Please help the Newbee

Kribman14420 · Post by **Kribman14420** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:29 pm

Hello all, I have been keeping fish for quite some time now (mostly AFrican cichlids) but anyways, I have been thinking of setting up a small shrimp tank. I just ran acros this site so i thought i would se if you guys had any advice for me. Now please don't laugh or get mad at me because my ideas are outragous but here is what i want to do. FIrst a little background on me, I am a junior in high school and i have strange friends. My friends were joking one day and decided that we should all set up fish tanks in our lockers. THey think its quite amusing but i actually considered the idea. AFter getting kicked around by several fish keepers for even thinking of puting a fish in a small tank in my dark locker i decided to go off on my own and figure something out. so i have been doing some reaserch on fishs that can live in cold, dark water and in a small tank. unfortunately such a fish doesnt exist. I have a few problems which i might be able to work out. one is lighting, i think for that i might get one of those round touch lights that run on batteries and buy a bunch of rechargable batteries for it. the other is filtration, i could get the battery pwered air pumps like some people use for bait buckets but first i have to figure out what they cost and if they will create so much noise that people will wonder what is going on in my locker. so... does anybody know of a shrimp that doesn't mind cold (prolly mid 60's) water and stays relatively small ( i think the biggest tank i could put in my locker is prolly 2.5 gallons). I was looking around on this sight and i saw something about cave shrimp? I got the illusion that they actually need darkness and i would think that if they live in a cave the water would be pretty cold. ah well... i have a feeling this very randome question will have an answer that i don't like but at least i am trying. thanks in advance for your help and patience.

thezone · Post by **thezone** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:42 pm

lol cave shrimp are endangered even if you manage to get some i'd quickly recommend you to seek someone that knows exactly what they are doing so that we can all see these lil guys flourish. A fish that you might be able to keep in your locker is a betta just make sure u get them some light maybe a flashlight or u can make your own LED lamp. They run on sooo little energy so u can run them on batteries no problem. But before you do that get a analysis on your lockers temperature and see if they fluctuate daily first. Another fish maybe you can get is a white cloud

Post by **Mustafa** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 6:03 pm

Here is an answer you might not like, but which is probably the only answer you should be given.

Keeping animals, *any* animals, is a great responsibility. Obviously, your main purpose is not to keep fish or shrimp and make them feel comfortable, but to have something "cool" that you can show off to your friends. Besides being the worst reason to have for keeping animals, it also shows irresponsibility and the fact that you have not put any thought into this at all. Granted, you're in highschool, but you should learn these things at some point...the sooner, the better.

Having said that...there is no animal, no shrimp or fish that will do well in what you want to do. Get the idea out of your head..plain and simple. Put something inanimate in there instead which your friends might find "cool", without risking the lives of small animals. What about a doll that curses and dances every time you squeeze its hand? Your friends might find that "cool"....

Kribman14420 · Post by **Kribman14420** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 4:13 am

mustafa, i am not doing this to be cool. i couldn't care less about being cool. this idea was presented to mea about a month ago if that shows you anything about the thought i have put into it. thezone, i have read a lot about betas and i don;t think they are sutable for this type of tank, however i have looked into white cloud mountain minows and they seem like they might be the closest bet i can get to the perfect fish for this situation. i hope that i am not being juged on the fact that i am in high school, i would be interested to see your responce if a 40 year old man came in here and asked the same question i just have (only maybe he would haev to replace the locker with a closet).

theshrimp_123 · Post by **theshrimp_123** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 7:06 am

Are you refering to ME!?!?! I put them in a closet because they needed darkness. And I'm not forty (if I'm who your'e talking about) I'm 16!

SO JUST WHO ARE YOU REFERING TO!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 9:12 am

My response would have been the same regardless of age. It's the idea that I am criticizing, not your age per se. If you went through the archives of this forum, you would have seen that I don't necessarily hold back my words if I think that an idea is a bad one and is for sure going to lead to the deaths of innocent animals.

Mustafa

Kribman14420 · Post by **Kribman14420** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 9:26 am

Okay fine Mustafa, it was just an intersting idea i was entertaining. I am not trying to be cool and i woudn't put an animals in danger. i am quite the tree hugger. The shrimp, I wasn't refering to you, i did mention cave shrimp because i saw them in your thread i am 16 also. i didn't think you were forty i though mustafa was talking down to me because i am just a kid.

theshrimp_123 · Post by **theshrimp_123** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 10:21 am

Relax, It's all good. We all make mistakes.

51Cornell · Post by **51Cornell** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 2:08 pm

Don't do live things in your school locker. Aside from the fact most schools don't allow students to keep live animals in school (without getting permission) let alone in lockers. Usually lockers are in hallways which are drafty, the slamming doors of other lockers will stress (and eventually kill) your animal, air gets contaminated with cleaning products every night, on weekends they get no air circulation. Even a betta is going to need to be kept at approx. 80 degrees constantly (temp fluctuation is bad). you'd still have to do "tank" cleanings about every other day even if you are out sick, and bettas are highly social creatures that need more interaction then a few mins. during the school day. If the school is cool with keeping live things in your lockers, an ant farm might work, or snails maybe, worms--but that's only as long as you give them full care. Keeping anything else in a locker would be cruel.

Kribman14420 · Post by **Kribman14420** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 2:38 pm

bah forget it. i won;t do it then, i am sick of people yelling at me for entertaining an idea. i haven;t met one persone so far who could play along and help me out. jeeze i am no idiot i had pretty much everything worked out lighting filtration i was working on heat but screw it then since everybody thinks its such a terrible and inhumane idea.

Post by **Mustafa** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:29 pm

"Playing along" with bad ideas is a bad idea.

Mustafa

theshrimp_123 · Post by **theshrimp_123** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 1:27 pm

Words to live by Mustafa, Words to live by...... (GONG)!!!!!

amanda_h · Post by **amanda_h** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 1:38 pm

The key word here is "inhumane".

theshrimp_123 · Post by **theshrimp_123** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 1:46 pm

Very inhumane. Why not get some shrimp/fish and set it up at home? Invite your friends over. Your shrimp live and they flourish. Have your friends get some, too. You could even mold some metal, tint it green, and make your aquarium stand a "locker." Cool? And even if its not, Mustafa and Amanda are right. It is cruel and a waste of shrimp life. I HAVE SPOKEN!!! (GONG)

51Cornell · Post by **51Cornell** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:55 pm

Kribman 14420, it's just a bad idea and there's no use "playing" along. Humans have created some really bad ideas to use on animals--there's someone out there who has manufactured purses and earrings and necklasses with these tiny little plastic orbs that you are supposed to put a betta in--the orb only holds maybe (maybe) 1/4 cup of water. And he/she is selling these things as "cool and unique" items.

Maybe you can figure out how to create little robotics that only start moving around when they get some light (like, when you open your locker)--now, that would be real cool and creative and impressive and no living creature takes the risk of getting hurt or dead.