I am fortunate enough to have a mini-aquarium in my classroom, there are 22 fish tanks ranging form 20 to 500 gallons. Students are each assigned one of these tanks to care for during the school year. One of our tanks was featured in the local media when our classroom star Twilight, a female white spotted bamboo shark, reproduced despite being alone in her tank by herself for nearly 4 years. This page will give you a tour of the animals found in room 236. |
 A close-up of our blood parrotfish found in tank 0. The picture unfortunately doesn't capture his bright orange color and blue eyes very well! This is a hybrid species that is man-made and lives in freshwater. This is probably the most commented on freshwater fish from visitors. |
 These are two freshwater fish, tinfoil barbs. They were donated by a student who found them and several other abandoned by the door of the Petsmart where he worked. Despite their rough start, they seem to be thriving now as residents of tank 0 with the parrotfish. |
 This is a convict cichlid, a freshwater fish that is native to African lakes. This fish does NOT get along well with other fish, making it the only resident of tank 1. It has even attacked a snail that was (temporarily) added to this tank. |
 These are two the the three blue devil damselfish in tank 2, a saltwater tank. Despite their small size, they live up to their name as they are aggressive fish! They managed to kill off the other three damsels that were initially put in this tank. It is not unusual when one starts feeding for the other two to attack. It does make for an interesting tank! |
 This is a rosy barb, a beautiful freshwater fish found in tank 3. It was given to us a number of years ago by a student. |
 One of two balck mollies that live along with the rosy barb in tank 3. They were donated by a student this semester. |
 These are 2 of the school of black tetras found in tank 4. They are actually much more silver than black in color, the name refers to the striping they have on their sides. |
 Tank 5 contains a pictus catus and cichlid. This cichlid has the most spectacular coloring of our cichlids with blue markings throughout it's body. Is still is a typical cichlid in behavior, and often goes after the much larger catfish. |
 This is the sole resident of tank 6, another African cichlid. There used to be other fish in this tank separated by a divider, but this fish still managed to get under the divider (cichlids are diggers) and hurt or kill other fish, so I've given up on dividers for now. |
 These are tetras, a freshwater fish found in tank 7. These were given to us by a former teacher, Mr. Mann. |
 No, this is NOT a piranha in tank 8, it is a pacu. Pacus are relatives of piranha, but are much less aggressive. They are found in the Amazon and it's tributaries. They also known for reaching a large size, up to 30 inches, which worries me since our biggest freshwater tank is only 75 gallons! |
 Tank 9 has one of two species of triggerfish in the classroom, a Picasso, named for it's artistic markings. This is one of our newest fish, and was a challenge to photograph becasue it is always in motion! |
 Nemo lives in tank 10! We have a pair of clownfish plus a damselfish that lived there earlier that I wasn't able to catch and move (yet). The sex of a clownfish is not able to be identified externally, but since they can reverse their sex, I'm hopefull that we will have a mating pair and have generations of Nemos. |
 Tank 12 is a saltwater tank that has the other triggerfish in the classroom. This is a Niger Triggerfish, also called a red-tooth triggerfish. If you're lucky, you can catch a glimpse of the red teeth if it swims toward you. |
 The freshwater tank 14 contains three different sized oscars, large medium, and small. They like to stay close to one another, except for when they are fed. Then its every fish for themself! It is something to see when they feed. The only time I have been bitten was feeding the oscars, it even drew blood. |
 This is still another cichlid, the sole resident of tank 15. Like most cichlids, it has an agressive streak and is better off alone. Cichlids are also diggers, you can see the sand has been moved out from under the rock, all the work of this fish. It is not unusual to see any of the cichlids moving gravel using their mouths in class. |
 Tank 16 features the star of room 236, Twilight, a white spotted bamboo shark. She was featured in the local media after one of the eggs she laid successfully developed and hatched September 12th 2007. The reason this was so interesting is that she has been alone in her tank for going on 4 years. She was donated to our program by the Phoenix Zoo. |
 Tank 17 is a 175 gallon saltwater tank that has several large predatory fish including this panther grouper. This is actually a very peaceful fish despite it's size. |
 This lionfish is another tank 17 resident. It was donated to our program because it was eating all the other fish in its previous tank. This fish has a tremendous appetite and has come close to doubling its size in the year that we have had it in our care. Luckily, the fish it lives with currently are much too big to fit in it's mouth! The conspicuous stripped coloring is a warning that it is also venomous. |
 The other member of tank 17 is this snowflake moray eel. This fish is always hidden under the rocks. We are fairly certain it has terrible eyesight, when fed over half the time it misses the food and hits the tongs that we use to get food down to it (a necessity to get food past the lionfish). |
 Tank 18 is a 75 gallon tank with a collection of small saltwater fish. These are several of the yellowtailed damselfish. There are also black and white striped damsels, pajama cardinalfish and a tomato clownfish. Hiding under the rocks are 2 large engineerfish that are at least 8 inches in length. |
 Tank 19 features chain dogfish, a small shark that is found in deeper water. This tank has a chiller because they must be kept at temperatures below 60 degrees to replicate it's natural habitat. These sharks only grow to 12-14 inches in length and are blind. |
 This is Leo, an undulated moray eel. He was donated to us by the Phoenix Zoo and spends most of his time in his 6 inch wide PVC tube generously donated to us by Farnham (they don't have ones that big at Home Depot!) Sometimes Leo is found lying upside-down in his tube, just checking things out. I have no idea why. His original name was Ivan the Terrible, but we decided he was just too goofy to pull off that name, so we renamed him Leo. |
 Leo, close up. |
 This is another eel, a laced moray eel named Godzilla. Godzilla is more secretive than Leo, he spends more time hiding in his tube that you can see in the background. When he comes out, he is notable for his striking markings and quick speed. |
 This is Dawn, the first of Twilight's eggs to hatch. It was so exciting to watch her develop inside the egg! She hatched September 12th, and shortly thereafter became a media star along with Twilight. |
 This is Midnight, the other shark pup. Midnight is very different in personality than Dawn. She was much more assertive from the day she hatched (January 15). She goes after food, and has even been spotted taking some directly from Dawn's mouth. She is usually swimming around the tank, and even when she stops, she is usually propped up on her front fins to check out what is going on. |
This is a picture of Midnight while still in the egg. With the help of an underwater flashlight, you can see the embryo and yolk inside. This is about 6 weeks before hatching, you can see the embryo has a tight fit.  |