Tanks And Toddlers - Will It End In Tears?

[haddock]

Its been a long time since I posted because I abandoned my beautiful 60G tank when I had my son. Well he is now 16 months old and I was thinking that it would be great to set a tank up again - he loves fishies and shouts "woof woof" at them whenever we pass the fish shop (apparently it's called over extension!).

Anyway, I was wondering if any one had experiences good, bad or ugly with having a tank in a playroom?

Also any recommendations for something small (prob about 20G) and strong?

Cheers.

 

[kribensis12]

I tihnk it would turn out fine

 

[fall-apart-dave]

My 15 month old daughter LOVES our tank! She stands staring at teh fish, pointing, shouting me and her Mum over to come and look at them... She never bangs on the tank, just stands and stares! I think it's a great idea having them...

 

[chr15_8]

carnt see it being a problem.

if it was me i would make sure she/he knows not to touch the tank.

my little cousin recently scared my cichlids. i wast there at the time but im 99% sure she hit/banged the tank (my mum and aunt were in another room and i was working. when i got back they were hiding in the rocks and would only come out after the relised it was me etc. the tank had little hand prints on it which is why i believe it was her

chris

 

[squiggle 2000]

we have no problems are 20 month old grand son lives with us we have a large 4 ft discus tank and a 3 ft malawi tank as well as long as he knows not to bang the tank and wires are hidden it should be great for the little one to enjoy my granddaughter has her own fish and she is 26 months

 

[arvlyn]

I always had a tank in the living room when my daughter was tiny. Never any problems. I taught her from the beginning not to bother with it. She loved staring at it and watching the fish, it seemed to calm her down listening to the bubbles at nap time and before bed. I'd actually recommend one in a home with an infant!!

 

[haddock]

Thanks for all your replies! Looks like I'll be getting a tank then - that is if no one posts the one where the toddler throws the toy through the tank ......

 

[smithrc]

with a recent "toddler" - well hes crawling and pulling himself up on everything....

Make sure the cabinet can be secured (we have the internal clips to secure the doors on the tank in the lounge and rubber bands to hold the doors shut together in the kitchen.

Make sure the lid is high enough so that it cant be opened even from nearby furniture .

and last but but no means least - make sure the tank is level so there is no chance that it could be pushed over (even a little movement of the stand could cause serious problems...


Other than my concerns I'd reccommend them - Ben sits for hours (well minutes anyway ) watching the fish... he dosnt have any real works that he can say - but if we sit by the tank and point at the fish... he says "issshhh" so its getting close

 

[Squidman]

i think it should be fine!

 

[Lizzie71]

My youngest is now 4 and we've just got our first tank in the playroom. I didn't have fish at the toddler stage, but we did have a hamster. At age 2 she learnt how to open the cage, and we had escaped hamster several times!

The moral of the story is you can't trust a toddler not to touch, so keep the lid, wires and everything else out of reach. Even now, with a 4 year old, I've had to spend time explaining why she can't open the tank to cuddle the fish (yes, really!) and to be honest I wouldn't even have dared have a tank a year or two ago.

 

[Mikaila31]

I have my 55 gal located downstairs in my moms licensed daycare. It along with a cabinet and a large toy kitchen create a triangle in the middle of the room. The canister in then located in the center of the triangle. My mom has about 8 kids most days all of them are various ages. So, it does sometimes have toy cars driven on the glass or is hit with plastic hammers . We tell the kids,"No don't do that only look with your eyes", so far no damage has been done after 3 years. Yet we do have to Windex the outside of the tank quite often.

cheers,
Mikaila31

 

[SouthernCross]

The previous posters have covered most of the precautions, but I'd just like to add make sure you keep the fish food out of reach too. I've read many horror stories of people's kids dumping a whole container of food in the tank ('But the fishies looked hungry!) and had them all killed due to ammonia poisoning...