ok i have bad news, we had a lesson the other week on water quality and testing and it arose that the nitrates in the guppy tank at college are 250+ no one has done anything about that and im not alowd to, also the tank is overstocked with a tiny filter. there was a bit of ammonia showing too.
anyway to the point.. i was moaning about the tank and the condition it was in.. they obviously took notice that i was moaning but didnt listen to anything i said as i came in this week to find they had done nothing to the water but bought sooo many new fish.. my gaw just dropped! and im pretty worried about the combination..
ok so.. its about 25-30 gallons, i think, it could be smaller.. the filter is the same as i have on my ten gallon and that only just gets me by..
At first there were lots of guppies, about 20, and two scissortails.. now there are all the original fish plus.. one siamese aglae eater (i think), one chinese algae eater, about 5-6 peppered cories, a male betta, 2 female bettas (), and wait for it.. 2 honey gouramis (not sure of gender, probably a pair, but possibly 2 females)!
personally i think its the most stupid combination of fish ever! ..the bettas together, the bettas and gouramis together, the bettas with guppies.. madness
They have planted the tank since it didnt have anything but algae and bogwood.. they only planted straight vallis but lots of it, so the bettas etc. have places to get away from each other..
what do you think?

..i mean, if they can do this with a simple community tank, do i trust what else they are trying to teach me about things i dont know!?

Who is responsible for the tank? Is it the college in general or one particular department or professor? Who bought the fish and does the upkeep?

Its in the exotics room of the animal management department, and theres a guy (our exotics teachers dad) who goes round every morning etc. feeding the animals and stuff, and i dont know who bought the fish but it was probably him.. which i find quite unbelievable coz hes and exotics and fish guy, he kept discus and everything.
The students do waterchanges and stuff.. no gravel vac or anything, the bottom is just a layer of waste, probably why the nitrates are off the chart.. but he is the main person resposible for it.

That is odd that he would do something like that, especilly with him being a fish guy. Sounds to me like they have too many people doing the upkeep. How are they sure that the changes get done? One, maybe two people should be responsible for it. No gravel vacuuming? Thats really bad! Makes 'em if they eat that toxic stuff! Yuk!

i dont think changes ever really get done.. i would do them but my class is not assigned to that room this term.. im in there during the summer so in about a month i can start to do stuff.. i tend to stay away from the fish or mentioning anything to do with fish at college now, i get picked on (i do laugh..but..) and its starting to annoy me.
..i'll be naughty tomorrow and sneak a piccy of the tank during the break in ecology.. and the fish that i cant ID.
no one really cares about fish..
I am supposed to be doing a project for environment enrichment, where i can pick an enclosure or tank or cage and make changes to make it a better home for whatever lives in there. i was going to do the fire belly toads, but the fish may have to come first?

Maybe you should pick the fish tank as your project! Maybe once they see how wonderful it can look they will try to keep it that way. I think that it is awful you get picked on for showing knowledge and concern for the little guys. Some people are just awful tho.

thats terrible lucy
can you not complain to the head, or board of goveners?

I wouldnt wanna do that straight away.. dont know how to explain it, you know when you are in a situation and you know the people, and there are certain people you should go to about certain things.. i wanna try fixing it myself rather than doing something so darastic so soon.
any thoughts on the fish combination here? how bad is it?

Male bettas will attack females unless they are ready to breed, but I don't know if in a big tank if they stayed away from him if they would be ok or not.

the 2 females will also fight

hmm.. i didnt get any pics, i overslept by about 4 hours and missed the lesson lol