My 4 year old loves his betta, "Nemo". Nemo was in a 2 1/2 gallon tank up until this week, now he's in a 10 gallon tank. There are also two purple apple snails in the tank, and three young, very plain female guppies. (Nemo had a guppy tankmate for the past month or so in his last little aquarium, and didn't bother it. I wouldn't put male guppies in with a male betta because he might attack them. In fact some male bettas aren't good with other fish at all) So I would advise a single male betta, and a few apple snails. The apple snails are SO much fun to watch.
Thanks for all of the replies so far, great ideas. I have already told him that he cannot have the tank in his room until he understands that he has to be careful around the tank, cannot dump things in there etc. Its why I am letting him help me with the 55G so that he gets an understanding of what he can/can't do around the tank before he gets his own one.
I'm none too keen on a the idea of a three year old with a tank, But if your going to, go with a betta. I'm sure it would survive, and no special requirements. Not to mention, I love bettas, lol.
It attractive, yet low maintenance, it'll be a perfect "learner fish" for your son. Bettas (well mine at least) interact with their owner. They come to the front of the tank and stare at you, show off (ie. flare and turn sideways) for you, mine even beg for food. One time, a piece of gravel which i was using to hold down a fake plant inside his tank fell out of the base of the plant (the tank is bare-bottomed), and when i came to the tank, he swam over and sort of pointed at it with his body until i put it back (which was kinda wierd.. but cool none the less lol, and that was only one time >.<)
I'm none too keen on a the idea of a three year old with a tank, But if your going to, go with a betta. I'm sure it would survive, and no special requirements.
I'm assuming the OP will be in charge of feeding and care, I know I am with my "son's" betta. He is my helper, not the other way around. I think children of all ages with pets need daily adult supervision with pets to be sure the pet is receiving proper care. I just wanted to make that clear, I wouldn't want anyone to think my 4 year old was in charge! LOL
Its not that, its the temptation to feed it constantly is what worries me. I've heard stories of entire jars of food being dumped in a tank, and killing all the fish if it isn't caught fast enough.
I was in the same boat, I thought about getting my daughter a small elmo-themed tank and a betta, but came to my senses and just let her help me more with feeding and maintenance. Like frozen/pelleted foods are good and letting her pretend she was helping me gravel vac made her happy.
