Now help me rather than kill me

[Ravynnm]

I have to set up 15 people at work with bettas. Remember the don't kill me part of things.

So they get a 1 gallon bowl, 2" more or less of black gravel, a Uruguayensis Sword, and a betta.

Bettas will come from LiveAquaria. Acclimation same as I do, for my fish, water out of bag, wataer from tank in. repeat. Water will be adjusted to neutral, soft. Water wiler will be kept available for changes and top offs.

Advice on making this project a success, and keeping the kids happy would be appreciated.

I don't work in a pico environment, my smallest tank is a 20. I'm also not going to be taking care of fish. I"m going to set them up, and give instructions, and watch over them. Anyone failing to treat the fish as a member of the family will have the fish taken from them and re-homed.

I know, I know, but I have no choice but to make this happen. Help me keep the kids alive and happy.

Rav

[Kageshi17]

Do they HAVE to be in 1 gallon bowls? I mean thats not bad or anything...but if they all could be in 2.5 gallon mini tanks then they could have 2.5 gallon whisper filters and tiny 25 watt heaters. I mean then they REALLY would do great and you wouldnt have any problems. With a 1 gallon with no filtration or heaters...they might die. I mean the water changes could be made every other day but the heater and how maybe the building will get cold during the winter and not having the temp at 78 degrees but rather 50-60 will be REALLY bad for betta. So umm...yeah.

[TheOldSalt]

This sounds like a fun project, and I can certainly understand why you're limited to 1-gallon bowls, which for bettas is fine.

So what's the problem? You need to know what to teach the new betta owners so they'll be successful?

It sounds like you've already got the best thing covered, namely, having a quantity of replacement water already ready for use on demand. That's probably the main thing which can make this as foolproof as possible.

[Ravynnm]

Kag,

It's a budget thing, which would also become an outlet power issue. I end condos would be lovely, but not gonna happen. Cerlean, Raphael, and Oscar resident bettas have fared well with the temp flux of an office building. I"m thinking they're gonna do ok.

OS, yeah thoughts on anything I might have missed. The bowls will be set up in advance to adjust to ambient temp. Plants will spend a couple days in my tanks (I have loaches) so there won't be any snails trying for bowl domination. I'll have at least 3 gallons of treated water at temp available at all times. Acclimation will go the same way I do at home, not drip, but gradually introducing tank water to arrival water, no arrival water going into bowl.

I'm just looking for hints. I'm going to watch over them, but I'm not going to be taking care of them. Given my job I'll probably walk past all of them at least 2x a day. Plus they'll have to let me know who's their betta babysitter, if they go on vacation.

I'm really looking for anything I've overlooked, or creative suggestions on how I bring this off successfully, as in from the betta's point of view. BTW they've all been told if you don't take proper care of the betta, it will be re-homed. You just don't abuse fish in my office.

Rav

[Obsidian]

I am curious about the project! What created this and why? I like it as an idea and I am just wanting to know more about how it came to be. Are the employees excited?

[emc7]

You could keep live food in the office fridge.

[Ravynnm]

S**T I hit something and lost what I wrote. Let me try again.

The original concept was a 125 FOWLR tank set up by a company. Though I'm still researching reefs, I want a nano, I knew enough to ask questions, and realize we'd be doing a lot more work than they wanted you to believe. Great learning experience, but neither here nor there.

Bottom line finance said it would have to come out of founder's discrecionary fund, we're talking close to 7K. That was a no go w/o more backup.

Hence the beta betta project. Originally it was a set up as a betta for the first 5 people. We got 14 requests. I told my boss I could do it for 15 and be in budget, he got us $650. I'll still come in under $500 so I have play room. I've got 15 1 gallon bowls, up to 2# of black gravel per bowl (not that I think we need that much), nets, 1 qt. water conditioner, coming in for $225. Follow up is 3 1.5 gallon pitchers for water, 15 Uruguayensis Swords, 15 betta. Latter two from LiveAquaria. Plants will spend a couople days in my tanks so the loaches can take care of snails.

People are wildly excited. I had a guy email me to day to say, he was going to be OOO due to getting married and doing the honeymoon thing, could he still get his betta. Of course, he'll be a mascot in my reception area.

I'm going to bring in my pico 2.5g bowfront, filter, and heater and light, so a bit more snazzy but nothing special and I don't have a place in house for it. A betta, and maybe a small cory.

Work is bull pen (open work environment rather than cubes) so the bettas will be available to all to see. Editorial has a 10 gallon, that so sucks, but all told we'll have 10% of people with a fish.

We may get the big tank, which I'm all about as a learning experience. However, even if we don't I got 15 people learning about fish, and that fish are people too.

I figure if I can convince 10 people that having a betta involves more than dumping food in once a day, I'm doing good. If I can convince 5 people that keeping a betta is a work and work doesn't include dropping food in the tank, but keeping the water liveable, I'm going to jump up and down. If out of those 5 I can convert to keeping fish intelligently at home, becoming addicted to aquaria. . . then I can die and go to heaven. Or get the 125 as the case may be.

It's very much going to be a moderated educational experience.

I'm psyched, and the guys/gals at worked are totally LSD psyched. With in 2 hours I had people coming over to tell me what they were going to name their betta. It's a good sign. Your fish is an individual. He's going to become, if not a member of your family, a member of your team.

Interestingly enough, the trend is for teams to adopt fish rather than individuals. BizIntel's is destined to be known as "SpreadSheet". However, if anyone plans to name their betta "PowerPoint" it's going to be immediately rehomed.

Positive or negative I'll keep you informed on how the project progresses.

Rav
Maybe I should blog this. I'll look.

[TigerBarb12]

Now, for this project, are these betta going into the individual's offices, or is there like a table with everyone's name by their betta?