# 4gal classroom inhabitants



## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I am trying to decide what to put in my classroom tank. Its only a 4gal glass tank with no lid. It has both emmersed and submersed plants. I have a HOB filter on the tank. Substrate is black inert gravel. Light is a 23watt CFL in a desk lamp above the tank.

I need something that is hardy, can do well in cool water, does not jump or has a little risk of jumping and can do well in slightly acidic water as I have driftwood in the tank from my home tank. 
So far my research list includes:
Danios, white clouds, paradise fish, maybe a betta but i prefer a warmer area for it, I have read that some barbs can do well in cool water but im afraid they will get too big for the space.

Any other suggestions? My students are begging for a frog lol but I dont think the cool water will be good for it. 

Suggestions?


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

Hets. (pygmy livebearers) Tiny fish that are guaranteed to breed. They are very cold tolerant. I just brought mine indoors yesterday after living outside since June.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

ooo those would be interesting. I will look those up and see if the lfs has any.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

TomC said:


> Hets. (pygmy livebearers) Tiny fish that are guaranteed to breed. They are very cold tolerant. I just brought mine indoors yesterday after living outside since June.


perfect fit.


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## er201 (Apr 21, 2010)

some white cloud mountain minnows would work also, cheap/hardy/colorful


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

They do make small heaters for small tanks. I use one on my 4g at work. Mine looks like a normal fish tank heater but tiny. They also make a mini heat pad style one that you can put under the gravel. Winter is coming so it might get cold in the class room at nights.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

It would be nice to have a heater but I have only 2 outlets for the entire classroom. I share the classroom with another teacher. I have an outlet and she has one. We need to share for overhead projectors, smart board and projectors as well as the TV's. My outlet has my school computer in it, taking up one part and in the other part of my outlet I put in a splitter with a timer to have the tank. So, no more room for a heater 

What I have is what I have. Inhabitants need to be cheap and hardy. I do have 1 white cloud at home that I may take to school tomorrow to see how it fares. Then when I go to the next town over (the nearest LFS) I will see what they have for stock.

Keep the ideas comming, Im loving this.

FYI student suggestions are: water dragon, water snake, frog, goldfish, tree frog, hermit crabs, and a dog. lol. I may turn this into a lesson later on in the year about habitats for certain animals/pets, nitrogen cycle, myths (1" fish/gallon), etc


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

what about the cheap little feeder guppies? They are supposted to do well in cool water... although with the wood in my tank my water may be too acidic for them.

I only plan on getting a max of 3 small fish.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

heres proof it is a classroom tank and not a home tank... just for those wondering/questioning.
Sorry for the mess we are collecting things for art projects hence all the boxes, jars, egg shells, etc. The back wall behind the tank is usually covered with student work. Its the "wall of fame" I just cleared it off today to add new things.


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

Maybe some Shrimps?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Thats awesome you are doing that for the kids. I remember when I was in elemantary. We raised baby salmon from fry. It was fun. In a tank your size without a heater white clouds are probably a great option. They love chasing each other around. You could fit more than 3 with a filter that big. My work tank is small and I have a similar filter with more than 3 fish. Ive tried so many different fish some work well others not so well but I do have a heater. Also Zebra Danios jump. To have a well rounded tank it would be even better to find an algea eater that would be okay and a cat fish. Helps with all the waste and algea control. Maybe a Snail would work to. Ive found some climb out while others dont. As for the shrimp they are a little tricky to keep but they do have fresh water Cray fish that are pretty neat. Again not sure on water temp for thoses either and they might eat the white clouds. Lol


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

Most of my fish are available _free _for classroom use. If you're interested and able to share the cost of shipping (should be less than $20 for over-night), I have heterandria and blueberry shrimp available, and they work perfectly in that type of set up. I can provide you with 'easy' plants, too, but it looks as though you have that covered


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Thanks guys.  Ideally I would love to have a larger tank, but Im waiting until I get a full time permanent position. In the next 2 years I know of 3 teachers that will retire, so hopefully then I will have a spot for a nice habitat tank. I also want to do the salmon tank, we do have a 55 gal in the school. However, I would need to be trained via salmon hatchery. I dont have any time for that this year. I havent taught elementary in a few years and I need to create/prep for classes I havent taught before so that takes up most of my time.
Im strongly considering raising butterflies from caterpillars in the spring. I just need to ask PAC for the money. Its about $100 for the package.  But it would be an amazing experience for them. I even made a butterfly cage that can hang from that ugly AC pipe that goes across the back of the room.

I am looking for more plants to put in that tank actually. They will be used for experiments as well. I find onions and aquatic plants work the best to see cells under a microscope. Also we will be looking at what plants can grow in very wet environents and submersed and emmersed growth. So, I am in the classifieds section asking for plants, and have been for a bit. Obdviously I wont need much but a few clippings of whatever is perfect.

Currently I have from my place a bleeding heart vine, ricca, duckweed. From another member (TomC) I recieved some anarchis, hornwort, java fern, and hygro. I am unsure right now if the plants will make it because the bag was COLD. Even my 17month old son pulled his hand away. Many of the plants were transparent or mush. But Im hopeful parts of some will survive. They were donated so it would be lovely for them to survive. I will give credit where credit is due and his name will be on a sheet of information about the tank posted on the wall as a thanks.  

Shrimp would be PERFECT! OMG they would be so different and interesting.  I love it. Im going to research shrimp care now 

And Ursus... Pm'd


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

I know I would have been absolutly fascinated by them if I was a child...(not that long ago...or "ago" at all )


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

LOL. I must agree. I too am a child at heart. Im a 29 Y/O tomboy who loves to watch cartoons, dress up for halloween, have good clean fun parties, do kids crafts, look at "cool" things. Heck I get super excited about things just like the kids do. lol. Maybe that will change the older I get but for now Im a kid at heart and my students appreciate it. We have so much fun together. 

Shrimp are so different. I dont know of any teacher here that have had shrimp in a classroom tank. SO EXCITED!!!


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## jarrod989 (Oct 16, 2011)

i'd put endlers or guppys in it


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

THANK YOU euroamg for your plant donation. They are going into the tank first thing tomorrow morning. 

I am noticing a lot of evaporation on the classroom tank. When it was at my house the evaporation rate was no where near what it is at the school. Its insane. I have to top off daily. About a half inch evaporates daily. I knew my classroom was dry but GEEZ. Anways, I am bringing water from home to do top offs because our school is having some water issues.
I hope all continues to go well. I do wish I had a heater though, but we have no more outlets.


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## djamm (Sep 25, 2010)

what about running a power bar for more outlets...many of the fish keepers here use them combined with timers on the lights


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

You can do a surprising amount with an unheated tank, in terms of plants and animals. I have heaters only in about half my aquariums. The shrimp, snails, minnows, killies, livebearers and miscellaneous other species do fine (and breed) at 18C - 22C.

Having a heater could give you a wider selection to choose from, but not having one is hardly punishment


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

djamm said:


> what about running a power bar for more outlets...many of the fish keepers here use them combined with timers on the lights


Well here is what I have going on currently. I share the classroom with another teacher. She teaches mornings and I teach afternoons (socials, science, art, french, computers, and Library. I also cover drama, and the majority of school events land in the afternoons which means me again.) We have 2 outlets in the whole room. I get one which is directly next to my desk and the other teacher gets the other which is directly next to her desk. The one by her desk currently has a stereo, laptop, pencil sharpner, and 2 student computers hooked up to it. Mine has a laptop and a 3 way splitter for the tank (timer, light and projector) There are already so many cables around the room its a tripping hazard. Also, what we have gets unplugged regularly in order to use other equiptment.  We have a request put in for more outlets. One in the front of the room would be the best.

@ Ursus. I agree. I too have had many cool water tanks. All animals involved have thrived. In my old setup my white clouds bread readily and produced viable offspring.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

THANK YOU Ursus sapien for your donation of hets, shrimp and plants. The kids were in Love. The Principal of our school was very into it as well. He acted like a 6 year old on christmas morining.  His exact words with just looking at the unopened box after I said what was in it " AWWW COOL! Can we open it now? "


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

You're welcome. What a great mental image. With a principle like that and teachers like you, your school must have some good things happening

It's a tricky time of year to ship - we had hot days and very cool nights- so I'm glad it all arrived safely. Keep us updated!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

BAH! Ive been so busy I totally forgot about this thread. I haven't been online lately but I DID update on another plant forum LOL. Here is the update. 

Anyways, there are 2 male hets left in the tank so no babies 
There are a couple of shrimp in the tank but its pretty hard to see them. Although I had a couple of students rip out a bunch of plants from the tank to let the light in. Funny story too. I was changing the schedule board when I heard the students screaming. I turned around to them waving the plants trying to get something off. I asked what they were doing! In a disgusted voice they told me the shrimp were hanging onto the plants and wouldn't let go. LOL. too funny. 
I am seriously considering setting up my 20 gal in my home office as a terrarium/viv/palu whatever. This way I have a stash of fish/shrimp... mostly shrimp  to re-stock the classroom tank when need be. Fish in classroom tanks dont last long for some reason. I don't know if it is the water (which I always test; seems fine) or perhaps cleaning chemicals getting into the water or maybe the kids sticking their grubby fingers in the tank when im not there.
I need to find time to bring a couple of gallons of water from home and do a massive water change on the tank. The water is so tea stained from the wood you can barely look into the tank. I kind of like the natural look, but everyone else says it looks dirty. I even had one person say that I was abusing the animals in the tank because it was filthy. "Look how brown the water is!" I had to explain tannins leaching from wood. lol

OLD PICS

















And some of my students art work

































Here are the updated pics as of yesterday and the Valentines day gifts/card I made for my kids. 
Notice all the plants turning red in the photo? I discovered that "someone" removed the off dial on my timer so the light was on 23 hours a day. 0_o. 









Valentines day Cards for my kids.









The words on the card I hand written are:
To________
1. I believe in you
2. I trust in you
3. You are listned to
4. You are cared for
5. You are important
6. You will succeed 
From Mrs. Combden

And they all got a pen attached to their note


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

you could always put a glass cover on the tank to prevent chemicals from getting in. Or make a slip cover of some sort to completely cover the tank when you are not there


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

You are such an awesome teacher! It must have taken you hours to do those Valentines!

How did Ursus Sapien get those plants and fish up to you? I have lots of endlers I could send you, as well as plants, but have no clue how to get them there. Endlers are colourful and would do well in an unheated tank. In nature, they spend part of their year in hard water and part of the year in soft water, depending on how rainy the season is, so they are adaptable. 

Another great fish for a small tank are some of the small killifish. You can keep at least 4 aphysosemion primigenium parents in there, and they will spawn. But one of the cool things about killies is that some of them can be shipped to you as eggs and hatched! I think the northobranchius are lovely and quite common. I had some of those for awhile but another BCA member did the hatching. (Scholz) You can find his killifish hatching journals here. 

With a natural-looking tank like that, I think an emersed plant would do well, the kind that is rooted at the bottom in substrate or a pot but grows up out of the tank. I don't know much about plants, but some of the plants I've had in my tiny shrimp tanks have just done that naturally. It's pretty!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Hi. Actually those cards only took me about 45 min to write out, not including cutting them into individual cards, and stapling the corners to put pens in them. I did it yesterday afterschool 
I also made unicorn poop cookies for my students for valentines day today  My son and I tried a poop cookie this morning. They are nice and moist and soft like the real thing LOL. I also put a glaze on them to look "fresh" hahaha.

Ursus mailed them up through Canada post in a heated box in a breathable bag. I would love to get endlers. Ive actually been waiting at the petstore to get some, even the feeder guppies. (Ive had them before) I would put a bunch in my tank at home and some in the tank at school, that way I have a "stash". Unfortunately they told me that they don't foresee getting any at any time soon. Killies would be amazing! I would need to set up a different tank for them though and do some research first. Ive never kept killies before and don't know much about them so I wouldn't feel comfortable keeping them just yet. I want to make sure they have a good home first with an educated person to care for their specific needs.

More plants that grow emersed would be sooo good. I would probably do pots and leave them in pots. Im even thinking of removing the wood to do just that, but now the wood has moss growing on top of it. It looks nice. I also want to pick up some of those hanging/stick pots for the side of the tank to plant things in. Even some riparium foam floating planters. The ones that fit together like a puzzle. Some day I will be able to do a nice size tank with what I really want for a good educational tank. Its hard when your limited in funds, time and space. 
When I get my own classroom.... oh yea. I have dreams  lol

PS. If you wanna donate, PM me and I can give you my shipping addie.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hi Skabooya,

I would love to donate some plants or fish to you (especially endlers, they seem perfect for your needs) but I have no clue how to find a heated shipping container or a breathable bag, especially a breathable bag that holds water! I've never mailed anything more challenging than a book. I have a really nice floating plant, that Stuart gave me (originally from DavefromBC, I think); it's a type of aquatic fern. That would be nice in your tank, too.

Canadian Aquatics does a lot of shipping. Hmm.

Killies are very easy. I don't think that you need anything special to look after most types of killies. With the aphyosemion and northobranchius, they did fine at room temperature and would eat anything (although they did love bloodworms or live black worms if offered them). They are small tank fish, peaceful. Some African killies apparently hatch out in puddles. I don't have any killies currently, though. 

Your unicorn poop cookies sound enchanting. I've never heard of them. Can you post a recipe?


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

LOL. The poop cookies are just sugar cookies. Before putting them in the fridge for an hour I split them up into separate bowls and made them different colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). After an hour in the fridge I roll out the dough into "snakes". It is very VERY fragile so after rolling them a bit, I used my fingers to make them longer. I just did about a teaspoon of dough at a time. I put one of each coloured snake together to form one big snake. Then I squished it together to make a skinny snake again that was multicoloured. Then I rolled them into a snail shape, then broke off the snake about an inch and a half more and laid it on top of the snail shape to look like the end of a poop. I cooked them like regular sugar cookies. 400F for 6-8 minutes. You can decorate them by pushing nuts or other decorative edibles (big sprinkles) into the cookies right after coming out of the oven. They are still soft. Then glaze them with something to make them look moist lol. And add star sprinkles and edible glitter etc. 
Here is the recipe and instructions I used.

Unicorn Poop!

They turned out pretty good. I made mine plain with no "decorations" other than the glaze. My son sure likes them lol.

















As for shipping. Its just a styrofoam box or a box lined with styrofoam. A heat pack is taped to the top of the inside of the box. Breathable bags can be purchased at an LFS or given. Depends on the person. Tie them just like at a lfs with a knot and elastic just to make sure it doesnt leak. Pack them again inside another bag that you tie off to make sure nothing leaks, then off it goes. 
Plants are shipped moist, with little to no water. Usually they come wrapped in paper towel or newspaper.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Those cookies are truly brilliant & weird, Skabooya. I can see why kids would love them. What else would unicorn poop look like, other than a coiled rainbow? Lol. Must have taken you a long time.

Although the instructions for shipping are interesting, I don't myself feel confident that if I tried that with fish, they'd arrive alive in Kitimat. Most likely, the experiment would be disastrous and in addition to becoming a fish murderer, I'd be held under suspicion of terrorism or at least postal vandalism, when the box leaked or had to be blown up by the bomb squad. If you are ever in Vancouver, I would be happy to give you some fish, though. However, endlers are very easy to come by. (And that's what I have.) You can order killifish eggs online quite easily. That's what Scholz did. (His journal is here somewhere.)


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## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

skabooya - have you gotten the tank how you want it? I am heading to Terrace in 2 weekends (so in on the 24th) and I could bring something from PG if you cant find what you want in Kitimat, you could just meet me over in Terrace and pickup the goods. The friend I am visiting has some aquariums as well, and I could always just temp-house the bags in his tanks for temperature overnight if needed.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Hi, and no I dont have this tank where I want it. I want it to have more emmersed growth with plants coming right out the top. Im going to need to invest in some shower baskets that have suction cups so I can do some planting with terrestrial plants or something. Ideally it would be a bigger tank too, but I am waiting for a permanent position before I go looking for one.

I dont go to terrace as often anymore so I dont know if your friend holding them would work. When we do go to terrace its a big shopping trip that we do very fast. Diapers, dog food, house necessities, etc. 
It is very nice of you to offer, I just dont know if it would work.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

Riparium Supply | Planted Aquariums for Aquascapers and Fish Hobbyists

they have planters like you are looking for  if you know someone who makes glassware, they could make you something similar that hangs off the rim since suction cups loosen off


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Yes thank you Neven. That is the exact place I was looking at for those cups.  Unfortunately we dont have anyone in our small town that makes glassware.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Alright, so I turned the thank so we can look at it the "normal" way and I re arrranged it. I propped the wood up more in the corner and against the back glass. I pulled all the plants and seperated them, and threw out any that were mush. I also chucked a bunch of floating plants because it was getting very over crowded. I did a large WC to get rid of as many tannins as I could. The water is a "pee" colour now lol. That will only last about a day *rolls eyes*.
I found my two hets again. One male I think I accidentaly squished  His fresh body was laying between some pebble substrate. :**(
The other male is happily swimming around the tank. 
I am also down to two shrimp. Both male. 
I NEED SOME LADIES!!! 

Anyone want to donate some hets and espically shrimp? The kids LOVE THEM and so do I


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Do you have a London Drugs in Kitimat? I've purchased some plastic (silicon, maybe) containers with suction cups there. They come in different sizes and are usually in the bathroom supplies section because people stick them to their mirrors to hold cups or toothbrushes (depending on which style you get). They'd work pretty well inside a tank, I think. Some of the styles are perforated, so water could flow through.



skabooya said:


> Yes thank you Neven. That is the exact place I was looking at for those cups.  Unfortunately we dont have anyone in our small town that makes glassware.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

in time the tanins will leech out. You have two ways to speed it up.
1. Everday bring 1 bottle of water from tap or other tanks and do a small water change. Quick and easy

2. Add carbon to your filter


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

No we dont have a London Drugs in Kitimat. The nearest one is in the Vancouver area I believe. As for the tannins and the wood. Ive had that piece in my tanks for over 13 years. Still leaches tannins. I dont think its going to stop anytime soon. And before that it was in another persons tank for who knows how long. lol


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## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

Theres a London Drugs here in PG.


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