Should I sell?

[ferret]

I am pondering selling my 29 gallon, as is with all fish included (Except the pink kisser), to my wife's day care as a display tank for their front welcome area. They have expressed interest in doing something of this nature, but I haven't made the decision yet to offer this tank rather they designing them a new setup from scratch.

The Pros:
I could then purchase a new 55 gallon and place it on the wall the 29 gallon resides.
The pink kisser needs a 55 gallon, the 29 gallon will be too small.

The Cons:
The majority of fish in this tank are my 'survivors' from my various beginners disasters. My glow-lights and my zebras are some of the oldest fish I have, and the gourami's all survived a disease disaster. The rainbow shark is a little stunted guy I rescued.

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For them, they'd end up with a with cycled tank, with fish that know each other and aggression problems should be none existant. I would also sell them all the ornaments and fake plants in the tank. It has blue neon gravel, but it's a good looking tank nonetheless. Pics here: http://slinky.no-ip.org/~ferret/fish-images/29g/

I would use the 55 gallon to finally do a REAL tank, planted and designed from the start with all the knowledge I've learned here over the months. The pink kisser would live with the oscars until the 55 is ready. They shouldn't bother him, they leave their convict buddy alone and he's much smaller than the kisser.

Opinions?

 

[RogerMcAllen]

For cons are you suggesting that the fish are old war buddies you don't want to part with, or because these are all old fish which may die soon?

 

[ferret]

"old war buddies", ie, somewhat sentimental.

 

[Sati]

Are the fish hardy enough to stay stress-free with little chillins poking at the tank?

 

[ferret]

The children are 0 to 4 years, I think. Might be 3. This is in the front room, where there shouldn't be any children except going in or out the door. I believe the fish hardy enough to handle a few pokes at the glass. They've got a lot of hiding places if they get frightened. Even the pink kisser manages to hide behind stuff occasionally.

 

[grimlock3000]

I would give up my tanks for different tanks, but never the fish

For a room ful of 0 to 4 year olds, I definitely think an acrylic tank would be a better idea. Even in a well managed day care it does not take much for one kid to hit the tank while passing by. Heck, when I was four I accidentally hit some kid in the face with a Fisher Price plane and put him in the hospital. Acrylics are much more resistant to getting knocked on, one wrong move with a glass tank can be a disaster.

The tank could be a liability too, in the horrible accident that the tank were to get broken, I am sure the parents of the chld would not be happy about it.

 

[ferret]

Tank will not be in the rooms the children stay in, but in the front lobby. Kids stay in the back 'classrooms' until pickup, parent leads them out by hand.

I want to take my time with the 55 gallon if I get it, so I wouldn't really have anywhere to put them while getting it all setup. I don't think oscars are nice to glowlites and danios. I doubt my convicts are either.

 

[BrianNY]

I sure understand your attachment to those fish. SELL. You'll be happy as a pig in sh-- when you have that 55 planted and running

 

[Sati]

I would have a very hard time getting rid of my fish, but if you do get to keep a couple and still get to visit and make sure they're doing OK I guess I would go for it. I don't really believe in getting rid of tanks, but instead adding yet another tank, lol.

 

[tkos]

Who would take care of the old tank and fish when you sell it? I would be more at ease doing it if I knew that they were going to be well cared for and not just have some food dumped in every so often.

 

[ferret]

My wife would watch the tank and do water tests on Friday. Depending on what arrangements were made, I'd probably do minor maintenance on weekends. This tank has been stable for several months, no water changes, only topping off. I'm not worried about maintenance at all really. The few plants seem to keep the nitrates down. Somehow they stay down.

 

[grimlock3000]

"This tank has been stable for several months, no water changes, only topping off."

What are the nitrates? I am curious...

 

[Katie_McKoy]

Ahem....... Speaking as the wife.......a little clarification on my stance on all of this

1.) I don't work at a daycare. I am a teacher at a pre-school 8) There is a huge difference between the 2. Pre-schools actually teach children while daycare is babysitting.

2.) I don't want you to sell the tank or the fishies. I like those fishies. Those are my frogs in that tank damn it!

3.) I think it would be too much hassle. I like the fish where they are. I don't want them to move. But you already know that.

 

[Allivymar]

*giggles*

You know, I love watching the 2 of you talk to each other on here LOL

And yes, as an employee of the NYS school systems, I totally agree that pre-school is VERY different from day-care! No teachers at day-care.

I think you should leave the tank alone ferret If you folks want to set up a tank for the pre-school, Petsmart has a 10g on sale for $50 with all the trimmings (filter, heater, thermometer, hood). Its TopFin, so not the top of the line, but would work fine for a basic tank.

 

[Katie_McKoy]

I am still worried about the tip over and stuff like that. The front office of my school has a lot of traffic.

For a bit of background on this, the director of our school asked me if it was possible to set up a tank for a minimal amount of money. She wanted to actually do saltwater initially, but then I told her how expensive saltwater is to do. And Ferret has been considering giving our first fish tank to them at a reduced price. I don't think this is the best idea. Infact, I am scared of the kids and the potential for spills, bumps, and bruises that could happen to the fishies and the kids. It just spells trouble I think. I am of the opinion to just let the issue die with my director and hope she forgets all about it because it seems to be a bad idea to me. And also, that is our first fishtank we got together. It has sentimental value to me.

 

[ferret]

bah ;p

Nitrates, last I checked, were around 25-35ppm. A little high, but not nearly what I expect. The last three times I checked before that was in the same range, no change.

 

[Bearfan]

I wouldn't recommend a tank in a children's traffic pattern unless it was built into the wall. I was a bull in a china shop as a child (hmmm, my wife makes comments that I didn't outgrow that).