Ahoy! Here you’ll find an “o-fish-al” page dedicated to our classroom estuary aquarium.
This aquarium began as a lab on Oyster Reefs that evolved into an in-depth mini estuary in the classroom. The fish found in this tank are local to Sarasota Bay and collected with my FWC Aquatic Species Collection Permit.
You can read more about some of the resident creatures in the aquarium in my Meet the Tank blog post:
In the 2022-23 school year, this tank allowed me to start a project centered around how students’ “sense-of-place” changes with local animals being brought into the classroom. On this page you can find my National Marine Educators Association Conference presentation of the project and the results from the first year of study.
This page will also be the home base for the Tank Live Stream, allowing anyone to see the fish we have in the aquarium and check out any current updates to the tank’s residents or ecosystem.
If you are interested in how to start an estuary aquarium in your classroom, feel free to drop us a line to discuss our experiences!