Do you share this hobby w/ little ones?

[Antics]

My daughter loves watching the fish but I always worry about her eyes and my lights. I guess radions aren't stronger than the sun but I feel wary of such strong LEDs on young eyes.

 

[Eastlake]

My son is three and he likes to hold the hose in the bucket while I siphon out all of the fish leavings. He gets to help with the freshwater tanks but not the salt tank just yet. The bucket has to sit up on a stool so sadly it's out of his reach. But both of the kiddos are water bugs and love to watch the tanks, my sons favorites are the crabbies, and my 11 month old daughters favorites are the colorful blobs that race around the tank.

 

[4radz]

My daughters (10 and 6) love looking at the tank and see what new coral dad brought home. Sometime they like going to the LFS with me, while other times they say "really dad, you're going to the fish store again??????"

The funniest thing is they can't believe how many packages dad always has showing up. I just got two shipments from BRS on Wednesday and they said "OMG, dad ordered more stuff for his fish tank". My wife just shakes her head.

Zeovit system started Wednesday thanks to the BRS shipment.

 

[Shawn Dahl]

My 3 year old son has a biocube in his room that we take care of together. Fishy was one of his first words. He already knows his fishies only get food in morning and night. We're working on learning the different critters in there, currently to him every living thing in there is a fishy. He helps me do water changes and helps me feed. He has some anemones, clowns, a clam, and cleanup crew. He also really enjoys going into fish stores and public aquariums


I also must add, he knows that when new fishies show up, they have their own special tank that they go into for a while before they go into any of the pretty tanks

 

[mch1984]

Yes it is. We have 2 dobermans, even though the male that we adopted is trying to eat his way to becoming a rottweiler...

Beautiful dogs, but there is nothing wrong with a good rotty lol.

My daughter is 14 and is just now getting into the hobby with me. She helps with some of the maintenance and helps feed. She did finally ask for her own aquarium, but we started her on freshwater. I had an old red sea 130d and we made her a FW tank with it.

 

[Haggisman14]

My oldest sons: 6.5 and almost 4 are into it with me.

They love going to the LFS when we pickup our fresh water, love looking at the fish more so than the corals, and the LOOOOVE the cleanup crews!

I think my almost 4 year old loves the LFS mostly b/c they have lollipops, but he gets blown away by some of the BIG fish they have in their display tanks. They love helping me feed the tank, and sometimes do maintenance work too.

Sometimes I"ll catch them staring at the tank when no one is looking!

 

[Bulk Reef Supply Verified Sponsor]

My oldest sons: 6.5 and almost 4 are into it with me.

They love going to the LFS when we pickup our fresh water, love looking at the fish more so than the corals, and the LOOOOVE the cleanup crews!

I think my almost 4 year old loves the LFS mostly b/c they have lollipops, but he gets blown away by some of the BIG fish they have in their display tanks. They love helping me feed the tank, and sometimes do maintenance work too.

Sometimes I"ll catch them staring at the tank when no one is looking!

I'm not a kid but I still LOOOOVE the cleanup crews (and lollipops aren't bad either) hahaha

 

[hollback]

This photo is about 10 years old but here is my son stuck in a 10 gallon nano GEO made for me.

 

[KrisReef]

My eldest was fascinated with nobs when he was a toddler. He dialed in my tropical reef tank down to a cold water tank for me while I was at the hospital with a kidney stone. (This was way back in the live rock age, before controllers) I was out of reefing for awhile until the kids got older.

I've set up another tank, (years later), and the neighborhood kids stop by to check it out.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I love this thread sooo much!

These little dudes and their dad won the Red Sea Max Nano from our booth at RAP!

Alycia my daughter is not a little one anymore but she shares in the hobby!

This is @joshporksandwic 's "little" one hanging with us in the booth at a show. He's my Miami son!

Here they both are working the popcorn machine!

This little guy was a little skeptical at first!

This little super hero wears a R2R "cape" at all the shows he comes to!

 

[Dacotahk]

My adult daughter was the one who started us in the hobby several years ago. Her current is a 450 gallon peninsula reef tank which is in her office. Mine is at my home and is a Red Sea 650 reefer peninsula. We have both grown in this hobby over the last 15 years and look after one another’s tanks when one of us is out of town. Both of us had fresh water tanks from grade school on. We live in a rural area and our closest LFS is 3 hours away and it’s pretty basic so we share the challenge of making things work by getting things online. I couldn’t imagine anything better!

 

[siggy]

My daughter loves watching the fish but I always worry about her eyes and my lights. I guess radions aren't stronger than the sun but I feel wary of such strong LEDs on young eyes.

I was worried too, so I put a padded foot rest in front so she looks straight into the tank and not up (post 16)......and keeps her out of the sump.....that stuff can hurt those little eyes too

 

[TronChief]

I love sharing this hobby with my girls. They aren’t as passionate as me always but they love to watch the fish and corals. They are learning how to care for each of them and I hope their passion will carry forward this great hobby.

 

[Limpet]

My big guy is more interested in what's going on under the tank! He knows what everything does under there. I can't wait to teach him how to empty the skimmer cup!

This was just after getting this new tank running. He loves all the plumbing.

I think he wants his foam shapes back.

Collecting NSW at the inlet.

Throwing shells at the fish.

 

[408Dartfish]

We set up the high chair for my daughter to watch the fish tank, no tv alowed at our place. She loves the tank especially when I’m messing with the sump and she’s always trying to push buttons on the power strips. Dustin

 

[Edp251]

Not so little but my 17-year old daughter stops at the tank every time she walks by. She is amazed as new hitchhikers appear. Definitely a wonderful hobby for our whole family!

 

[mattgsa]

I have 4 kids all under the age of 9. They are only interested for a couple of seconds when a new fish is added. The rest of the time they are asking for a cat ;Vomit. However, my 5 year old daughter will sometime surprise me and ask if she can help. It's at those time I wish I had made the stand lower to the ground. I really hope one day they start loving the hobby as much as I do. ;Happy

 

[Evan28395950]

If my tiny dogs count, then yes. Specifically one loves the stare at the tank a lot

 

[Ewelina]

My little one started this hobby!!! She's 9 and loves marine live and fish especially. She got me inspired and hooked on the reefing

 

[Da Ghost]

my two girls assist with acclimation, water changes, testing etc. We have had some blunders, but who hasn't. My 10 year old is always by my side assisting with what needs to be done my 12 year old will assist but is more interested in texting her friends pictures of the tank. 10 year old has her own 20g and maintains it with a little reminding from dad. We are upgrading her to a 120...it just made sense cost wise. Lets see how she does.