Fish Rescue Team!
Apr. 30th, 2007 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ann_leckieSo someone gave the school a bunch of fish. And Paidhi Girl's teacher said, "Oh, I've been thinking it would be nice to have fish in the classroom!" So she dug out an old ten gallon tank, dumped water in and then added.....
....about twenty platys.
And some snails. Well, Thursday there were about twenty platys. Today there are three.
As it happens, Paidhi Girl really, really wants to keep fish, but can't until her room is finished being built in the basement. "Ask your teacher if you can help take care of the tank," I advised, "and you can learn that way." But as it also happens, the teacher? Who thought it would be cool to have fish? Has no freaking idea how to take care of them. She very blandly told Paidhi Girl so, and it's plain that she's not lying. The tank is sitting in an east facing window. There's a filter, but it's broken. There's a heater, but it's...yeah. There's no gravel siphon/vacuum. No fish food, just some rocks with algae that apparently someone figured would be all they needed. No dechlorinator. There is no outlet nearby. (I discovered this after we got a new filter and hung it on the back of the tank. The water is all cloudy, but there's nothing I can do about that until I get my hands on an extension cord.)
I changed out some of the water, and stuck in a cheapie ammonia monitor--I didn't want to drop another twenty or thirty dollars on a test kit for three platys that would likely no longer be with us in a couple of days. On the other hand, I just didn't feel like I could just leave them there. There is now a bucket and a siphon, and I bought a little bottle of bacteria, since the tank is new, and some dechlorinator/water conditioner. The ammonia seems to be all right, if the cheapie monitor is any indication. I did not get a heater, and am wishing I had. Paidhi Girl has been assigned the task of recording the temperature each morning and afternoon to see if they get too cold at night, or too hot in the morning. She is also to dole out the fish flakes I provided.
I also got Paidhi Girl a copy of Freshwater Aquarium Fish For Dummies although she has already read fairly obsessively on the topic. I find the dummies books often have the basics very clearly explained, and many of the books she's been reading aren't as clear or helpful in the matter of taking care of a tank as I'd like. My favorite ever was Sarah Fell Keppler's School of Fish but I have no idea where my copy went (I haven't kept fish since Paidhi Girl was a baby) and the book itself seems to have disappeared into the mists of time. Too bad--I thought it was very easy for beginners to understand and would recommend it to anyone interested in but unfamiliar with the basics.
Oh, did I mention there are only about five more weeks of school? She started a new fishtank, with too many fish and no idea how to take care of it, five weeks before the end of school.
I'm thinking I'm going to buy another copy of the For Dummies book and donate it, along with the equipment I just bought, to the classroom. It may prevent another fish massacre. Or maybe not, but I'll have done what I could.
....about twenty platys.
And some snails. Well, Thursday there were about twenty platys. Today there are three.
As it happens, Paidhi Girl really, really wants to keep fish, but can't until her room is finished being built in the basement. "Ask your teacher if you can help take care of the tank," I advised, "and you can learn that way." But as it also happens, the teacher? Who thought it would be cool to have fish? Has no freaking idea how to take care of them. She very blandly told Paidhi Girl so, and it's plain that she's not lying. The tank is sitting in an east facing window. There's a filter, but it's broken. There's a heater, but it's...yeah. There's no gravel siphon/vacuum. No fish food, just some rocks with algae that apparently someone figured would be all they needed. No dechlorinator. There is no outlet nearby. (I discovered this after we got a new filter and hung it on the back of the tank. The water is all cloudy, but there's nothing I can do about that until I get my hands on an extension cord.)
I changed out some of the water, and stuck in a cheapie ammonia monitor--I didn't want to drop another twenty or thirty dollars on a test kit for three platys that would likely no longer be with us in a couple of days. On the other hand, I just didn't feel like I could just leave them there. There is now a bucket and a siphon, and I bought a little bottle of bacteria, since the tank is new, and some dechlorinator/water conditioner. The ammonia seems to be all right, if the cheapie monitor is any indication. I did not get a heater, and am wishing I had. Paidhi Girl has been assigned the task of recording the temperature each morning and afternoon to see if they get too cold at night, or too hot in the morning. She is also to dole out the fish flakes I provided.
I also got Paidhi Girl a copy of Freshwater Aquarium Fish For Dummies although she has already read fairly obsessively on the topic. I find the dummies books often have the basics very clearly explained, and many of the books she's been reading aren't as clear or helpful in the matter of taking care of a tank as I'd like. My favorite ever was Sarah Fell Keppler's School of Fish but I have no idea where my copy went (I haven't kept fish since Paidhi Girl was a baby) and the book itself seems to have disappeared into the mists of time. Too bad--I thought it was very easy for beginners to understand and would recommend it to anyone interested in but unfamiliar with the basics.
Oh, did I mention there are only about five more weeks of school? She started a new fishtank, with too many fish and no idea how to take care of it, five weeks before the end of school.
I'm thinking I'm going to buy another copy of the For Dummies book and donate it, along with the equipment I just bought, to the classroom. It may prevent another fish massacre. Or maybe not, but I'll have done what I could.