Twenty-five piscine members of the Sacred Heart Greenwich community recently swam into the Gillespie Science Center, arriving at their new home, the fish-tastic Sacred Heart aquarium. The aquarium first entered Sacred Heart January 17 and serves as a learning tool for students, particularly in Lower School science classes. Junior Hunter Nigey, Ms. Marion Kieltyka, Interim Assistant Head of Lower School, Lower School Science Specialist, and K-8 Science Instructional Leader, and Mrs. Kathleen Dunn, Interim Head of Lower School, oversee the aquarium’s management and care.
Through partnering with the House of Fins, an aquarium retailer located in Greenwich, CT, Sacred Heart acquired both the aquarium itself as well as the 25 fish that currently reside in it. The aquarium’s population continues to grow, as six new fish arrived January 24, and its caretakers expect to receive more in the future. The aquarium is currently home to seven species of fish. It contains two Kribensis Cichlids, five Praecox Rainbow, six Denison Barbs, six Cory Catfish, two Pearl Gourami, two Geophagus Sveni, and two Gold Angelfish.
The fish tank will serve its educational purpose through integration into Lower School science programs, as the students will be able to learn more interactively. Ms. Kieltyka discussed how the aquarium will make a splash in the Lower School learning environment, and how the tank will help supplement and enrich classes who study water and ecosystems.
“The Lower School Science classes will be using it in second grade when they study the Long Island Sound,” Ms. Kieltyka said. “They will be testing salt, fresh, and brackish water and the aquarium water will be used as the freshwater test. They will also be comparing the types of fish that live in salt and freshwater. The environmental science class in the Upper School will also be doing water testing on the aquarium and a cross-divisional lesson with second grade is being worked on.”
Even though the Lower School will bene-fish most directly from the aquarium, Hunter is working to fin-clude Upper and Middle School students as well. Hunter created a compe-fish-ion for naming the fish which includes the entire school. Some winners of this fish naming compe-fish-ion include Gilbert, Finny, Luke Skywalker, Jacob Fishlordi, Bacon, Humuhumunukunukuapua, and Wanda. The aquarium’s Instagram account (@shg_aquarium), also known as the Fin-stagram, provides updates on the aquarium to students who follow the account and helps facilitate the competition. Hunter explained the naming process.
“All the Upper School students who follow the Instagram account put name ideas for the fish into the poll I posted, and then I put the names into a chart for the Lower School students to pick their favorites,” Hunter said. “Then, the Middle School got to assign the names to each fish, and the Barat Center has been involved as well by making drawings of the fish, which are going to be displayed around the tank.”
Featured Image by Juliet Lannamann ’26
