Pet Fish for Young Children

we started with a fish bowl with one fish, went to a 10 gallon tank and then graduated to a 55 gallon tank. Maintenance is a big issue, as you will have to do everything, even when the kids are older.

My kids are now grown, and I still have the tank with 15 year old fish (and some are goldfish).

A fish may be the wrong choice for you. Even with a small tank, you do need to maintain the water and such. Your kids are too little to properly care for fish, so the work will be on you and it is not as hands-off as most people assume.

Goldfish can live a long time, but the super cheap goldfish that you might see packed into tanks to be scooped up by the net-full are not bred to live long lives. They are meant to be food.

A pet goldfish should ideally have a 10 gallon tank with filtration and such. Goldfish are carp, and carp create a ton of waste. You can get away with 5 gallons if you have JUST ONE goldfish, but you will have to be even more meticulous with maintaining the tank and water.

Bettas are super hardy, lower maintainance fish, but that fact unfortunately leads to betta owners that don't care for them properly. Bettas can survive in terrible conditions, but it isn't nice to make them do it. The shops that keep bettas in plastic cups are abusing the fish. A betta should have at least 2.5 gallons, with a filter. Also a lid, because they jump.

Bettas are carnivores and should be fed proper food. They will nibble on plant roots when they are already starving.

Also, do not allow children to tap on the tank. People do this to see the betta display their flair but it causes physical stress to the fish.

Properly cared for bettas typically have a 3 year lifespan.

Get a beta. 1 gallon or more should do it. These are hearty fish, and won't be much work. If you can't be bothered with chemicals, simply putting your intended tank water out for 1 day so it can dechlorinate should do it.

F. B.

I agree, a betta (thanks for the spelling tip, Suz).

I had a saltwater fish tank a few years ago -- it took over my life. I finally had to get rid of it, so I could have a life again. Freshwater tanks are easier, but I don't recommend a tank for anyone with little free time who isn't searching for a hobby.

there's no such thing as 'pets for young children' whether it's a pony or a hermit crab. but it seems clear that you understand that this will be yours to deal with.
i agree with FB that a betta is a good choice. they are beautiful and low maintenance and even seem to have tiny fishy personalities. my MIL swears hers comes when she calls! and yeah, goldfish are dirty and hard to keep alive unless you're diligent and have a big tank with a wazoo filter (although i do love the big bulgy ones.)
please do be aware that they are betTas, not 'betas.' i know it's a terribly insignificant point, but i'll bet you 90% of the people i've talked to when discussing bettas spell and pronounce it incorrectly. it's not like the greek letter.
one of the many ridiculously tiny things that makes me crazy.
:) khairete
S.

Definitely get a Betta. We had one when my daughter was 3, Santa brought him! And he lived 2+ years in a one gallon tank that I cleaned every 8-10 days, which was super easy. There are some water dechlorinators that you can use that work instantly and you don't have to wait a full day to do the water change. You only want to make sure the water temperatures are the same to avoid shock. It was a sad day (I think more for me) when the fish died, and I still miss that little guy! Sounds silly, but he had personality! We ended up getting a kitten afterwards, and for months I kept wishing we had gotten another fish! Hahaha...But I do want to say if you get a bigger tank (2+gallons) with filtration, it will be easier for you and better for the fish. If/when I get another betta I will do that, they can live longer too, I hear up to 7 years!

We just got a fish for our 5 year old (the 2.5 year old too, but he cares less about the fish). We went with a 2.5 gallon tank with a filter and an LED light, and two guppies. We have fish rocks and a little castle in the tank. It was pretty cheap and very easy maintenance.

Even easier/smaller would be a betta fish and tank. I would go to the pet store and talk to someone in the fish department about what you need.

Good luck! It's been fun for us. :)

Bettas have a life span of about a year, so be prepared to explain death to a 3.5 yo and 5.5 yo. They are relatively easy, but it is really better for all fish to have a simple filter and circulator. Petco used to have a beginner tank where the filter was on top so it was easy maintenance. It was a 1.5 gallon tank I think.Our goldfish (won at the fair) lived for over 5 years, can't remember exactly how long, and are indeed messier.

http://www.fishchannel.com/fishkidz/beginner-fish/beginne...

My advice is to go to a reputable pet store.

We never had luck with goldfish. When I worked in the office I use to have a beta on my desk. Really easy to take care of in a midsize bowl which I'd clean every week and then refill with the well water I brought from home. Since they fight you can only have 1 in a bowl but you could have a couple different decorative containers with 1 fish in each.

Goldfish are nasty creatures! They make a lot of waste. We had a beta for over a year before he finally passed away. Kids loved her! She was very hardy and I think she just died of old age. I have no idea how long she sat in the pet store before we bought her.

Gold fish! My daughter has had about 3 sets of goldfish. They are about 4" each. Sometimes we don't clean their tank and they still seem happy as ever. If my husband taps the water, they will swim up and let him feed them.

Beta fish don't require a ton of care, and you *can* set them up in a fish bowl without oxygen/filters, etc. They do better if you do have those things, but they are ok without them if the tank/bowl is large enough and cared for properly.

At minimum 1.5 gallons (2 gallons would be better, but harder to find and harder to change the water b/c it will be heavier to manage/lift).

You will need some basic water conditioner, gravel, and a live plant, and some beta food of course. They need different food than "goldfish" do. Google a little about them.

They are beautiful fish. But you really can't have more than one in a tank. My daughter had one for nearly 2 years. Of course, I had to do all the tank changes (about once per week or 10 days). Eventually he did get the ick and died. They like warm water, so in a cold climate, you may need a heater or the bowl to be located in a warm place in the house that STAYS warm consistently. Nothing below 75 degrees air temp.

If you look for a heater, bear in mind that most require a minimum of 3 gallons of water to operate safely.

I have seen bettas in vases with peace lilies, but that really is not the best environment for the fish.

Good luck. If you try it and it doesn't last... you won't have invested too much. The fish only cost about $7 and the supplies (food, gravel, plant) probably under $15. The bowl will be your largest expense, most likely.

betta fish would be a better bet but I've had goldfish and betta fish and i HATE taking care of them. for me, taking care of a dog is so much easier and much more rewarding (snuggles, interaction, etc.). the water is supposed to be changed out frequently and i always freaked about all the dirty, poopy water i was pouring out into my kitchen sink adn had to sanitize everything. ugh. never again. my son won two goldfish at a carnival recently and my husband and i bribed him with a toy to give them up lol.

Get a beta! Love mine and they are hardy.

We had a large, 30 gallon tank. It was beautiful and we enjoyed a variety of multi-colored community fish. It definitely took work though. Cleaning, etc. Balancing the pH level is what you do in the beginning, mostly. You get the tank first, set it up and get it stabilized, and then you add fish a week later. Kids find that frustrating, believe me, but you have to do it. Thereafter, you only deal with pH when you change the water (we did about 1/3 of the water every 6 weeks). We bought a simple and inexpensive test kit with 2 chemicals, and it was easy. Our son actually enjoyed watching us add the drops to the test tube and checking the color against the color guide in the enclosed booklet. So it's actually a lesson for kids in proper care of fish and ideally keeps them from adding stuff to the water, like their juice in case the fish are thirsty! If you don't do the cleaning, I'll warn you now, fish waste builds up (ammonia mostly) and the fish die off. We found we did the best when we bought fish from the pet store in our town - exact same water.

Someone gave us separate small bowls of Betta fish (one per bowl) and they did not last long and were, frankly, boring.

You can find small tanks on Craigslist - I'd suggest a 5 or 10 gallon tank, a light, a small heater, and a small filter to both clean out some impurities and oxygenate the water (vital), and then let the kids pick out the color gravel you want, 2 fake plants and 1 little item like a castle or sunken ship. Part of it is for decoration but some fish need little places to hide. Don't put the tank near a window - sunlight will cause algae build-up (notice in the pet store, they are far from the front windows).

Get a small net, a siphon for cleaning (you clean the bottom of the tank only where the fish waste sinks into the gravel), and a small test kit with a couple of test tubes and pH tester. Your pet store can tell you what you are most likely to need in your town - something to raise or lower the pH but probably not both. They will also test your water for free any time you go in, but do that only if it's convenient for you.

Be prepared that fish get stressed when you buy them, and they will die over time. Be prepared for whatever you plan to tell kids about death! Ask the pet store for instructions on how to acclimate the fish to the tank - you buy them in a plastic bag, then you float that entire bag in your tank for 20 minutes to be sure the water temp is the same and the fish aren't shocked. There's also a way to get the fish used to your tank water - let the store tell you, or PM me and I'll explain. This is something you only do when you purchase the fish - you don't have to do it again.

I think you want fresh water community fish. We enjoyed various kinds of tetras and mollies, as well as scissortails. I'd start with maybe 2 of the same, then the next month add 2 more. We also used a couple of different types over the years to eat the algae (there's always a little and they are nature's tank cleaners).

Fish are pretty low maintenance (despite the way this post sounds!) but you have to do it right to minimize the work long-term. What you'll probably find is that the kids are fascinated short term, and then the interest wears off, and you're left in charge of feeding and cleaning. They can be beautiful and peaceful to watch, and it's a nice alternative to TV though! And if the kids DO lose interest, that's your reason for not getting anything else like gerbils and guinea pigs and a dog! Those require much more work!

Let me know if you have any questions. We enjoyed all our fish for about 15 years. After a major New England storm in which we lost power for 5 days, we lost all the fish (no heat - the water chilled and that was the end of them).