Ideas For Small Tanks

[Mamba]

I agree with MBOU in the below:

"Lots of choices but always think for younger kids, slower moving, slightly larger and brighter coloured fish seem to hold their interest better."

Why not bring him to your local fish supplier and let him wonder about and gauge for yourself what fish he really likes and go from there. I'm often down in my LFS and love it on the weekends when the small kids come in, they are not at all reserved as to what they like! You'll know for sure what he likes very quickly and will be able to then figure out what to buy him/what can be mixed.

If it were me i'd probably go for a Golden Panchax, a Blue Dwarf Gourami at , one that i'd like to suggest is Dwarf Neon Rainbow Fish. 24-26 degrees celsius and grow up to 2.5" tops. They seldom look their best in LFS though like almost all rainbow fish. They colour up really well when they get settled. But again, it's always so hard to gauge isn't it? People's fish taste's are entirely personal hard to gauge isn't it?

 

[MBOU]

Definately agree with the above thoughts (except about the Golden Panchax, they need a MUCH larger tank!) on peoples interests varying, I personally wouldnt ever keep guppies or platies, they are just hardy enough and bright enough and a sensible size to make them great for kids.

I like fish in their natural colours so a lot of greys and browns and so on that wouldnt interest a young child. But if I had a kid, I would invest in a tank of colourful flappy things

You could always get a nice fighter for the kid and then chose some nice interesting shrimp (though wouldnt spend a fortune as some fighters will eat them!). Also there is the micro rasbora and snails than can go in there as well to make it more of an interesting project for you. I have some German Pink Ramshorn snails and they are fantastic!!

 

[mossonthemoon]

He loves snails! So a snail of some type would be good, I think. Would micro rasboras go with a betta? (To be honest I am scared to put anything with them because I don't know much yet.) He reacted positively to a photo of them, but he doesn't know how small they are. Then again, he thinks fruit flies are adorable, so...

 

[MBOU]

Microrasbora should be ok with a fighter, though to be safe, I would have plenty of cover with either real or fake plants for them to zip in and out of... but then again... if you want happy microrassbora, you would need that anyway

Ramshorn snails can be brown/mahogany colour or some of the fancy ones pale blue or pink, i bought them from a member on this forum

Or you could go for zebra nerite snail, they dont get too big and dont breed either (eggs need brackish water to hatch).

 

[Karenoboe]

What is the smallest size tank for 10 ramshorn snails? I know they breed a lot.. that's what I want