# My son wants fish



## chrismom23 (Aug 12, 2011)

My son turns 9 next month and has asked for an aquarium and fish for his birthday. We feel he's ready to take on the responsibility of a small tank and we are willing to supervise so his fish are well cared for. We are thinking of getting a 5 gal tank so took him to the fish store so he could see the kinds of fish he could pick from. He wants 3-4 black neons a pirate ship and a couple live plants. I was thinking a shrimp would be good too, but don't want to crowd the tank too much. We had him get some books from the library to learn about keeping fish. He read them and still wants to do this. I'm a little concerned about the black neons as I read they need soft water and ours is very hard. Will have to talk with the fish store people about that. It is a dedicated aquarium store we are going to, not a general pet store.

We are looking at the Marineland Eclipse hexagonal aquarium. Would it work well for what he wants to put in it. I also like the Marineland Crescent aquarium. Love that it uses LED lights, but not sure if they will be sufficient for live plants. 

We aren't opposed to bumping up to a 10 gal tank if we have to, but my younger son has expressed that he would like fish too. Even though he's younger, he is actually the more responsible caretaker of the two of them, so we are willing to work with him on a tank as well if he still wants one at his birthday. If we do that, then we'll need to do something similar to what we've done with the first kid and I don't think I really want to invest in 2 separate 10 gal tanks and find space for them in each of their rooms. Plus, all this is making my DH and I want our own tank! 

Anyway, any input about those tanks would be appreciated! Any other thoughts you come up with too!
Thanks!
Chris


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## Mushtang (Jun 15, 2011)

Buy him a copy of Aquariums for Dummies today, before buying any tank or equipment. When he's finished reading it you read it.


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## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Hi, Chris.

The neons would do better in a 10 gallon or bigger tank. They like to swim, so a hex 5 gallon wouldn't be a lot of room for them.

You could try putting them in a more rectangular 5.5 gallon, like the ones Aqueon sells, but I wouldn't be comfortable keeping them in that either.

Have your kids considered a male betta? They will do fine in either the hex or rectangular tank (although the rectangular one has more swimming space, and would be nicer for the betta.) Just make sure the filter flow isn't too strong, since bettas need calm waters. A sponge or corner filter will good for them, as long as you have a check valve to regulate the speed of the bubbles it would produce. You can keep one or two mystery snails with the betta, but not much else. Male bettas will fight anything that looks like a betta.

Your kids might be interested in African Dwarf Frogs too. You can keep two in a 5.5 gallon. Just make sure to not feed them food that expands, since bloating can be very harmful to them. Or if you have food that expands, make sure to soak it before giving it to them.

Both bettas and ADF's might jump so i recommend having a lid for both.

As for live plants, you should go with low-tech/low-light plants. Like Anacharis, Anubias, Java Ferns and Java Moss. None of those have to be planted. They can be kept floating or anchored to a rock. Cryptocorynes are also easy to take care of but need to be planted.

Make sure to read on the nitrogen cycle for an aquarium. 

If you have more questions or ideas don't be afraid to post them.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

try reading diana waldstad (?) book titled something like the ecology of planted aquaria.

also read up on the beaslbob builds here.

I like planted tank which to me would seem to be an excellent tank for anyone just because of the ease of maintenance.

But that's just my .02


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## Chillwill007 (Aug 20, 2010)

I Have the 5g hex and its kinda a pain. Its better to get the marineland cresent so they have more swimming room. Cause fish like swimming side to side more then up n down. The marineland kits r really good though. I would sugest one of those as a 1st tank since they have mostly everything u need. I would personaly go with the marineland eclipse 12g. That will have more then enough room for the black tetras that he wants. And a good trick for softer water is to put a layer of peat moss on the bottom then ur gravel of choice on top. Like the beasolbob builds.


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## nerdmanpap (Aug 5, 2011)

I would highly recommend jumping up to a 10g tank for a starter instead of a 5. In my experience the 10g is not much more expensive and doesn't seem to take up much more space. There are many advantages:


more swimming area for fish
ability to have more fish/more variety of fish
larger volume of water means changes to chemicals/ph/toxins are less deadly
planting area for live plants is greater

I started out with a 10g and it didn't take up much more space than the 5 I wanted. I've since sold the 10g once I finished college (I had to move) and started setting up a 20g. You'll find that you will always want a bigger tank, but never a smaller one lol


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## foolintherain (Aug 6, 2011)

I'm just starting up too, so I don't have too much advice, besides this:
Don't believe anything the people at the pet store tell you, just because you don't have any other information on hand. Even basic stuff. I don't mean that to sound mean, I'm just speaking from personal experience. This post has some explanation:
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f14/observations-former-petsmart-employee-17977.html


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## Fearmancer (Apr 24, 2011)

For best results I would suggest reading all you can. I started up my aquarium for my kids and they lost interest quickly. Not saying that this will happen, but it may be something that both you and your son can enjoy. Alot is learning by doing, but starting off with good info is better. The three main things you need to learn are: 1. the nitrogen cycle and how it effects your tank, 2. compatability and care for your fish, and 3. maintenance of your tank.
Understanding that will help you be much more successful. Fish keeping can be a fun activity but it WILL require quite a bit of work at first and a moderate amount to keep everything happy. A bit of advice though, keep it simple at first, don't jump into too much at once or both you and your fish could become stressed and thats just not fun for anyone. Welcome to the hobby and the forum. Best of luck and let us know how everything turns out.


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## Sweetgreenleaf1369 (Jun 24, 2011)

foolintherain said:


> I'm just starting up too, so I don't have too much advice, besides this:
> Don't believe anything the people at the pet store tell you, just because you don't have any other information on hand. Even basic stuff. I don't mean that to sound mean, I'm just speaking from personal experience. This post has some explanation:
> http://www.aquariumforum.com/f14/observations-former-petsmart-employee-17977.html


*i/a* 

Iwould go with the 10 gallon tank and would stay away from glo-fish thet are genetically altered. Also your son would want to add fish right away I would wait a few days and add a hardy fish do water changes about 5 % 3 times a week for the first 2 weeks and daily water test after that water changes every week any-ways you get the picture. Some may say something defferent but this is how I cycled my 29 gallon tank and it worked fine for me.*w2


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

I fifth(lol)the ten gallon.Its alot more stable than the five.I saw a suggestion for a 12 gallon,which is a great idea.Not only will you have more room for the fish but also more room for mistakes.

Be careful with live plants sold in chain pat stores such as Petco or Petsmart.some will be labled aquatic and are in fact not fully aquatic and will rot before long.Things like the ribbon plant comes to mind.Plants like java fern,java moss,anubias,and crypts stay a smaller size for longer and have less requirements than some of the others.

You need to buy a freshwater master test kit and check the parameters of it,to see if the neons will do ok.Ive kept glolight and head-and-tail-light tetras in PH of 8.4,and they were fine with it.


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## chrismom23 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. Now I have to let it all sink in and figure out what route to take. We have decided to bump up to a 10 or 12 gal tank though. Learning all this stuff about water quality and such is going to take some time, but it will be worth it in the end.

Thanks!
Chris


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

You could take a plunge and do a 20 gallon for both of your sons to put fish into, instead of 2 10 gallon tanks...

Read up on "The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle". In my opinion, it is THE most crucial biological cycle in an aquarium and if handled improperly, stalling of the cycle can easily kill your fish.

+1 on the live plants. They'll really help things and aren't as scary as they seem.

Also consider a biotope - meaning selecting all types of fish and plants from a particular region of the world. I'm pretty sure black neon tetras are an Amazon River fish, as are many other types of tetras, rasboras, and snails that are commonly available in fish stores (not sure about shrimp).

I LOVE shrimp! I have tons of Red Cherry Shrimp, 6 Amano shrimp, and some day I'll be upgrading to more advanced types. They're a great cleanup crew 

Lastly, welcome to the hobby, and I'm looking forward to hearing updates on how you and your sons enjoy keeping fish! Kudos on doing research beforehand, as well.


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## chrismom23 (Aug 12, 2011)

We bought the Marineland 12 gal aquarium. Haven't gotten anything to go in it yet. My son's bday is 2 weeks away and I think he wants to pick out the substrate, plants, decor and such to go in it so I'll just wrap the aquarium and take him to the fish store after he opens it. I'm so excited to get started on it though! It's going to be hard to step back and just guide his decision making and not make those decisions for him. The guy at the fish store who has been helping me told me he started with fish when he was my son's age and his favorite thing happens to be creating little ecosystems with live plants and all so he's really excited to meet my son and help him get started.

Now for my other son, we're going to see what he thinks of all the work his brother is doing on this thing before we get him an aquarium too. He may decide it's too much for him right now. He's also mentioned he'd rather have frogs, so who knows.

All this has really made my husband and I want an aquarium too, but we want a saltwater tank. We need to do more learning with freshwater for a while. Who knows, maybe I'll decide it's too much work!


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Sounds great!Just be sure to remind him for the health of the fish,to take things slow and steady,and to not rush into it.He is at the perfect age where life cycles are fascinating,so that will make it even easier!


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## Gamgan (Aug 24, 2011)

Sounds like not only is he getting the Fish tank he wants but all the research you are doing sounds like has become a " family" project making it all the more special. Good luck on your sons Tank


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## Future Marine Biologist (Aug 24, 2011)

I say the only fish you can keep in a 5G are bettas or maybe a pair of honey gouramis or something.


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## harveya (Aug 12, 2011)

Thats great news, you will not regret getting the bigger tank. Keep us posted how the cycle goes. Are you going to cycle with or with out fish?

Im sure you have read this before, but if you are going to get a tank for yourselves, look at a 40gal minimum. 55gal is IMO ideal


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