My Teacher Doesn’t Take Care Of Her Fish

So today was the first day of school and one of my teachers has a fish tank. I’m guessing the tank is a 20 gallon tall. The tank water is pretty clear but the decor and walls have a lot of brown stuff of them which I’m guessing is algae. She has 3 black skirt tetras and a bushy nose pleco. I was disappointed to see a pleco in that tank, but sadly I wasn’t shocked. The pleco doesn’t move and he barely gets fed. The fish get some sort of tetra brand flakes but they get a tiny amount and the flakes rarely ever don’t get eaten/sink to the bottom for the pleco to eat. I feel terrible for the pleco. I can’t go up to the teacher and tell her all of this but I’m not sure what to do other then that. If you have any ideas they’re appreciated

 

You definitely can tell her, what do you mean? You see a problem, address it. The teacher’s not adequately providing for living things, tell her to get some wafers for the pleco. By staying silent you become part of the problem, if it was a malnourished dog, would you stay silent? no... so do the same

 

I think you could tell her, just be polite and respectful. Most of the time they are willing to listen and learn as well

 

Rather than tell her that you think she is doing something wrong, why not ask about how she takes care of the fish and engage her that way. You might find out that she is feeding the pleco at the end of the day after everyone has left. Most people will respond better to a discussion about their tank, rather than being told what they are doing wrong right off the bat. Also if there is algae in the tank, that is one source of food for the pleco, so in this case algae is a good thing.

 

All you can do is give her the proper information, it is up to her if she listens or not. Just be respectful when you tell her. Black skirt tetras need to be in bigger numbers so hopefully you can convince her to add more. If it were me, I would wait until after class and politely tell her your concerns.

 

A 20 gallon tank is fine for a BN Pleco. They only get about 4 - 4 1/2 inches long. Most Plecos don't spend a lot of time moving around during the day. How did you determine that these fish are being mistreated by just seeing them the first day of school? How did you determine that the flakes rarely get eaten by seeing them for the first time the first day of school? Did you talk to this teacher? If not how can you know that the pleco doesn't get fed at night?

I think I would take some time to observe before I got off on the wrong foot with this teacher. Sometimes jumping to conclusions doesn't turn out as well as we hope it will.

 

Hi!
I'm a teacher and honestly wouldn't be offended at all! She probably doesn't have a great deal of time to look after it properly with all the preparation and marking (yes, so maybe she shouldn't have one-but, it's there, and I'm sure she means well)

If you came to me on the first day of term and showed an interest in the tank, I'd probably say 'would you like to help me take care of it?' Then you could offer to clean it, get some nice food etc or suggest ways that she could get it looking nice herself.
Unless she's really unapproachable, I honestly think she'll be glad of your interest.
Hope this helps, teachers are human really!! ☺

 

Well firstly plecos need veggies in their diet, and garbage brand flakes aren’t nutritious whatsoever, plecos need a diet tailored to them for them to flourish.

 

Well firstly plecos need veggies in their diet, and garbage brand flakes aren’t nutritious whatsoever, plecos need a diet tailored to them for them to flourish.

That may be debateable, but we literally know nothing of the situation.

OP, how do the fish look? That’s an important detail that’s been left out. Feeding a “tiny amount” is not a bad thing. Most people feed too much. It’s not always about how you feel. It’s about what actually is, and learning to accept that, even if you feel differently.

 

I agree that we don't have much information, but we do know there are only 3 tetras and this in itself is concerning. Nutrition is another story, and I agree that one first impression isn't enough to know that they are being fed properly. For all we know she could be feeding them a well balanced diet after school. That being said I would still advise her about increasing the tetras school numbers.

 

I would suggest finding good articles about plecos online and just going up to her and showing her what they need to eat etc... Maybe she just doesn't know well not maybe, she obviously doesn't know.

Who takes care of the fish tank when everyone is out of school?

 

I would suggest finding good articles about plecos online and just going up to her and showing her what they need to eat etc... Maybe she just doesn't know well not maybe, she obviously doesn't know.

Who takes care of the fish tank when everyone is out of school?

From my experience, teachers are actually in and out of their classrooms the majority of the summer. Not always the case though

 

Hi!
I'm a teacher and honestly wouldn't be offended at all! She probably doesn't have a great deal of time to look after it properly with all the preparation and marking (yes, so maybe she shouldn't have one-but, it's there, and I'm sure she means well)

If you came to me on the first day of term and showed an interest in the tank, I'd probably say 'would you like to help me take care of it?' Then you could offer to clean it, get some nice food etc or suggest ways that she could get it looking nice herself.
Unless she's really unapproachable, I honestly think she'll be glad of your interest.
Hope this helps, teachers are human really!! ☺

I totally agree with this response, it's possibly that students have taken care of this tank in the past and perhaps there were no students to do so during the summer.

 

you can either give her an F for aquarium keeping or call PETA! all jokes aside maybe you can tell your teacher that you're really into fish as well and ask if you can help take care of them!

 

I would suggest giving her this site's addy. I'm sure she'll be grateful you steered her here and she'll get the proper info she needs to take care of her tank.

 

That may be debateable, but we literally know nothing of the situation.

OP, how do the fish look? That’s an important detail that’s been left out. Feeding a “tiny amount” is not a bad thing. Most people feed too much. It’s not always about how you feel. It’s about what actually is, and learning to accept that, even if you feel differently.

Two of the tetras look fine but one of them is a long finned tetra. The long finned has shredded fins that are a pinkish color when they are naturally supposed to be black. The pleco hides in the stack of fake rocks. I don’t know a ton about plecos so I’m not sure about what he has was called. He just looks skinny and you can see marks on his side which I’m assuming are bones.

She left post-it’s on everyone’s desk and we all had to write down what other fish we think she should get. Everyone said angelfish and I said just a couple more skirts. I really hope she doesn’t get the angel but I’m assuming she might.

I took a peek under the desk she was keeping it on. There was a small syphon, a bottle of tetra flakes, a net, and a couple plastic bags from petco. I casually asked if those were all of the supplies she had for the fish and she said yes. She told me that fish were extremely easy to take care of and that I could probably get a tank of my own. I replied that I had a multitude of tanks and I’ve been in the hobby for a while and she just smiled and walked away.

She really is a nice teacher but I’m just disappointed. She got the tank over the summer because she didn’t have it last year. The tank has algae so it has been together for a while. And our summer is only 2 months long which means the tank was most likely not cycled before hand.

 

Why don't you ask who looks after the tank and if you can help out? Slowly you can try to help the fish more and more. Over time you can show your teacher how knowledgeable you are about fish and she may become more willing to accept advice on her tank.

 

A 20 gallon tank is fine for a BN Pleco. They only get about 4 - 4 1/2 inches long. Most Plecos don't spend a lot of time moving around during the day. How did you determine that these fish are being mistreated by just seeing them the first day of school? How did you determine that the flakes rarely get eaten by seeing them for the first time the first day of school? Did you talk to this teacher? If not how can you know that the pleco doesn't get fed at night?

I think I would take some time to observe before I got off on the wrong foot with this teacher. Sometimes jumping to conclusions doesn't turn out as well as we hope it will.

I’m aware they can live in a 20 gallon but I’d really like to see better for the fish. He stays on the bottom most of the time and the floor space in a 20 gallon tall is not large.

As I mentioned in one of my answers on this thread her collection of supplies is very small. She said that she normally feeds them in the morning but she waited for her last class so we could see them eat. She that was what she did everyday and the fish love it.

I had the teacher last year and her and I get along very nice. We have normal conversations.

I don’t want to jump to conclusions either but I just felt bad for the fish and I wanted to post to get some advice. I wasn’t sure what I should do

 

If there is algae then that means the pleco is being fed pretty well(or it is dumb) the only problem I see with the information given is the number of tetras.

 

Tell her that plecos love veggies Many MANY people don't know that lots of fish like veggies. If she thinks the class enjoys watching fish eat (hence the reason she waited to feed them so you could see) I bet she would think it was pretty cool, as would the rest of the class, that they eat veggies! haha

I also really REALLY hope she doesn't add an angelfish to that tank. Now that would be horrible. Some more tetras is all that tank should get under the circumstances.

I think you should offer to help care for the tank somehow. Tell her how much you love caring for fish and their environments and you would like to do that for this tank and really allow the fish to thrive rather than just survive.

 

Not all algae is bad for your tank. Personally, I encourage the algae as it feeds on nitrates and provides CO2. I only clean the front glass on my tanks and any algae that grows on the side or back gets left. Love seeing it pearl, which it does non stop.

Also, a 20 gallon is more than large enough for a bristlenose. If its alive, its eating. lol

If you have concerns, definitely talk to your teacher about them. From what youve stated though, I don't see any problems. Algae, 1 bristlenose, 3 tetras, sparse feeding, 20 gallon tank. I don't see any issues.

 

She doesn't seem like a bad person, maybe just misinformed. You mentioned a color issue and looking pinkish in the long finned tetra, that is a little concerning. Hopefully she gets more than just 3 tetras...they really do need more so that they can school together. Maybe Inform her that tetras won't thrive in these small numbers and how much better they look schooling around together. I really love my skirt tetras and they are super cool fish especially when their numbers become greater

 

Erm I would ask her how she plans to complete the school, is she going to quarantine them first? Is she going to add the rest of the tetras before she considers new fish? Then if she asks what you're talking about, you can explain. Or perhaps her response will assuage your concerns.

 

My teacher had 2 tanks and were not taken care of very correctly. My teacher cared, but never put the right people in charge and claimed there wasn't enough money to buy this and that. The year before me the kids he had do the water change drained the whole tank and killed 5 fish. The kids after that poured blue dye into the tank. I decided that I would pitch in to take care of the fish because me and one other person were really the only ones who could. I had to stay kind of silent when it came to correcting the teacher because when that other person did it, she got very heated and there was a whole disastrous drama. As a result, she was not allowed to take care of the animals with me. I just did the water changes, cleaned the materials, made recommendations and that was about it. I doubt your teacher will be this harsh about it, but if she ever has rebuttals and such it may just be better to make recommendations and showing factual evidence for your recommnedations rather than blatantly calling her out. But as far as you have described, I haven't seen too much wrong with the tank. For sure there could be improvement, but I don't think the fish are particularly dying. If there was algae then the pleco has food to eat, but I would perhaps suggest to her purchasing algae wafers. Good to know you care so much for these fishies

 

This could just be me, and how I feel.

I had a biology teacher in high school that had a TON of pets. Including a fish tank. She would wait until after all the students for the most part left the building in order to do her maintenance on the tank. She did it every Friday around 4:30. (School ended at 3:30). This is because she didn't really want anyone bothering her, because siphons believe it or not run faster than we'd like when our attention is divided. She very well could be taking care of the tank. Just not when students are around.

You could approach her before of after school one day, saying something like, "I notice you got a fish tank over the summer. I heard they are a LOT of work." And let her tell you the story.

Try to encourage her to speak about the tank and what she does.

 

If I was in your position, I'd try to strike up conversation with her about fish. Did you say you're her last class of the day? Maybe one day you can plan to stay a little later and see if you can engage her in conversation. It sounds like you already have a good relationship with her, so maybe you could tell her about your tanks, the maintenance you perform, the fish you have, and how you handle aquarium things. See if you can get the conversation to naturally veer towards the tank she has in the classroom.

You could say things like:
"I'd love an angelfish of my own, but they really do better in [insert tank size and conditions], and I'm just not set up for that yet." (Or, if you have angelfish, tell her about how you keep them.)
"I finally built up my school of [insert fish] to a good number, and they're so much happier now that they have x number of friends!"
"I did a water change last night and saw [some cute or funny anecdote about your fish that stresses how much happier and more enjoyable they are to watch when they're taken care of properly]."

I'm friends with a few teachers, and they're super busy people. It's possible that she had the best intentions but is finding herself too busy to do it properly (in which case, offering to help care for the tank could be good).

Do you have plecos? If so, maybe bring in a couple pieces of food that you have for yours, show her, and ask if you can treat her classroom pleco to the food. If she sees him eat it, maybe she'll be inclined to buy some for him herself. Or maybe if you brought in a container and said "My pleco loves this, so I bought some for yours", she'd be grateful. Or you could bring in a slice of veggie and tell her you read on a forum that plecos love veggies, and it would be fun to drop it in and watch him eat it.

 

Op, I think that, as long as you're kind in your approach to her about your offers to help, or even your concerns, that she will probably be receptive and grateful for the help/info! Most of the teachers I've worked with before very busy, and sometimes things like that can get away from them, especially during testing/end of term. I'd let her know (kindly and humbly) of your current fish knowledge, and offer to help.❤️