fish for kids?

fishhead0103666

Alligator Gar
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May 14, 2018
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I just realized I was saying what I would do if I was setting it up while not mainly thinking about you, for that I apologize.
Now with her fully in mind a 10 gallon with a few male guppies would be a perfect tank. Perhaps 3 to 5. A small snail or a shrimp would likely catch her interest as well as the guppies.
 

Zanzag

Peacock Bass
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You had mentioned that she enjoyed watching the feeder goldfish you had. I got my daughter a goldfish when she was little. She lost interest but hes happy healthy and pretty entertaining also very low maintainance.20190910_171125.jpg
 

Angelphish

Potamotrygon
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Dec 13, 2015
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money mainly. If i use one of our larger tanks, or buy one, i can think of a lot of other things i'd rather do with them. I have a 55 gallon that's going to be vacated in the next few weeks, maybe i could use that for some fish instead. though i've honestly never taken care of a fish tank that big.



My daughter is only three, so her attention span is about the size of my fingernail anyways. It won't be anything she will truly be helping with, but something she can go and look at from time to time, and one more animal for her to say good night too. I know she'll appreciate it if she had a few fish, but i don't expect it to be a life long thing for her by any means...More of a desire to embrace her interests while she has them and give her those experiences.
I think the reason that a lot of us were being so detailed with our stock lists and encouraging you to go bigger is because, if you're going to be doing all of the work to maintain the tank, you may as well make it something that you enjoy looking at and caring for. I think you can find a balance of fish that you like and fish she likes.

If you do end up going with the 55, that opens a lot of possibilities for the amount and size of fish you can keep. I think a good setup for a 55 would be:
24 Rummy Nose Tetras
2 male/female pairs of Apistogramma cacatuoides "Triple Red"
12 Corydoras sterbai (or any other cory of your choice)
(and of course) 4-8 gobies once the tank has been running for 6-12 months. I would recommend Sicyopus zosterophorus.

All of these fish can be found on aquaticarts.com if you can't find them locally.
 
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jyabs7

Candiru
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Sep 6, 2019
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I think the reason that a lot of us were being so detailed with our stock lists and encouraging you to go bigger is because, if you're going to be doing all of the work to maintain the tank, you may as well make it something that you enjoy looking at and caring for. I think you can find a balance of fish that you like and fish she likes.

If you do end up going with the 55, that opens a lot of possibilities for the amount and size of fish you can keep. I think a good setup for a 55 would be:
24 Rummy Nose Tetras
2 male/female pairs of Apistogramma cacatuoides "Triple Red"
12 Corydoras sterbai (or any other cory of your choice)
(and of course) 4-8 gobies once the tank has been running for 6-12 months. I would recommend Sicyopus zosterophorus.

All of these fish can be found on aquaticarts.com if you can't find them locally.

All of them in that one tank? Or those are individual options of groups?
 

Angelphish

Potamotrygon
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All of them in that one tank? Or those are individual options of groups?
All of them in that tank. Those are all relatively low biomass fish, with the only exceptions being the apistogramma. Those fish should leave your tank stocked if not a little understocked.
 

jyabs7

Candiru
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Sep 6, 2019
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All of them in that tank. Those are all relatively low biomass fish, with the only exceptions being the apistogramma. Those fish should leave your tank stocked if not a little understocked.

hmmmm. It is her birthday coming up, and i will have that empty tank. I'll have to do some learning and put some consideration into it!
 

Kashif314

Candiru
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Aug 21, 2019
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no offence super but you are making more complicated than needed, OP just asked whats a first time fish for his daughter in say a 5g tank.
Exactly. I was reading replies and was thinking what's going on. Lol.

I don't consider myself an expert aquarist but have maintained 5 gallon tanks very easily. There is one catch only in my experience and that is the rapid water evaporation but if your tank has a lid then there is no point in worrying. You need fancy fish for your daughter. I personally never like guppies but my neices who are 4 and 8 love guppies. Kids don't prefer fish with a personality. They like lively fast swimming fish and not a pea puffer.

That's just my opinion. I always get fancy looking fish for kids. Guppies, rasboras, platies, danios, tetras etc and kids love them. You can keep a mix of few fish like guppies and a snail like nerite snail to have some variety. You can even throw in some chrrry shrimps with guppies or other small fish. Just provide some moss or other hiding spots for frys to hide as cherry shrimps breed fast and a fry need to hide to survive.

I will never advise neon tetras in a 5 gallon. They are not as essy to keep as people think. You need a hardy fish for your daughter really. Good luck.
 
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Angelphish

Potamotrygon
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Exactly. I was reading replies and was thinking what's going on. Lol.

I don't consider myself an expert aquarist but have maintained 5 gallon tanks very easily. There is one catch only in my experience and that is the rapid water evaporation but if your tank has a lid then there is no point in worrying. You need fancy fish for your daughter. I personally never like guppies but my neices who are 4 and 8 love guppies. Kids don't prefer fish with a personality. They like lively fast swimming fish and not a pea puffer.

That's just my opinion. I always get fancy looking fish for kids. Guppies, rasboras, platies, danios, tetras etc and kids love them. You can keep a mix of few fish like guppies and a snail like nerite snakl to have some variety. You can even throw in some chrrry shrimps with guppies.

I will never advise neon tetras in a 5 gallon. They are not as essy to keep as people think. You need a hardy fish for your daughter really.
When I was a kid I'm sure I would have gone nuts about owning a real puffer fish...
 

Fat Homer

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Exactly. I was reading replies and was thinking what's going on. Lol.

I don't consider myself an expert aquarist but have maintained 5 gallon tanks very easily. There is one catch only in my experience and that is the rapid water evaporation but if your tank has a lid then there is no point in worrying. You need fancy fish for your daughter. I personally never like guppies but my neices who are 4 and 8 love guppies. Kids don't prefer fish with a personality. They like lively fast swimming fish and not a pea puffer.

That's just my opinion. I always get fancy looking fish for kids. Guppies, rasboras, platies, danios, tetras etc and kids love them. You can keep a mix of few fish like guppies and a snail like nerite snail to have some variety. You can even throw in some chrrry shrimps with guppies or other small fish. Just provide some moss or other hiding spots for frys to hide as cherry shrimps breed fast and a fry need to hide to survive.

I will never advise neon tetras in a 5 gallon. They are not as essy to keep as people think. You need a hardy fish for your daughter really. Good luck.
Every kid thats seen my tanks when i still kept a lot of puffers kept asking their parents everytime they saw me if they could come up and see them (which included those tiny dwarf puffers)...

At the end of the day kids love fish that come up to the glass and beg for food coz they feel like they are interacting with them...

With that said, because shes only 3 atm, i’d go for something colorful that you also want to keep so that its a win / win situation till she shows interests, at which point take her to the LFS and let her choose something she likes...
 

monsteraqua

Jack Dempsey
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I would say, get a musk turtle, small turtle can't go wrong, easy to handle, simple diet, standard canister and internal filtration, if you are going for looks then get an albino like this:camphoto_33463914.JPG
 
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