Not so Educational...

S

scuba-al

New member
http://wardsci.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_IG0013405_A_name_E_Sea+Anemone+Living+Specimen

I recently came across this the other day and found it very ironic. Yes, it's a link to a website where science teachers can buy teaching aids, including living specimens.

Be sure to look at the scientific name of the anemone...
They're ~$1.00 each. If only those teachers knew that people would pay to have them take them... :lmao:

On a darker note, they also sell other aquaria life (Condylactus anemones, live jellyfish, starfish, sea urchins, etc.) to teachers who likely have no idea what they're getting into.
Under the Condylactus anemone page, it says "..would be a welcome edition to any marine aquarium, especially ****** touch tank..."
An anemone for a touch tank for students. What a great idea :mad:

I just wish the website would better spell things out: anemones are very difficult to take care of, as is any saltwater aquaria. Some people may never learn.
 
Oh well... Unfortunately there is always someone trying to make a quick buck off of somebody else's trash. :rolleyes:
 
Aiptasia are a pretty common teaching model for learning about the behavior and anatomy of anemones. They're very stereotypical, cheap, and easy to keep.

We used to use them to teach the new members of our lab about anemones when I was doing my work on BTAs.

Back when I was taking marine invert, we did dissections of Condylactis, but they were also more abundant then.
 
Not sure why this isn't educational... Why do you oppose using a common species of anemone to teach about invertebrate biology to science students? The price is also very reasonable for a lab specimen, especially for a non hobbyist teacher. You are only thinking from your own perspective.
 
frankpayne32 said:
Not sure why this isn't educational... Why do you oppose using a common species of anemone to teach about invertebrate biology to science students? The price is also very reasonable for a lab specimen, especially for a non hobbyist teacher. You are only thinking from your own perspective.
Click to expand...

Yes, it can be educational (if given the proper care). And yes, the price is very reasonable, which is great for teachers, but considering the relatively high level of care that anemones and other marine life require (excluding the notoroius Aiptasia), I beg the appropriateness of using such fragile animals in such a rough environment.
The students themselves are questionable enough, they may be adding anything they feel like to the tank while the teacher's back is turned, nevertheless the level of care the animal(s) may or may not recieve.
I do not think that I'm thinking from my own perspective, I'm sure that you've heard that anemones require huge amounts of lights to even remain healthy. I'm thinking in terms of the animals' welfare. The website's "care sheet" just says that you should have the students poke and prod it and feed it pieces of squid. It doesn't give necessary specific gravity, nitrate levels, water temperature, etc.
Based on the low amounts of information given, it would seem appropriate for a teacher who doesn't know any better to use table salt to bring up the salinity for their anemone tank, no?
I'm not against using these animals for educational purposes. In my opinion, educational tanks and the oceans are the only two places where marine life should be living. I just think that the website should really go into detail about SPECIFIC marine care, down to tank cycling to lighting to live rock, and so on.
 
A marine biology teacher who doesnt know salinity required for anemone, or doenst know table salt is different or doesnt know anemones require lights would never make it as a teacher.

it is the hobby sites, which need to tell US hobbiest what to do ... who comes up with those info ? MArine biologists AKA the teacher and students of that class. ...
 
scuba-al said:
Yes, it can be educational (if given the proper care). And yes, the price is very reasonable, which is great for teachers, but considering the relatively high level of care that anemones and other marine life require (excluding the notoroius Aiptasia), I beg the appropriateness of using such fragile animals in such a rough environment.
The students themselves are questionable enough, they may be adding anything they feel like to the tank while the teacher's back is turned, nevertheless the level of care the animal(s) may or may not recieve.
I do not think that I'm thinking from my own perspective, I'm sure that you've heard that anemones require huge amounts of lights to even remain healthy. I'm thinking in terms of the animals' welfare. The website's "care sheet" just says that you should have the students poke and prod it and feed it pieces of squid. It doesn't give necessary specific gravity, nitrate levels, water temperature, etc.
Based on the low amounts of information given, it would seem appropriate for a teacher who doesn't know any better to use table salt to bring up the salinity for their anemone tank, no?
I'm not against using these animals for educational purposes. In my opinion, educational tanks and the oceans are the only two places where marine life should be living. I just think that the website should really go into detail about SPECIFIC marine care, down to tank cycling to lighting to live rock, and so on.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but I think those are very poor arguments. As a high school ecology teacher myself with saltwater tanks in the classroom for years I can say that a teacher that has students putting stuff in the tank behind their back isn't doing their job. Also, I've never met a high school science teacher that would use table salt to raise salinity. In fact, that statement actually made me laugh. Last, I wasn't really referring to the other types of anemones offered for sale but the aptasia. You seemed to have a problem with the aptasia being offered for sale.
 
I actually thought about seeing if i could buy some to supplement my copper bands diet a little since he destroyed the ones that were in the tank already.
 
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