Teaching the New Generation: A Tank in Leonardo's School
Teaching the New Generation: A Tank in Leonardo's School
Written by Saturday, 06 September 2008 00:00
Teaching a son – tiring as it may occasionally be – is one of the most rewarding experiences a father can have. At least that’s true for me and I don't think I am too far from the truth in general!
When I re-arranged my kitchen tank (a “major update” which involved expanding the capacity of a unit from 75 lit to 330 lit.) I decided, having checked with Stefania and Leonardo’s teachers at school first, that the time had come for Leonardo and his schoolmates to have their own tank, at school.
Aquarism is a good starting point to understand life and biology of plants and fishes and to promote respect for the environment amongst young people. I set out a few, simple, targets which I had to achieve. In particular, the tank in Leonardo's school should be:
- easy and quick to set up. Since the tank will run for 7 months only (it will be dismantled at beginning of the summer holidays) there is no time or reason for prolonged cycling,
- easy to keep and run (in this case this means that the tank's inhabitants should be quite tolerant of a variety of water conditions). The tank is supposed to be run by kids (under the supervision of teachers) who have extremely limited, if any at all, prior experience of fish keeping. To support them, I agreed to check on the tank weekly and help them carry out water changes every two weeks.
- Cheap to set up, as the school has not got a budget for it.
- Colourful enough to attract the attention of the kids. In this respect, shy or "dull" coloured fishes, valuable as they may be, were out of the question.
Once the targets have been agreed the project did not seem difficult at all. l started by taking one of my old tanks to school. The tank was decorated with:
- Small / middle sized gravel,
- Two pieces of bogwood (a large piece and a smaller one)
- Plant cuttings (mostly Microsorium sp, Anubias sp., Vallisneria gigantea) from my other tanks,
- An “amphora" shaped clay pot, which Leonardo insisted he wanted in the tank. I do not like it at all but it’s his tank so it is only fair to respect his view regarding the decoration.
Other ground rules were:
- Forget any possible concept of a biotope
- The fishes should be compatible in terms of water chemistry and dietary requirements,
- The fish should be able to coexist peacefully in a community tank.
Once these were agreed we introduced the fish:
- A pair of Pelvicachromis pulcher (“Kribs”, wild form),
- Poecilia sphenops (known in Italy as Velifera and worldwide as “sailfin molly”),
- A small group of Pomacea bridgesi (Ampullaria, or – in English – “Apple Snails”),
- A single (small) Ancistrus sp. which was left (by mistake) in my tank from the last batch I had, before loosing the female of my pair
Fish and plants settled well; the “Apple Snails” started spawning like rabbits two to three weeks later. The project worked well; this resulted in an almost effortless maintenance with things going on happily. The fishes adjusted fine to not eating during weekends and the only loss (for no apparent reason) has been the “Kribs” female.
Below are some photos of the tank and its inhabitants:
The tank is located on the teacher’s desk, close to the heating unit and the classroom windows. This results in some rapid algae growth.
Crowd in the clay-pot: an “Apple Snail”; partially seen behind it is the snout of one of the “Kribs”. The Ancistrus is hidden in the bogwood. Two more Ampullaria are wandering around.
The “Apple Snail” has been pushed back, it looks like the “Krib” is ruling the shelter but look … the bristlenose is coming closer ’n closer …
Kids have – same as adults - their own view of the world that surrounds them. Once the tank was up and running Leonardo and his classmates made paintings of the tank, at their teacher's request. This is Leonardo's painting:
Setting this tank up has been, for me, a really rewarding experience; Leonardo, his classmates and their teachers have also appreciated and enjoyed this project a lot.
We were all surprised by the interest this tank has generated amongst the children. Months after it was set up the kids were still queuing in front of it, just before classes started, waiting for their turn to feed the “fishy gang” (my task, in the meantime, was to avoid overfeeding), Similarly, the kids showed extreme concern about the fish not being fed during weekends. This made clear to all adults involve the educational benefits of such projects; the children were enthusiastic, responsible, considerate and thoughtful, amongst others. Finally, a few of them have begun to pester their parents to get their own tank at home. What else can I add? Target achieved.
Photos by the author.
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