An aquarium at the office: good idea? Constraints, budget and suitable species
Published by Planète Pets · managing editor: Clément Lacaille · how our guides are written
Yes, an aquarium fully earns its place at the office — workplace studies credit it with a genuine calming effect — on three conditions: a designated keeper, species that tolerate unattended weekends, and a spot sheltered from the air conditioning. Budget: 150 to 300 € for a 54-to-60-litre tank that makes its mark in the break room.
Contents · 5 sections
Which office-specific constraints must you anticipate?
Three differences from home: the building lives 5 days out of 7 (nobody at weekends or during annual closures), the temperature is run by the air conditioning (heating off at night in winter, AC in summer), and responsibility gets diluted — the everyone’s tank quickly becomes nobody’s tank. The remedy: an official keeper, a deputy, and a maintenance logbook on the cabinet.
Which tank and which species for an office?
- Volume: 54 to 80 litres — stable enough to ride out a heatwave weekend or the heating switched off.
- Temperate-water species: White Cloud Mountain minnows, danios, shrimp — tolerant of swings from 18 to 26 °C.
- A planted low-tech-style setup: it forgives three days of absence without flinching.
- Lighting on a timer: essential — nobody switches it on and off at fixed hours.
- An automatic feeder (20 to 40 €): it neutralises the double risk of the weekend and the over-generous colleague.
How do you organise maintenance between colleagues?
One principle: one person feeds, not ten. Collective overfeeding (I gave them a little on my way past) is the number-one reason office aquariums go wrong. Post the instructions, store the food in a locked drawer and schedule the weekly water change (15 minutes) in the keeper’s calendar. For summer holidays and closures, apply the protocol from our two-week holiday guide.
What budget should the company plan for?
Setup: 150 to 300 € (60-litre kit, cabinet or load-checked surface, substrate, plants, timer, feeder). Running costs: 8 to 15 € per month, electricity included — less than a rented office plant. Allow a 50 € annual reserve for equipment. Choosing the tank happens in our tanks and habitats category; remember to clear the weight with facilities too: 60 equipped litres weigh 75 kg.
Frequently asked questions
What happens during the Christmas or August shutdown?
A lightly stocked low-tech tank lasts 10 days with a feeder. Beyond that, organise a weekly visit — caretaker, volunteer colleague — with written instructions.
A goldfish in a bowl in the open space — worth considering?
No, for the same reasons as at home: it’s the textbook false good idea, cruel and doomed to fail.
Is the air conditioning really a problem?
Mostly the overnight heating cut-offs in winter: a reliable aquarium heater compensates, but place the tank away from the air vents to avoid abrupt swings.
See it in the Planète Pets shop: Hollow moss-effect resin log for aquariums (€20.90) · the whole shop
This guide is part of Planète Pets’s Fishkeeping universe. Our advice is general in nature: for any health concern, your veterinarian remains the only reference.