tank for a child

Dahlia

Dahlia

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Sep 3, 2003
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My 6 year old has been really interested in fish keeping thus far, and she has shown a lot of responsibility towards the animals we have. I am thinking about getting her a tank for her room. If I do, I think it will be at least a 55 gallon, but most likely a 75-120. Why waste good wall space on a small tank!

One of the reasons I want to do this for her is she never gets to choose the "tacky" gravel, plants, and fish for my tanks when we go to the LFS. I figure if she has her own tank we'll go ahead and get all the silly toys to put in it like the bubbling castles and the diver with the big bubble helmet. I'll also let her pick the brightly colored fish I usually skim over, and a decent variety of them since I usually don't like to clutter too many flashy species in one tank. Kids of course love that (though I'll make sure to keep reasonable schools).

Aside from neons, guppies, and corydoras, I haven't really kept many of the typical community fish. From the list below I have also kept gouramis and plecos. I'm not a big fan of how mollies and platys look, but if she wants some I'll consider it. I don't want to get fish that are fin nippers, either. This is the list of "maybe" fish I came up with earlier. Does anyone have more suggestions or comments on these? I am hoping for brightly colored or unique fish mostly, but I'll take any recommendations. I'm looking for easy to keep as well as inexpensive, just in case...

Dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalia)
Danios (long fin ones maybe?)
Corydoras (maybe panda, adolfoi or albino)
Apple snails
Small pleco (recommendations on type?)
Swordtails (high-fin maybe)
Rainbowfish (Praecox?)
Tetras (rummynose, cardinals, neons?)
Rasboras
Killifish (lyretails?)

Also, are neons a weaker fish? I had okay luck with mine but I read of people having a lot of problems with them.

Thanks!
 
If you've had good luck with Neons, by all means, continue to buy them from that source. There are a lot of problems with CB Neons but there are good sources (as you've found).
 
Dahlia it might be an idea if you take your daughter on a window shopping trip to the local pet stores, and let her say which ones she fancies. and then write us up a list of all the ones she picked and we can tell you the pros and cons.

how does that sound? :)


oh and kids like wierd stuff like fiddler crabs and ghost shrimp...

heres a little article...i know its kinda basic but you might find it handy
 
Hmm that article recommends getting them a tiny little filter/heaterless bowl instead of a tank. But I did like the suggestion for looking at the amount of food to feed in the cap before tossing it in.

Childawg if I adopted you would take over all of my tanks!!!

Plus people would think I started really early, hehe.

I'll post again after I can take her in the store to look around. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to do it on a Sunday though... pet stores are insane on weekends. Incidentally, can any of the "oddity" animals like crabs, shrimp, crawfish, and frogs be put with tetras and other small fish? I'm pretty sure she will want a cornucopia of the brightest fish, so I plan to make them the focus and not the unusual extras. Does anyone have apple snails with the above fish? Do the fish leave the snails alone or do they try and eat their tentacles?
 
Most of those oddities will eat fish if they can catch them. :)

And, yes, I would probably wind up taking over tanks...that's how I got my 20g high at home...:)
 
livebearers

Well, I put swordtails on the above list (incidentally, we went to the fish store and she seemed attracted to pretty much exactly what I listed at the top). Also, we have a 20 gallon tank of guppies too (and breeding cichlids in the large tank) which produce quite a few babies she likes to watch. I'd get her mollies/platys if she liked them, but she didn't seem too intrigued by them anyway.

I'm not saying mollies and platys aren't cool fish, I can see why they would appeal to people, but they don't appeal to me personally. I think it is their chunky bodies and how opaque/matte they are. So, unless my daughter develops an adoration for them I probably will encourage her to get things I like too.

Now that I said that she'll most likely fall in love with them next time we go to the store.

I think for any schools she gets of small fish (tetras) I'll try to do 9-15 fish and for larger fish (corydoras) probably 5-7. I'm strongly considering a 48 inch 120 gallon now for her.

I'm about to go look up kribs and apistogrammas to see how well they do in community tanks. I don't know much about them yet. I'll probably end up finding out they won't do well but falling in love and planning a new setup just for them anyway... sheesh!
 
Let me put it this way -- at 28 years of age I started the hobby with a 10g and a single, rugged Calvus.

Now, if she's an experienced fish keeper, then the tank will be fine as she will be able to take good care of it (with some guidance from Mom of course :) ). Problem is, if she becomes bored, you will be retaining responsibility for its up-keep, and if she grows tired of it or the gurgling sounds it makes, then you'll need to find it a new wall (or worse, new home).

The fish you selected looked okay in my limited experieince... and Mollies are matte, and boring. I'm not afraid to say it... but I'm going to be getting a few for free soon, and we'll see how entertaining they become in my 30g with 3 cichlids :p.

If you get Danios, my Zebra Danios school nicely and seem pretty hearty (been through some pretty drastic water issues I've had in the past month).
 
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