Office Fish

[Res Judicata]

Some of editors on our law review (if you want to know what exactly what a law review is, wikipedia has a decent article on them) want to get some fish for our office, as stress can get high at times as we near deadlines, and fish can be such relaxing creatures to watch and really aren't high maintenence creatures if you get the right varieties. I worry more about the fish being in a business environment. We're in the basement of the law library, which has no windows. What about them sitting around in the dark on the weekends? Somebody's usually there for 4-6 hours on Saturday, but that's still a lot of time in the dark. Do fish care? I worry about the fish being fed or the aquarium being cleaned on a regular basis. I know that there are some of us editors who will take care of them, but what about when we graduate in May? The Journal runs year around, and our current crop of 2nd year staffers are responsible people all of whom have agreed to help out, but I can't vouch for the first years who will be competing to get on the Journal at the end of the year. I don't know them and if they will keep up the tank as long as there are fish.

I'm thinking it's a losing stance if I say that it might not be the best idea to have fish. But I am considering suggesting that we invest in a light and a timer so that the fish can have some light when the office is closed on weekends and that someone come in and feed them or we invest in weekend feeders. I'll also let them know that I'm willing to take the fish home in May to make sure that they're taken care of.

Or maybe I'm being a bit too worried. They're fish, not guinea pigs. Guinea pigs are high maintence compared to your average goldfish. What do you all think?

[Bennalaya]

I would highly recommend a freshwater tank for an office environment. My grandmother worked for an optometrist and, when he passed away, his wife gave my grandmother the aquarium that had been in the waiting room for years. It was a freshwater tank and I ended up with it. I managed to keep it maintained for about five years and I don't know that much about fish. Salt water aquariums and fish are a bit more delicate and tend to require much more maintenance.

Timed lights are ideal. I've worked in offices that had aquariums in the reception area and the lights were set on timers. In a basement office, maintaining the water temperature will be the biggest challenge.

[crazywiggy]

I have to agree with you - I'd be pretty worried. I don't think it would be good for the health or welfare of the fish to spend long periods in complete darkness. Unless one individual takes the responsiblity fo the fishes owner, there is a high chance that people would start slacking off - leaving the fish dirty or without food. And of course, what happens when people move on? Do the fish stay - in the hope that the next batch of people will care for them, or will they get flushed?

This is a bit of a coincidence actually - we recently got a dvd at work of fish! There are about 12 options on the DVD, depending on what type of fish you want to see. I think someone has just spent a few hours pointing a camera at a fish tank, but its actually very good quality. All the benefits of watching some nice fish, but without all the care issues. Maybe you could suggest something similar?

[Res Judicata]

The DVD sounds cool. And you don't have to feed it. Thanks.

If it comes down to it, I can take care of the fish. I've kept tanks before, and I have the advantage of having an editorial job that comes in spurts of business rather than a steady stream of it, so I'll have time to clean, etc. And I will adopt them in May. I tend to take in strays of the stangest kinds -- guinea pigs, nearly-dead plants, etc. But I will bring up the problem of constant temperature. Once they turn the air conditioner/furnance on, the building stays a consistent temperature, but they don't switch one off and other on until they are sure that the weather is not going to change. They just switched off the AC two weeks ago, and some days we were freezing in class.

[Cagney]

The dvd is a great idea I think. But if you can't convince everyone on the DVD, depending on finances you can have a professional company come in and take care of the tank. That way you won't have to worry about the next group taking proper care. All you need to do is feed and the company you hire comes in and cleans the tank, maintains proper PH of the water and all of that other stuff I never wanted to try and figure out with fish.

My Dr's office has a waiting room aquarium and they have a company that comes in weekly and maintains the tank, while all they need to do is feed. But where their tank is located the fish get natural daylight when they are away on the weekends. I think a timer works great to make sure the fish are getting some sort of lighting. I believe that the water requires a certain amount of light in order to stay clean and healthy enough for certain fish to thrive. So the lighting would be part of the care of the fish and if you hire a company to take care of the tank they can assist you in getting a proper lighthing system and tank heater to keep the water at a proper temperature.

[lmarieaa]

I have lots of fish tanks and fish in my apartment. All my fish are rescued from people who could no longer take care of them because they got big for their tank or was too time consuming to care for them (this excuse usually accompanies the saltwater variety.) I have never purchased a fish from a petstore and never will because there are too many that need homes (just as dogs, cats, small animals, horses, and all other pets do.) There are plenty of big fish of craigslist that people are desprately trying to find homes for. I love fish, and have become attached to my orphanage of fish here at my home.
I hate places that sell fish because everybody thinks that they are SO EASY to take care of, but truthfully the majority of the fish petstores sell have special requirements that often go ingnored. Especially Saltwater. People jujst dont understand how LARGE some fish get. Please dont buy fish, there are millions of other ways to relieve stress.

[Jennicat]

Originally Posted by Cagney

The dvd is a great idea I think. But if you can't convince everyone on the DVD, depending on finances you can have a professional company come in and take care of the tank. That way you won't have to worry about the next group taking proper care. All you need to do is feed and the company you hire comes in and cleans the tank, maintains proper PH of the water and all of that other stuff I never wanted to try and figure out with fish.

My Dr's office has a waiting room aquarium and they have a company that comes in weekly and maintains the tank, while all they need to do is feed. But where their tank is located the fish get natural daylight when they are away on the weekends. I think a timer works great to make sure the fish are getting some sort of lighting. I believe that the water requires a certain amount of light in order to stay clean and healthy enough for certain fish to thrive. So the lighting would be part of the care of the fish and if you hire a company to take care of the tank they can assist you in getting a proper lighthing system and tank heater to keep the water at a proper temperature.

I wanted to second this. Our office has FIVE fish tanks that are over 200 gallons each (no, we don't do anything with fish, our boss is kind of a nut). We have a company that comes in three times a week and cleans, checks pH, medicates any sick fish, takes care of the coral, etc. All of our tanks have the special lights in them for the fish since we don't have a lot of window space, and they're on timers to make sure the fish are getting correct daytime temperatures.