Greetings from Mexico to everyone!!!I am a Preschool/Kindergarden teacher in a little town called Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point) in Mexico. Well... is a fishing village but it is starting to feel the effects of over fishing, the government has been trying hard to come up with some solutions and so far they have retired several fishing boats from the Port. Also we are located in a desert area which makes water so important. I began a fairly sizable garden on the ground and on pots. different to the belief or disbelief of many I was able to get awesome crops even out of season... the trick is how and when do you plant and the tons of TLC that you give to the plants. I have also a business, a Cafe where to the surprise of many we do a lot of recycling (which meant tons of savings for us specially with the garbage pick up fees, we have the lowest rate known for a commercial contract) we try to compost, reuse cardboard boxes, etc. and even grow the herbs for tea in a little garden in the back.
And of course the School where I work became very interested in all the projects and gave me the chance to introduce a lot of this to the school program. Like composting, recycling, making paper out of used paper, among other things. So this year I want to do some Aquaponics in my classroom... Last year I bought some fish for the children (6 Betas, 3 Zebras, 3 Koi, 4 Snails, 1 cleaner fish, 1 Cat fish and 1 Gold fish. To my surprise the children were all very responsible and took great care of them. We placed them in different aquariums of several sizes. That is when I came across the aquaponics systems ... 
I was amazed, and I wanted to do it immediately but obviously the school had no budget for it since it is a new school (2009-2010 was our first school year). So I decided to build something using scrap wood (for the base where it will sit) and use some of the fish we already have. It would be fun to do something with the Betas if is at all possible.) Then with all the factors I already mentioned it would be great to show the children and eventually the community how we can perhaps solve a lot of the problems we are having already in the town like bringing vegetables from other areas, water issues due to the fact that we are in a desert, over fishing, among many other things.So here is the deal... I know what I want to teach the children with it, that part was already approved by the school principal, owner, etc. and how from our little class system it will grow to incorporate the entire school (nursery to junior high school) either having a small system in each classroom or having 3 medium ones. The question is does anyone have any suggestions regarding systems, any advice and if you have a small system could you please show me a picture? We do not have a lot of space in our classroom... about 5 to 6 feet by 5 to 6 feet area right by the window but we get minimum direct sunlight from it. Of course any donations are always welcome!!! lol
Thank you and if you have any comments, advice or anything to say please contact me.
I shall be adding pictures of the progress.
Amanda.
, thats amazing, never ever clash with the neighbors, can you name all the colours faye? 