Children Feeding Fish

[MHunt]

I've come home from work to one of 'those' days. This morning my little boy thought he'd help those hungry fish and feed them, he's 2! I get a frantic phone call from my wife saying what he'd done, I just said to net out what food she could and I'd do a water change tonight when I got in, which I did. By the looks of what's left in the tub he put about half a tub of Aquarian Flake in the tank! The tank water was quite cloudy, and i can't see many fish at the moment, I just hope their resting and they'll come out tomorrow. I'll just have to keep an eye on the fish and test the water every couple of days and hope the water hasn't become too polluted. I did about a 60% water change tonight, I may do a smaller one tomorrow too, depends how the fish are doing.

I guess I'm just being paid back for when I did the same to my brothers tank of goldfish when I was the same age. Only then the only thing I could find to feed them with was vitamin tablets! Turned the water really red, killed all the fish but one which grew massive.

 

[Lynda B]

I'm sure it was one of those "he was only out of my sight for 2 minutes" kind of things.... but I can't stress enough the importance of keeping kids away from fish tanks unsupervised.

You did great with your water change. I hope the fish make it.

I'm curious..... how do you discipline a 2 year old for something like that (I have a 12 y.o.).

 

[MHunt]

I'm sure it was one of those "he was only out of my sight for 2 minutes" kind of things.... but I can't stress enough the importance of keeping kids away from fish tanks unsupervised.

You did great with your water change. I hope the fish make it.

I'm curious..... how do you discipline a 2 year old for something like that (I have a 12 y.o.).

We just moved the room round so one of the sofa's is next to the tank, so I can watch the fish in comfort, but it has also allowed easy access to little fingers, might need to think it through again.

I don't know about discipline as i wasn't here. I think he was sent to his room, but that caused another problem as we're potty training too! My wife was rather fraught to say the least! I'm glad he's interested, I just hope I can direct his interest into something a bit more constructive!

 

[Lynda B]

It's a wonderful opportunity to get him involved in fishkeeping. If you involved him in the feeding of the fish, perhaps he'll be able to make some sense of how much food fish get. I know with kids, if they make a mistake like this, then you remove them as much as possible from the situation, they're more eager to get their little chubby fingers back into the mix. But, sometimes if you involve them, they get bored with that and move on to something else they can destroy.

And God bless you, good luck with potty training!

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Really young children tend to be really lacking in impulse control...hence why you often have to physically step between them and their object of desire. All kids are different in how they learn...if you've ever had multiple dogs you'll kinda understand (some dogs react to a strong look, while other dogs you pretty much have to use a choke chain to train them which I hate doing ). It's generally better to attempt to teach a child what to do instead of the behavior you are trying to curtail..i.e. teach them to ask for permission/help instead of just doing it themselves. Like I said though...all kids are different, so you kinda have to figure out what works for your child and what doesn't.

As for the fish aspect...check the filter pads/media and make sure there isn't tons of fish food decaying in there.

 

[CruX]

With our two year old we encourage him to feed the fish and we give him the ammount on the lid to feed them, hopefully this will form a pattern in his head as to what's a good amount should he try it himself. Although we did have an incident when he was one where he ate fish food.

 

[toppman]

lol my cousin ate fish food, i remember when my sister put loads of food in my guppy tank, i come home from holiday to find 3 dead and an absolute ton of babies.
as iv seen so many times on this site it really was a case of, "your fish need to eat more than that!" i think she understood after that the fish eat as much as i told her.

 

[Davidtq]

Unfortuantely you cant always blame these things on age. My sisters boyfriend I believe he's around 21 and was responsible for wiping out my dads biggest fish tank back at easter, including three breeding pairs of sevrums... My mum and dad were taking a week on holiday, he came in the day after they left thought the fish looked hungry and dumped half a pack of pellets in the tank to last them till myparents got home . The only survivors were a few corys.

 

[CruX]

Unfortuantely you cant always blame these things on age. My sisters boyfriend I believe he's around 21 and was responsible for wiping out my dads biggest fish tank back at easter, including three breeding pairs of sevrums... My mum and dad were taking a week on holiday, he came in the day after they left thought the fish looked hungry and dumped half a pack of pellets in the tank to last them till myparents got home . The only survivors were a few corys.

I agree, my kids love the fish and are learning responsibly how to keep them, thats not to say that blink for a second and you have a nightmare on your hands doesn't apply here because it does. My middle one is 2 but thinks he is 6. He only likes playing with kids older than him apart from his cousin, he is in aged 4 clothes ans weighs the same as his 6 year old brother. He also likes to wait for you to leave the room and climb on theback rest of the sofa and leap onto the floor, he has never had an accident but try reaoning with a 2 year old, he thinks that because he hasn't had an accident that he never will. I admit it is a site to see but it needs reining in. He loves fish and wants his own fish tank. We have thought we might get him a small tank for the boys room and let them keep a fighter or a shoal of danios, so far they have agreed to take care of them and they understand that they don't get to decide when to feed them and they have to help with the water changes etc. They help with the main tank now, holding the hose in the tank and such. My other half is worse at over feeding than the kids though, sometimes I wonder if I should measure it out in the lids for her too.

 

[australia]

i have my own fish shed setup, i dont let children go in there

 

[madmom]

When I first got my tanks my daughter was constantly trying to feed them saying "they look hungry". I ended up keeping the fish food in my purse. (try explaining that to a cashier; lol). Now she brings me the food container to measure out the food for her to feed them.

 

[toppman]

i have my own fish shed setup, i dont let children go in there

very good, safe way of thinking.

by the way my sister was 20 when she overfed my fish, so as you say sometimes its not little kids but just people who think they know the fish better than it knows itself

 

[branjie]

I hope your fish are o.k. When I lived with my Mum, she used to feed my gold fish all of the time when I was at work, saying that she thought it looked hungry.

I have a two year old. I keep the fish food out of his reach. If he wants to help feed the fish when I'm feeding them, I let him take a little pinch of flakes to put in the water. The other thing is teaching kids not to tap on the glass. I've told mine right from the start that this will scare the fish, and make them sick. I had to speak very sternly to my 2 year old about this over and over when we first got the tank. Since then the kids have been good with this, but occasionally need to be reminded.

My 2 year old gets to the dry dog food and pours the whole bag into the dog's bowl. Other times he gets the dog treats out and feeds them to her one after the other. My dog loves that kid.

 

[Gremily]

From what I've heard children don't seem to be very good pets: expensive, hard to train, incompatibility with other pets...
I think I'll stick with fish!

 

[CruX]

From what I've heard children don't seem to be very good pets: expensive, hard to train, incompatibility with other pets...
I think I'll stick with fish!

Yeah but it's all worth it when they look up and say 'I love you daddy!'