year because the teacher she was supposed to be with felt that the student teacher needed only classroom experience and not field trip/fun time experience. So, she spent 2-3 mornings or afternoons a week with me for a month.

We just had a union meeting today. The lockout is for the last day of school for all schools except high schools. High schools are locked out 2 or 3 days earlier. By definition any school that does not have grade 7's in it is not considered a high school and will be locked out as of the last day of school. That includes over the summer. We are ONLY allowed in school 45min before instructional time, 45 minutes after instructional time. There is no instructional time during the summer and we are locked out so the summer is a double whammy for us. And of course we are kind of locked out during lunch and recess, if you still have recess. We don't. We are not allowed to associate with the kids in any way whatsoever during recess and lunch and we are not permitted to do anything school related during those times either. According to Factbenders lockout letter.

True that a yes vote does not mean immediate action, but it could. We really have no idea when it will happen or if it will happen but I feel it is better to be safe than sorry because we have had stuff removed from our classrooms before at the fault of the employer. 

We were told today to take out any living thing and personal belongings this week. It was very very very strongly suggested. Especially if they were living things. I'm not taking any chances there due to all the turmoil. We have a duty to our classroom creatures, to keep them safe.

This year? Oh my gosh... well some stuff I just re- used from previous years when I taught intermediate. That was maybe $300-400 worth of items that I could re-use (never mind the stuff I couldn't). This year I have been spending about $70 a month on books from Scholastic since September, I spent about $150 ish on books from the second hand store. I purchased about $400 worth of resource books and activities. $150+ish on personal and student supplies (special paper, stickers, stamps, cards, markers, pens, pencils, erasers, calculators, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, etc), I have made food for my class on several occasions consisting of Borst, scones, oatmeal with various additions (berry mix, apricots, honey, brown sugar, apples, etc), eggs, cupcakes, bars, steamed rice with ham and green onions, and a couple others I cant remember right now. I was planning to do toutons (newfie fried bread with molasses) when we learn about grains for our nutrition unit. I have no idea what that amounts too but its not cheap. Some money for the fish tank but not much because most of it was donated. I purchased a few pocket charts at various costs usually in the $30-60 range each some were more expensive. I purchased an art drying rack this year at $200. If you don't have one then I strongly suggest it. What a space saver! I purchased a new classroom camera as my old one died. That was another $300. Activity materials like pom poms, cornstarch to make oobleck with our buddies, seeds for our plant unit, stamps, word markers, sand paper, coloured play sand, some yarn, dice, ink pads and a few other things for word work. Lots of printer ink to print stuff off in colour at home FOR SCHOOL and of course paper to print the stuff on FOR SCHOOL. I purchased a few plants and some were donated to me. I made my own macrame plant hangers to hang some of the plants in the classroom library and the rest of the plants are sitting on the window sill. I also purchased a couple packages of bubble solution (it was on sale cheap) for my students to do some fun bubble activities and then writing activities. That was about $10 for the entire class. Pretty good deal  I also purchased some art supplies for my students as we didn't have enough or any in the school supply like paint and pastels that was maybe $50 or so. We shared so I did not have to spend too much. I also purchased classroom mailboxes. That was shockingly expensive to me just for some divided cardboard. After taxes it was almost $300.
There is probably more but that is all I can really remember off the top of my head right now.
I am currently saving up for some floor cushions for the kids. That will be a cost of close to $400 but it will save the arguments about who sat where and so and so is in my personal space, blah blah blah. AND the ones I am saving up for are WASHABLE! I bring a few things home to wash on a regular basis too  So I guess if you want to get technical, that is detergent $ I am spending on my classroom too lol.
I want a few other things in my classroom too but of course I will need to pay for them, like a kidney table and cubbies and another file cabinet.
And of course without PAC there are a couple other things that I would not have received. The chicken incubator was $433 and a bit, Butterfly larvae was about $80 including shipping, Tomatosphere starter kit was $60 something.
OH I forgot I purchased a bag of soil to plant our tomato plants. The bag was $20 of my own money as well.
OH another bit... experiment supplies that I purchased: oil, soap, balloons, feathers, embroidery thread, Vaseline, and a few others I cant remember right now. (need to buy magnifying glasses for next year because the school has none)
So yes, I would say the $1000 a year is a good statistical amount.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Is there any picture of your tank you can post, please?
If you have posted a recent picture I must have missed it. I have tried to read through all 12 pages of this journal but I only found 2 posts with pictures which were dated back to 2013 Sept. I am just really curious to see how the tank has developed. Thank you.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Yes, they are from May but I just did not upload them to photobucket and then on here yet. There are a lot less plants because of the cold snap we had and other troubles. Everything is good now and there is growth. I wish I had more weeds in the tank to help it look nice and lush again. I will try and get the newest pic up today.


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

Skabooya, wow... your employer-employee relations sound abysmally demoralizing. 

Having been in the same school for 10 years, I have way too much stuff to take home! I will have to plan to bring the fish home Friday, like you, I think. Our VP said he would feed them in the event of longer job action or lock out but like you, I can't risk their being inaccessible all summer. They'd never survive. Hopefully our custodial staff will remember to water the plants once in a while: they are too large to fit in my car in one trip. Our rotating strike day in Vancouver is tomorrow, so I'll have Thursday and Friday for "just in case" packing.

What sucks is that the kids are almost more sure than the teachers are that Friday is in fact the last week of school for them. This means they are somewhat more unmanageable than usual. If we end up teaching til the 26th, we're all going to drive each other nuts! Several of my grade 6 boys have clearly checked their brains out for summer.

As for the money you spent to enhance (or even to supply basic materials for) your teaching... I made a spreadsheet. Uhmm.... you may not want to look at it. :-/ (Mind you, who am I to talk? I bought myself a laptop and a portable projector back when they were expensive, because I couldn't stand having my hands tied when it came to the many teachable moments YouTube afforded!)

Still, living in the classroom as we do without other life forms (plants, fish, and assorted bugs) just wouldn't be the same! I hope you get a moment to take a few pics of your tank before you take them down to bring them home...

Three more weeks til July!!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Fish tank in May:



Art project from the fish unit "Memoirs of a Goldfish". This is my sample for the kids.


Water Cycle wall hangings 


Painted Lady butterfly chrysalis


Painted Ladies the day they came out.


Day 1 of chicken egg incubation


Day 8 of Chicken egg incubation. The dark spot is the chickens eye.


Day 21 day of hatching



And a video of the day 8 embryo moving


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I would have been more encouraged to take additional Biology classes if I had a teacher like you when I was young.

Keep doing what you're doing!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

effox said:


> I would have been more encouraged to take additional Biology classes if I had a teacher like you when I was young.
> 
> Keep doing what you're doing!


Agree that you're doing a great job encouraging your students to be lifelong learners and have a strong love for life and animals. Awesome work my friend.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

awww thanks guys. I have a passion for this stuff so I get really into it when those parts of the units come up. I want to completely re-vamp my grade 1 program for next year as I have learned a lot of what works and what doesn't and some time constraints. That being said... i'm not allowed to do it until a resolution is made at the bargaining table. The government wont let me  and now we all need to play the locked out game. blah!


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

Have you had a look at the new curriculum yet? Apparently it's very good... It'll be our first Pro D come September.

We just got sent our "simplified" report card template... still a truckload of work even if we weren't locked out. 

I wonder if snails would survive and breed in the classroom tank unassisted over the summer? It would be great to leave it running and not have to recycle it. Anyone know?


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I saw the proposal back when they wanted our input on it. I have not looked at the new curriculum since then but I was intrigued. I'm wondering what we will be using now that BCesis is out and when we will get training for the new grading and attendance program. That's great you already know about your Pro-D. Everything has come to a stand still here until further notice because of all the current goings on.
I have not seen the report card template yet. Hopefully soon but they did tell us about it at our last general meeting. It is still a lot of work for not having any time to do it. Our buddy class teacher and I are planning some "special" buddy work which will allow us to work on our report cards during class time. There may be a few movies in the next week playing in my class too just so I have some time to work on report cards. Time that I should be and would rather be teaching I will instead be doing report cards because we have no other time to do them. *sigh* What a waste.

I think the snails should be okay if you leave the lights on 24/7 and filters going. Just tell admin not to touch. You may come back to a mess of a tank, but the snails will hopefully be alive with additions. What kind of snails anyway? Are yours the tiny algae eating snails or the ones that like to munch on leftover food in addition to plants and algae?

OH and have you heard of PAX games? I want to so badly be trained in that. Its $$$ though but, it would be so beneficial to student behaviour.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Cover the tank very well or else you will get a lot of evaporation and loss of water in the snail tank over the summer. Also, add a timer to the lights so that they come on at night so you have reverse-photoperiod and not overheat the tank during the daytime heat. Just my $.02.

Anthony

BTW, bbqed some lunch (chicken skewers, veggie skewers, hot dogs and watermelon) for the striking teachers since Felicia's kindergarten teacher is very nice and she was on the picket line from 1-4pm. Got there right after they picked up their paycheques so they were very depressed at the loss of approx. 30% of their normal pay due to the 10% paycut and 2 days lost due to rotating strike. At least the free lunch cheered them up. I really hate BC politicians. "Family First" my @$$ (I am invoking Head Mod privileges to post this statement):bigsmile:


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

what do you plan to do with the chickens?


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

The chickens came home last Thursday as we were out on the picket lines on Friday. Saturday the women who gave me the eggs to hatch came by to pick the chicks up to bring back to her flock on her hobby farm.

Thank you for supporting the teachers. We really do appreciate it. 

Today was another picket day. I stayed overtime because the weather was so nice and we were having some great talks as well as updates to the LRB ruling and where we were going from here. I came home, got my son ready for preschool, took him with my daughter dropped him off and then put my daughter to bed. Now I am on here and having some lunch 
I am currently sporting some glasses tan lines and red neck arms LOL.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Just to let you know, in Burnaby, we just got notice that there is a full scale strike planned starting next week. It means Friday (tomorrow) is the last day of school.

Anthony


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Yea, it was made public this morning. Unless a deal is made over the weekend, Friday will be the last day of school. I really need to clean out the rest of my room and in a hurry. *sigh* This is so sad.
Monday is our "study day" and Tuesday we are withdrawing all services.
I really hope the government starts to negotiate instead of ignoring all proposals.


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

skabooya said:


> That's great you already know about your Pro-D. Everything has come to a stand still here until further notice because of all the current goings on.
> 
> I think the snails should be okay if you leave the lights on 24/7 and filters going. Just tell admin not to touch. You may come back to a mess of a tank, but the snails will hopefully be alive with additions. What kind of snails anyway? Are yours the tiny algae eating snails or the ones that like to munch on leftover food in addition to plants and algae?
> 
> OH and have you heard of PAX games? I want to so badly be trained in that. Its $$$ though but, it would be so beneficial to student behaviour.


I'm the Pro-D Committee Chairperson so I have some input in suggesting things for next year... since the committee has been me and one other for the past couple of years, achieving consensus hasn't been too difficult. The rest of the staff seem to appreciate our direction and are happy to not have to be more involved, for now.

I think they're ramshorn snails. They're the size of pin heads right now so we'll see who grows, survives and breeds come September.

I haven't heard of PAX games. Is it this? Homepage | PAX Good Behavior Game No idea what that is, I'll have to investigate!



SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Cover the tank very well or else you will get a lot of evaporation and loss of water in the snail tank over the summer. Also, add a timer to the lights so that they come on at night so you have reverse-photoperiod and not overheat the tank during the daytime heat. Just my $.02.
> 
> Anthony
> 
> BTW, bbqed some lunch (chicken skewers, veggie skewers, hot dogs and watermelon) for the striking teachers since Felicia's kindergarten teacher is very nice and she was on the picket line from 1-4pm. Got there right after they picked up their paycheques so they were very depressed at the loss of approx. 30% of their normal pay due to the 10% paycut and 2 days lost due to rotating strike. At least the free lunch cheered them up. I really hate BC politicians. "Family First" my @$$ (I am invoking Head Mod privileges to post this statement):bigsmile:


My classroom tank is a 33 gal long with plexi covering most of the top (I had to put the HOB filter on the end because the windowsill is too narrow to have it on the back, which meant in turn modifying the cover). I bought the tank, covers and the filter; everything except for the fish was just stuff I brought from home (gravel, driftwood, java fern, snails) and stuff I found in an old dusty box labeled "fish tank stuff" in the Science room a few years ago and hung onto, which conveniently included a working heater, a current jet thing, a noisy airpump and a glass thermometer. So, no lights. Water seemed to evaporate about an inch or so per month in May-June, so hopefully there'll be some still in there come Sept if I can't get in before then.

Skabooya, how did today go? 'twas insanity for me. The class is a disaster, the kids were in pinball-machine-for-brains mode, and everyone else on staff was functioning on reserve strength. Trying to get all my fish out of the tank and into the bucket as well as pack up what I wanted to bring home with me was quite a challenge to take on and still be out the door by 3:45. I had to leave all my classroom plants - hopefully someone will water them now and then.

Anthony, your bbq lunch sounds awesome. I didn't have time to eat breakfast or make a proper lunch this morning because I was fishing snails out of my home tanks, so I had a tupperware of cereal at my desk while taking attendance, and assembled my salad on the curb at lunch:










Who needs a kitchen anyways?


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Yes that is what I was talking about (PAX). Its really good. It was featured in the video "Angry Kids, Stressed Out Parents", which we watched at one of our Pro D's.

Today was very emotional. I ended up throwing the entire days plan out the window. I just wanted to have fun with the kids and enjoy them. First we all sat together and I answered any questions the kids had about today. They were all so confused. Then we read the poem "Sunny, sunny day" and talked about things we like to do on a sunny day. It was very sunny and hot today so it was perfect. Then we painted a sun with our hands. I copied paper with a large circle on it. I squirted red and yellow paint into the circle and the kids went crazy spreading it around with their hands. We let them dry as we went out for DPA/ Recess. When we came back in they cut the circles out and pasted them onto the poem which circled around their circle that represented the sun. We then went upstairs to our buddy class and read "The Gruffalo" , made Gruffalo masks and watched the Gruffalo movie. Administration had all the kids eat lunch outside. All the staff ate lunch outside school property with our signs.
After lunch we had a classroom clean out. That was chaos. OMG all the stuff. I was cleaning my stuff right along with them. I ended up not getting all my things done. If my stuff was on the walls, it is still there but now with a sign saying it is mine and to please not remove. I also had my monthly/seasonal calendar/bulletin board/decorations/seasonal activities, etc on poster shelving. Its all still there with a sign on it too. Hopefully no one is going to remove my stuff but they shouldn't anyway. I know I am going back after all this so I am not overly concerned. I got the majority of it out. 
The last 45 min of the day PAC came around and gave all the kids free freezies and I took my class outside just to be with them and have quality time. It was fun having fun with them and not just being their teacher. We literally played games together like we were all kids and not kids and an adult. It was great. I ended up getting a few group hugs before rushing to get all my stuff out of the room before we were locked out. Once I got home and I sat down it hit me and, I cried. 

My feelings are so mixed. I am going to miss my wonderful kids so much but I can see how much some of them need support and just wont get it. I am sick and tired of watching kids suffer and not being able to do anything about it. I became a teacher to help others. I was treated like crap in school when I was growing up and I wanted to protect the kids that were going through that and worse. I am very protective of my kids. You can ask any of my staff members. I turn ugly if anyone messes with any of my students. They are my kids and I am not afraid to fight for them. So, although I am upset that the year had to possibly end like this, I will endure because I want better for them. They deserve better and if I have to suffer for it, then so be it.


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Our kids teacher called us the other night to get help tearing down the two tanks in her classroom and a general plea for assistance packing all her stuff up.
Glad to say that every available parent showed up and between us we had it all done in no time.

Just wanted to let you know that we, all the parents I know, stand beside you and the other teachers.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

On behalf of all teachers, thank you. We are all in this together, we all need to fight to get the best we can for our kids.


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

Wow, skabooya, that is an emotional day indeed! I still can't imagine having to take all your own stuff home if you are planning on returning there next year in the same room and teaching the same grade. What a strange climate your school seems to have!

We spent our morning watching the documentary "Chasing Ice" and the TED Talk it was tied to. We've been learning about natural resources and sustainability for a few weeks now and had recently discussed climate change. The kids were funny: "Teacher this is so cool! We're like, watching a movie in class, but not a movie-movie, because it's related to what we're learning, except it's a really cool video!" lol... The afternoon was more chaotic and the resulting "clean up" didn't make much of a difference. There are still 8-9 gross lunch bags in our bin outside the door. Ew.

I didn't call parents for help (I should have, perhaps) because my message to the kids was "hey, we'll probably see each other in a few days, so don't check out of learning mode just yet!" I guess I was too effective in that message because most of them said "Have a good weekend!" and ran off at the bell! My usual dawdler stayed for a good 45 mins with his mom and little sister so they ended up helping me with the tank; little sister had a blast watching me trying to catch the yoyo loaches (they are quick!) and my student had a giggle at my "I should hang a sign on the door saying 'Gone Fishing!'". That family is leaving a week earlier anyhow, and returning to France at the end of the summer, so I had my just-in-case goodbyes from them.

We topped up the classroom tank as full as possible under the lids, and left. I left a giant message to the custodians on the board to please water the plants: I couldn't take them home in one trip, they are too large. My desk looks like I just stepped out for a minute to make some copies or something...

The class fish are all in my 55gal home tank, meeting their new neighbours or greeting old friends, as the case may be. As for me, today will be spent staring at a wall.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Yoyo loaches are really hard to catch. LOL
I think to leave a tank in the classroom the way you did should be fine, but some filter can cause a lot of problem during a power outage so you probably should something that will just shut off and then turn on again without leakage.
You had yoyo and you still have snail in the tank, or is that a different tank?


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

Thanks Fish rookie 

I fished out the yoyo loaches, and _then_ dumped in a few snails... thus avoiding yoyo snack!

(by the way skabooya, if you want me to get out of here and start my own classroom tank thread, please feel free to let me know; I've just been finding the recent organic conversations here much too interesting to not participate. I don't intend to hijack your thread!)


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

no no please by all means add to the discussion. Maybe this thread should be about all our classroom tanks and pets. I think it would be really interesting to share what all of us have... ahem had, in our classrooms. We can all give each other support and just have some good ol' conversations about our profession. I think its great!

PS I bet you would have come back to some fat and happy yoyo's lol Good thing you fished them out. I have about 20 or 30 ramshorn snails in my home tank. They may be a pest but I think they are so cute!

Kids get so much more excited over a movie or video when they have learned about it or when it relates to what they have been learning. They are not being visual zombies, they are much more engaged and that is my favourite way to show movies.  Good on ya!


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

thanks skabooya!

I'm really hoping to come back to an infestation of snails. I think they're adorable too!


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

I went in today briefly to refresh my memory as to how bad of a mess we left behind that fateful Friday... it's bad. Either I go back in and deal with it now, or I have to start the year in September with a 2 1/2 month old dust-covered disaster. 

Of course I checked on the fish tank while I was there. It has infinitely more algae than I imagined could have grown in 2 weeks (how silly of me). 


I tried to find any sign of the baby snails I had dumped in but so far, nary a trace. Instead of baby snails, I was shocked to find 4 baby fish!
 

Since the only fish I had in there previously were loaches, danios, plecos and a single cory cat, I can only deduce by their shape that these are baby danios. I had no idea danios would breed in a tank; I assume these survived because there were no adults to eat them.

I think I'll have to bring a small pleco and hope it survives off eating algae for the summer, else the tank will be a disgusting green mess of sludge by the time September rolls around...


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

what size is that tank?


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

You went back in!? Did you have permission? We are not allowed back in. Our key fobs were taken out of the system so we can't open the doors even if we wanted too. That is such a nice size tank though.
I am starting from scratch in September. I will bring my 20gallon tank now. Hopefully we don't have to move again after that for a while. I have so much to do in the classroom. It is driving me NUTS! thinking of all that needs to be done and we can't touch a thing.


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

just cross the picket lines and do whats best.


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## pistachoo (Sep 6, 2010)

My classroom tank is a 33Gal long I picked up here on bca - I called it "classroom tank" as an excuse to buy it: I have no room at home! 

Skabooya, I don't understand your situation with key fobs and no permission, but it sounds like it really sucks. I and a few others went in to gather a few things, clean up our desks, and whatnot. The government's lockout dates were very specific: days in session until the end of June plus June 25-27 (June 27 would have been our admin/paperwork day); and the union clearly announced picketing would resume when summer school starts if a resolution hasn't yet been reached by then. My reasoning was: teachers didn't picket on weekends, only on work days. We can't be on strike on non-work days, hence no picket lines exept on work days which now means only summer school days. Not that it means I can't be wrong, mind you, but I was not the only one to go in.

You really have to stop fretting over what you can't change! It's summer. You're not being paid, so why expend precious energy worrying about paid-work-related issues? (Ok I know, none of us can help it to a certain extent, but sincerely: it's no point driving yourself nuts all summer over this.) September will come soon enough.


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

33g long has awesome dimensions


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Right so school will be starting on Monday. Time to set up the tank again. This time a 20gal in a new spot. I do not predict moving any time soon so, that is a bonus. I'm going to take down my son's tank in his room and empty everything into the 20 and pull some plants from my 32 to put into the 20 as well.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Tank is in and about half way full of water. I am bringing jugs of water back and forth as I go to and from school to fill up the tank. I am also using fluorescent gravel. (pink, blue, green and some black). I am trying to make the tank more engaging. Yes, clown puke gravel makes me gag but, its about the kids, not me. 
For the life of me I can not find the heater I used last year. Did I throw it out? I dunno but its bugging me. Tank should be ready for fish next week


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Tank is completely set up. A woman in our community wrote me and donated some "baby guppies" to our tank. I went to pick up and it ended up being a bread bag FULL of adults. About 20 or so females (estimate). I will be removing the much much smaller endlers and putting them back in my holding tank as I don't want to mix them up. I also picked up two males to keep all those girls company. 
Next step is to replace the light and get some low light plants  
The kids LOVE it. One of my children with special needs asked if he could feed the fish. I told him that I would make it his job. So every morning he feeds the fish as part of his routine. He has one picked out that is HIS fish lol. 

Admin wants to set up another one for another child with special needs as he witnessed the value of a fish tank in the classroom. They asked for my assistance in setting up the new aquarium


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

If you weren't so far away, I'd donate an entire setup for the other special needs tank.

However, your thread has inspired me and I will be setting up two tanks at Felicia's school this month. One for her own Gr.1/2 split class and the other for her former K teacher who is now teaching Gr.1. May try to do it this week cause the weather will be too nasty to do much outside in our backyard.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

That is so great!

The tank is doing awesome! I picked up 2 really nice male guppies as all the guppies donated were female. Our admin told me that in addition to the second tank they want to set up somewhere in the school (not decided where yet) he would also like one set up at home for his son who has severe autism. I was told that his son likes to sit in my classroom on the weekends and watch the fish. Once again, I have children with difficulties coming into my classroom to just sit in front of the tank. It calms them and gets them focused. Discussions with them can usually happen at this time. What a great tool. I also have a student in my class who feeds the fish daily. Its his job on his adapted learning schedule. 

I want to pick up some more low light hardy plants that will grow. Hornwort and anarchis for some reason will not grow in any of my tanks. In there I do have java fern and java moss but it would be nice to have something else. Vals? That would be a lovely change in there. I also have brazilian pennywort but it wants excel every day or it just melts away so, I just don't bother in that tank. Tried, melted. That plant can stay in my home tank. I put the pellia in there too from last year. It THRIVED in my home tank over the summer.

I didnt want to mix the guppies and endlers together because I want to keep the endlers pure. They are in my son's bedroom tank. I was going to tear it down before the guppy donation but 1. He got really upset when I told him that I would do that, and actually started. 2. Needed somewhere for the endlers lol. Now my daughter wants a tank in her room too. LOL When she gets old enough for a bed, a tank will go in there too. 

Anyway back to the admin home tank. We are thinking a 20 gal but I keep hinting at getting a larger one depending on the size of the space he wants it in. Gonna call up the lfs and see the costs for basic kits then go from there.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Have Felicia's classroom tank set up (2 weeks ago) and waiting for the other teacher's classroom to be ready for the second tank.

Glad your tanks are doing well.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

skabooya said:


> That is so great!
> 
> The tank is doing awesome! I picked up 2 really nice male guppies as all the guppies donated were female. Our admin told me that in addition to the second tank they want to set up somewhere in the school (not decided where yet) he would also like one set up at home for his son who has severe autism. I was told that his son likes to sit in my classroom on the weekends and watch the fish. Once again, I have children with difficulties coming into my classroom to just sit in front of the tank. It calms them and gets them focused. Discussions with them can usually happen at this time. What a great tool. I also have a student in my class who feeds the fish daily. Its his job on his adapted learning schedule.
> 
> ...


I will be cleaning out my carport/storage space of excess fish tanks and equipment. I will see what I have extra and if your school will cover the cost of shipping, I can look at sending something up there for you (maybe tank, lights, filter, etc.). See if it would be cheaper than buying what you need up there. Got the big VAHC auction coming up next Saturday so gotta get my stuff sorted, cleaned, tested and ready to go this week.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Alright. Let me know what you have when you get a chance and I will check out prices.  

Glad to hear things are going good on your end too  
This fish tank stuff in the classroom sure is fun isn't it


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Yes, the whole class loves it and they made me a very nice "Tank You" card last week.


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