Laken
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I've been wanting to show this off for a while, and maybe I'm a bit biased since it's my kid, but I think my four-year-old daughter did a really good job of setting up this tank for her betta.
This was several months ago, when we were moving her betta fish from a community tank in the dining room to its own personal tank that would be in her bedroom, she told me she wanted to pick out/ set up the decor and plants and do it all by herself. I inwardly cringed at this. A 4 year old setting up a fish tank - I'm picturing rainbow gravel, neon tunnels, and sparkly pink castles
But it was her fish, in her room, and I decided to let her go for it. For the past year or so she has been helping me take care of my aquariums and I have been teaching her about proper fish care. She helps with feeding, water changes, gravel vacing, and recently even started helping me with the water testing a little bit. I'm really happy that she has expressed interest in this hobby and it looks like this could be a hobby we could share. So I could only hope that some of what I told her about keeping fish tanks had rubbed off.
We did artificial plants since I thought the fake stuff would be easier for her to manage and set up on her own.
She picked out the substrate, all the decor and fake plants. She laid the substrate down, positioned/ placed the decor in the tank, all on her own. The only elements I set up/ choose were the equipment and the background.
I expected this to turn into a mess or something I would have to help/ guide her on. It turns out I underestimated her. I am proud of the end result. It's not the most natural-looking tank but her betta doesn't seem to mind. He has spots for cover, resting, and room for swimming and that's really what matters.
This was several months ago, when we were moving her betta fish from a community tank in the dining room to its own personal tank that would be in her bedroom, she told me she wanted to pick out/ set up the decor and plants and do it all by herself. I inwardly cringed at this. A 4 year old setting up a fish tank - I'm picturing rainbow gravel, neon tunnels, and sparkly pink castles
But it was her fish, in her room, and I decided to let her go for it. For the past year or so she has been helping me take care of my aquariums and I have been teaching her about proper fish care. She helps with feeding, water changes, gravel vacing, and recently even started helping me with the water testing a little bit. I'm really happy that she has expressed interest in this hobby and it looks like this could be a hobby we could share. So I could only hope that some of what I told her about keeping fish tanks had rubbed off.
We did artificial plants since I thought the fake stuff would be easier for her to manage and set up on her own.
She picked out the substrate, all the decor and fake plants. She laid the substrate down, positioned/ placed the decor in the tank, all on her own. The only elements I set up/ choose were the equipment and the background.
I expected this to turn into a mess or something I would have to help/ guide her on. It turns out I underestimated her. I am proud of the end result. It's not the most natural-looking tank but her betta doesn't seem to mind. He has spots for cover, resting, and room for swimming and that's really what matters.