Advice on when to start tank for baby/kids

W

wonder371

New member
Hi Everyone,

How old do you think a kid should be to have a salt water tank in their room?

I'm a first time father with a 9 month old. My son loves going to aquariums and science museums with aquariums.

I'm obviously okay with doing 100% of the maintenance. I'm okay spending money on any and all safety devices. I am also okay spending more on quieter pumps/powerheads to limit noise. My son currently sleeps with a white noise machine and I thought it would be a good transition. He has also been a very good sleeper since birth.

Mind you this is my first time parenting and my number one concern is safety. I want to make sure there are ways to prevent the tank from falling over, him getting into the water, electrical, chemicals etc. I do have the ability to store chemicals and other equipment outside of his room. My second concern is it effecting his sleep (sound, light, the overall distraction of the tank itself, etc)

I've searched and I've seen a lot of posts recommending fresh water for kids. I'm not a huge fan of fresh water tanks and would like to avoid starting with fresh water if at all possible.

I'm okay waiting until he is older and/or developing the tank super slow. Ideally would not only something to look at but be bonding thing where we can pick out fish together and be more and more enriching and educational as he gets older.

Thoughts?
 
Any particular reason not to place it in the family room for all to enjoy? Being in his room would likely restrict your opportune times of maintenance while he naps...

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Not until he can reason and understand certain actions are bad. Little ones love to give gifts - of anything, sometimes even #2 from diapers.

Family room only and well supersized. No unheard of for a 3 year old to give the fish a plate of cookies. It is in there nature and we reward it and therefore enforce it. God bless the unselfish among us.
 
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Clowning_Around said:
Any particular reason not to place it in the family room for all to enjoy? Being in his room would likely restrict your opportune times of maintenance while he naps...

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This.

Other than him sleeping in there, when else would he enjoy it?

I add another vote on putting it somewhere where you are more often in the house. I think bedrooms in general aren't good for fish tanks, since you're not in them often when you're awake.
 
Thank you for your responses! While the family room is an option, my wife prefers that it live in his room. I could always do maintenance once a week and have my wife and son go on an excursion to a museum, library, park, etc.

As far as putting things in the tank... I was planning on purchasing a Red Sea 170-350. So I'd imagine it would sit pretty high off the floor or anything he could reach. As added percaution I was thinking of some sort of Artfully Acrylic lid. I'd also add cabinet locks to the cabinet doors to protect things going into the sump.

Also, as far as maintenance and potential disaster to the tank in habitants. I'd like to start with dry rock. So, if I started this soon (soonest would be early-mid 2018), it could be primarily a rock only tank for quite sometime (1-2 fish max) until he could start coming to the fish store.

Once again I'm a new and new/naive dad itching to get back into my high school hobby but now with enough funds to do it properly. Sometimes when I get focused on something I want, I get blinded by my desires - so please tell me if I'm dreaming/my thought process is out of wack.
 
Simply put i would not, you haven't ever reached the fun toddler age yet. Just wait...

Safety concerns out the wazoo.


Think toddlers have been known to use dresser drawers as a ladder flipping the dresser, leverage can be a great and horrible thing (just check YouTube for an eye opener). Just think about that with a glass tank full of water. Also you have water and electric in there. You also have heaters that if pulled out of the water can be nasty, then there's the aspect of what they can add to the system and similarly what they can ingest, then there's the tapping ob the glass, or what about lets play disco lights, the lusty just giess on and on...

I'm a fairy recent dad myself (have a 4yr old) sometimes you will just be shaded at wheat they come up with and do on there own. Knowing what I knew ours a hands down no brainer of no way, heck i wouldn't even do a run of the mil 5g FW in a kids room under say an 7yr old give or take depending on the kid ofc.

If the living room is no good what about near a stair, a breakfast nook, a foyer, a niche, etc...

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Clowning_Around said:
Simply put i would not, you haven't ever reached the fun toddler age yet. Just wait...

Safety concerns out the wazoo.


Think toddlers have been known to use dresser drawers as a ladder flipping the dresser, leverage can be a great and horrible thing (just check YouTube for an eye opener). Just think about that with a glass tank full of water. Also you have water and electric in there. You also have heaters that if pulled out of the water can be nasty, then there's the aspect of what they can add to the system and similarly what they can ingest, then there's the tapping ob the glass, or what about lets play disco lights, the lusty just giess on and on...

I'm a fairy recent dad myself (have a 4yr old) sometimes you will just be shaded at wheat they come up with and do on there own. Knowing what I knew ours a hands down no brainer of no way, heck i wouldn't even do a run of the mil 5g FW in a kids room under say an 7yr old give or take depending on the kid ofc.

If the living room is no good what about near a stair, a breakfast nook, a foyer, a niche, etc...

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^^^+100^^^
In the toddler years, you really have to watch what your kids are doing. Especially when they able to get out of their bed and tumble around while you're still asleep.

Personally I would not put the tank in his tank at all. Not until you see how he reacts with a tank in the living room. Even then, I would wait till he's much older, like at least 5 years old. Heck my 8 year old is asking for a fresh water tank in her room and I'm having to keep reminding her that she can't throw stuff around like she normally does. I don't think the consequences of that does not really register till they are older.
 
Hello, veteran parent here. I have 5 minions. How are you going to keep him out of it? Height isn't good enough. My fat little 18 month old can get on top of the fridge. She uses the drawers as stairs, pulls herself up with the upper cabinet knob, and uses her sticky little child/gecko hybrid feet to scramble up on top.

I wouldn't put a tank in a kid's room. Not until they are pre-teens at the earliest.
 
Kids love to climb and will. You have much to learn about the little ones. They want to learn and do all kinds of investigating. It is how they learn. They have goals you couldn't begin to understand.
 
I could see him wanting to be little nemo and jumping in the tank head first to swim with them.
It's a bad image but once you set it up and all this ideas start to pop in your head while your at work, in the family room, or trying to fall asleep while he is in his room your going to take it down. Its better to think about it now than later once it's all set up.

I first bought a fresh water tank for my daughter at the age of 4 that I set up in the living room. I soon realize kids attention span suck. I was then stuck with a tank full of guppies which I grow to love and still have after 5 years.
What I am saying is you have to have a interest in the hobby to. I saw you had one in high school but you have to factor in your schedule of today. Mixing salt, carrying buckets,Qting, algae scraping, testing waters and everything else.
I'm not trying to scare you away but I rather you think about it long before impose buying it.
 
DancingShark said:
I could see him wanting to be little nemo and jumping in the tank head first to swim with them.
It's a bad image but once you set it up and all this ideas start to pop in your head while your at work, in the family room, or trying to fall asleep while he is in his room your going to take it down. Its better to think about it now than later once it's all set up.

I first bought a fresh water tank for my daughter at the age of 4 that I set up in the living room. I soon realize kids attention span suck. I was then stuck with a tank full of guppies which I grow to love and still have after 5 years.
What I am saying is you have to have a interest in the hobby to. I saw you had one in high school but you have to factor in your schedule of today. Mixing salt, carrying buckets,Qting, algae scraping, testing waters and everything else.
I'm not trying to scare you away but I rather you think about it long before impose buying it.
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Valid points as well, make sure it is a much if not more for you as it is for them...

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Thanks everyone! All really good advice!

His room is now out until at least double digit ages.

Okay, about the living room... What age would you recommend starting one out there? What ages do kids most enjoy tanks and can be responsible enough around one? Still double digits/10+?
 
That somewhat comes down to the kid but probably moreso three parenting, especially when you factor in three friends over. But no not dbl digits, at that point is chuck it up to paranoia. For me I waited until recently, I had been toying with the idea for over a year, I pulled the trigger on it afyer he was 4. The hardest thing for me personally is keeping him from wanting to lean into the tank when i let him help feed. Tapping was an initial major issue but i nipped that in the bud real quick. You will know with your childs behaviour once they reach that point when you cam feel comfortable about it. The other factor is three tank size, height, access and such. Its a hard question yup day what is minimum. If its s small 20g countertop that would be much sooner than other setups even when considering the same child

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My daughter was about 2 or 3 when we set up the fresh water tank. But we made sure that we were hands on when she wanted to see the fish up close. When she wasn't interested, we put stuff around it to make sure she wouldn't accidentally bump into it. Living in California I also made sure it was earthquake proof and tied the stand and the tank to the wall. It had the added bonus of not falling over on her. When your kid starts crawling, and walking around, you will quickly learn how and what to child proof.
 
I have a 3 year old and a 5 month old I don't see what the problem is. I have a 5 gallon fresh water in the 3 year olds room and never had an issue. Also we have had a reef rant down stairs since before he could crawl. Just need to use common sense, magnetic locks on the doors. The fresh water has a lid with a hole in the top and the reef tank has no top at all and nothing has ended up in the tank yet.

Both the kids love the tanks. The 3 year old has learned a lot with the tanks and the baby likes looking at the fish. We are bringing both to macna with us.

If you do it right I see no reason not to.
 
No two kids are alike and no parents parent the same, you'll inherently gain a handle on it with them and gauge thinhs in your own judgememt not gist with fish tanks either. I mean afterall its in the handbook right?

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Clowning_Around said:
No two kids are alike and no parents parent the same, you'll inherently gain a handle on it with them and gauge thinhs in your own judgememt not gist with fish tanks either. I mean afterall its in the handbook right?

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I threw out that handbook after the 4th month lol
 
Take him to a fish store and see how interested he is.... I personally wouldn't be buying something that I would be taking care of 100% just cause a toddler might like it for a few minutes. Get a fresh water tank for that. If you are going to go through all that work and money, do it because you like it! The kid will either like it or not... may end up liking girls or sports more later on and you're stuck with a tank that you thought he liked.
 
reef cuber said:
Take him to a fish store and see how interested he is.... I personally wouldn't be buying something that I would be taking care of 100% just cause a toddler might like it for a few minutes. Get a fresh water tank for that. If you are going to go through all that work and money, do it because you like it! The kid will either like it or not... may end up liking girls or sports more later on and you're stuck with a tank that you thought he liked.
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I agree except for the part that ita kimda hard to evaluate how much the child will like it at 9mos old. Even layer with short attention spans its hard to get a true feeling without multiple exposures. Just remember usuall everything with them is new, usually interesting for that reasob in that moment. Wait until they no longer see it as new and youll see how interested they are in it be fish or whatever. At the end of the day it should be yours and for them secondly.

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