Is something fishy in your dental office?



We have had a working 55 gallon fish tank in our dental office waiting area for over twenty five years. Currently we have a "brackish tank" featuring Cichlids. My patients seem to really like it and I believe it distracts them while they are waiting. Jose who cleans our office nightly has assumed the responsibility for cleaning the tank. He does some water exchanges every two weeks or so and we give him a little extra to take care of our fish... It's so worth it!

I used to take care of it myself, but I ended up coming in on my days off to care for the tank and I just am not that into it anymore, but the tank is really nice feature for  our patients and many comment on it while they wait for their appointment. The fish actually seem to like interacting with our patients and can be quite a pleasant diversion. Oner is always chasing after another. Believe it or not this happy fellow, although our largest fish, is not usually in charge. Some of the littler fish seem to be even more territorial  and  pick on him when they feel like it.

We keep our tank decorations simple and currently have no plants. Bill our fish tank "architect" changes its decor every year or two and currently it has some flat rocks that serve as  "stone shelters" for the fish and remind me of the houses in the old Flinstone cartoons.

Overall having the tank is great, except for the one or two times over the years when it sprung a leak. My downstairs neighbor, a pediatric dentist who often clowns around for his patients wasn't very amused!




from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2019/06/is-something-fishy-in-your-dental-office.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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