Touch Tank for my classroom

[Andrew McK]

On that note, state location? In case anyone on here would like to assist?

Huntsville Alabama

 

[Andrew McK]

Update on this endeavor. Consulted my LFS and decided to take a leap and it’s been an absolute stunning success! The tank is up and running for a few months now with no problems. I have 2 fire clowns, 3 springer damsels, 2 engineer goby’s, 1 file fish, a lot of blue leg hermits, 1 sally Lightfoot crab, 1 longspine urchin, 2 Halloween hermits. Fish were skiddish at first but have grown accustom to the environment and interact with the kids when they feed them! Any suggestions for anymore livestock I could add?

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Get blennys and tangs there social

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Like u can hand feed

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Forgot puffers. Best fish in a touch tank when u get em social

 

[stE26wy14]

Get blennys and tangs there social

Forgot puffers. Best fish in a touch tank when u get em social

I think the tank is too small for those(tangs and puffers) blennies would also fight with goby's

 

[cre1024]

Wow, I love the way it looks! Awesome job!
Definitely suggest some starfish (chocolate chip), maybe some Babylon snails...I forget everything in the tank at our local aquarium, but that could be a start.

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

I think the tank is too small for those(tangs and puffers) blennies would also fight with goby's

if its a 10 gallon a small toby would work

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Wow, I love the way it looks! Awesome job!
Definitely suggest some starfish (chocolate chip), maybe some Babylon snails...I forget everything in the tank at our local aquarium, but that could be a start.

i totl agree with these though

 

[stE26wy14]

if its a 10 gallon a small toby would work

they have already stocked fully

 

[Reef Breeder 2013]

Ok, look, in my experience, corals can only be handled very gently, starfish also need to be handled very carefully, Anemones can only be touched by their tentacles, but they can cause irritation. So, you might see that you can put in a shrimp or a Neon Goby, they are fish that will come up to your hand to clean you, and they are so much fun! Now, from what I see the tank will be for children, right? Well then you will need to explain to them that they must be very careful with the animals.

 

[Reef Breeder 2013]

Ok, look, in my experience, corals can only be handled very gently, starfish also need to be handled very carefully, Anemones can only be touched by their tentacles, but they can cause irritation. So, you might see that you can put in a shrimp or a Neon Goby, they are fish that will come up to your hand to clean you, and they are so much fun! Now, from what I see the tank will be for children, right? Well then you will need to explain to them that they must be very careful with the animals.

Oh, and yes, you can also add Hermit Crabs. I wouldn't recommend Emerald Crabs, as in my experience if you eat them they will pinch you with their claws, and trust me, it will hurt. Hermit Crabs can pinch, but it doesn't hurt.

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Ok, look, in my experience, corals can only be handled very gently, starfish also need to be handled very carefully, Anemones can only be touched by their tentacles, but they can cause irritation. So, you might see that you can put in a shrimp or a Neon Goby, they are fish that will come up to your hand to clean you, and they are so much fun! Now, from what I see the tank will be for children, right? Well then you will need to explain to them that they must be very careful with the animals

Totally agree. A shrimp would be great addition to show the kids not all animals hurt when they bite (technically clean but its training for kids who won't touch hermits)

 

[Toolfan333]

I am a Marine science and biology teacher and I am planning on setting up a touch tank for my classroom. It'll have to be low budget but I want these kids to have something small and cool to see and touch since some of these kids have never and may never see some of these organisms ever again. My plan is to get a 45 inch round plastic baby pool to use for the tank set on a table. I know heaters and filters cannot mount to the plastic pool so I have a small 2.5 gallon tank that i am going to inversely mount all equipment to such as wave maker, hob filter, heater and surface skimmer. I will be able to have sand and live rock in the pool as well. I plan to just have some things such as easy little inverts like urchins, emerald crabs, cleaner shrimp and chocolate chip stars and such. My question is, will these animals crawl out of the tank? What can I do to prevent this? Again, low budget options please, I am just trying to help some inner city kids who haven't seen salt water animals to experience it in person.

 

[Toolfan333]

I like the idea but wouldn’t recommend a plastic pool for children. They can/will lean, pull, and eventually crack a plastic frame. How old are the kids?

I don’t think you’ll have an issue with critters like snails, hermits, starfish crawling out entirely (some snails will go to the edge or just out of water). If you’ve been around the block a bit, then you know water top off for evaporation and good filtration will be required (in addition to algae maintenance)

Do you have a good local fish store around? Sometimes they may do a setup for you and put some sponsor advertising for them as a trade.

I think it would be fine with the proper stock. I don’t know if I’d want the kids touching stuff for various reasons, but you could do cheap and easy inverts like snails and chocolate chip stars and hermits and emeralds and maybe a fast growing coral that grows faster than the star can eat them like Xenia and GSP. I doubt anything would crawl out but hermits would be the most likely IMO
You could also add a couple cheap fish like damsels .
Although they shouldn’t touch they could still experience a reef.