fyrfytr
Active Member
Exciting the next generation of saltwater aquarist
I grew up with freshwater tanks and always remember having my own tanks with the exception of when I was away at college. Short of furniture, when I purchased my first house a 10gal tank was the first thing that I purchased. I always enjoyed what I called “fun fishâ€, meaning freshwater sharks, red belly piranhas, cichlids, ect. Married and with kids now, my love of fish tanks has never wavered, but now my focus is on more important things. I got lucky that my sons first word was fish…not mommy, daddy, dog…nope FISH. This made mommy very upset, but made me a proud man. The kid is a fish NUT. Taking him to the fish store is as exciting as taking him to the toy store. We joke that at 4 years old he knows his alphabet, can count to 20, knows his colors, and knows his fish. Watching Tanked! about a year ago (with my son glued to the TV)I decided that it was time to plant the seed and get the next generation of aquarist started.
Although he already had his own fish (beta in a bowl) it was time to go big or go home, saltwater here we come. I did what I thought was a good amount of groundwork and joined forums and nighty at work was reading almost every post/article I could find. From there I graduated to Craigslist to find a tank, and then got the 3yr old involved. Sand was the “payment†for me helping drain, move, and start to refill a 250gal tank from a local reefer{Mistake 1, reused sand}. From the same local board I found rock being sold by someone getting out of the hobby for $1 per pound. My then 3yr old and I went out and he helped hand pick out enough rock for the tank and then some. The next day we got down to business. He went out and got the shovel from his sand box and (with my help) washed it off so we could start cleaning the sand. Took a few hours, a lot of drink brakes, and more than 2 or 3 shirts and pants (for him) but we cleaned an entire 5gal bucket of sand and dumped it into the tank. When mom got home from work he was as excited as he was Christmas morning that HE, later said that it was with my help, got all of that sand into the fish tank. After dinner and before bath time we went to the garage and he picked out a few rocks that he wanted to put into the tank. While he was getting cleaned up I cleaned the rocks off as best as I could {Mistake 2, didn’t soak rock}, and after he had his jammies on he pulled a chair over to the tank and “helped†put the rocks into the tank. After he went to bed I decided to reward him and sacrifice some of my sleep by getting the tank filled. I spent the next 4-ish hours mixing salt, dechlornating tap water {Mistake 3, tap water usage} and filling the 36 gallon tank. Before I went to bed I dumped a bottle of Bio-Spira into the tank.
The next morning he ran into the bed and jumped on me out of excitement that everything was done in the tank. Shorted me sleep, but well worth it seeing the expression on his face that it was all done. Sadly, all of that went away when I had to tell him that we had to wait a few days (thanks bio-spira) until we could get fish. For the next 5 mornings as soon as we were both up he got one of his lil-kid cups out and put some water into it so we could test the water. After 3 days in a row of 0 ammonia and nitrites and extremely low nitrates I gave the green light to go get fish. We packed everyone (wife and the 5 month old) and headed off to the fish store to let him pick out fish for his (as he called it) new salt tank. Immediately he wanted the clownfish. The guy from the store helped me talk him out of the clownfish as the one fish would come close to blowing moms fish budget. He ended up picking out 3 different damsels {Mistake 4, **** fish} and off we went. He helped put them into the tank to acclimate and then was the spotter when we netted them and put them into the tank. It was his “job†every day to feed the fish (with help from dad)…and he took this job serious. He also had the job (mom assigned job) of holding the bucket to make sure that the water changes didn’t spill all over her carpet. After Christmas (a month or so) he was rewarded for taking good care of the fish he and mommy went and got some new fish to add to the tank, he got his clownfish and the wife got a saddle puffer. Sadly, just after New Years Day all of my mistakes came back to haunt me and the tank crashed and we lost all the fish.
He and I have learned from our mistakes. We have since drained the tank, and redone the sand and rock process only this time with new rock and sand from reefrocks.net. As he said, he was the “Official salt sturrer†for the 0TDS RO water we got from the local grocery store. The tank is now almost completely cycled, and his patience will be rewarded with a trip to the LFS to pick out some fish for the tank. He is still excited as can be about fish and asks frequently if the “big salt tank†is ready for fish yet. By taking the time to include him in everything that there is to be done with the tank I hope I have excited the next generation of aquarists.
*Side note to the story* His little sister, now just over 1 year old, already is pointing to the cichlid and saying â€ishâ€. So here we go again
I grew up with freshwater tanks and always remember having my own tanks with the exception of when I was away at college. Short of furniture, when I purchased my first house a 10gal tank was the first thing that I purchased. I always enjoyed what I called “fun fishâ€, meaning freshwater sharks, red belly piranhas, cichlids, ect. Married and with kids now, my love of fish tanks has never wavered, but now my focus is on more important things. I got lucky that my sons first word was fish…not mommy, daddy, dog…nope FISH. This made mommy very upset, but made me a proud man. The kid is a fish NUT. Taking him to the fish store is as exciting as taking him to the toy store. We joke that at 4 years old he knows his alphabet, can count to 20, knows his colors, and knows his fish. Watching Tanked! about a year ago (with my son glued to the TV)I decided that it was time to plant the seed and get the next generation of aquarist started.
Although he already had his own fish (beta in a bowl) it was time to go big or go home, saltwater here we come. I did what I thought was a good amount of groundwork and joined forums and nighty at work was reading almost every post/article I could find. From there I graduated to Craigslist to find a tank, and then got the 3yr old involved. Sand was the “payment†for me helping drain, move, and start to refill a 250gal tank from a local reefer{Mistake 1, reused sand}. From the same local board I found rock being sold by someone getting out of the hobby for $1 per pound. My then 3yr old and I went out and he helped hand pick out enough rock for the tank and then some. The next day we got down to business. He went out and got the shovel from his sand box and (with my help) washed it off so we could start cleaning the sand. Took a few hours, a lot of drink brakes, and more than 2 or 3 shirts and pants (for him) but we cleaned an entire 5gal bucket of sand and dumped it into the tank. When mom got home from work he was as excited as he was Christmas morning that HE, later said that it was with my help, got all of that sand into the fish tank. After dinner and before bath time we went to the garage and he picked out a few rocks that he wanted to put into the tank. While he was getting cleaned up I cleaned the rocks off as best as I could {Mistake 2, didn’t soak rock}, and after he had his jammies on he pulled a chair over to the tank and “helped†put the rocks into the tank. After he went to bed I decided to reward him and sacrifice some of my sleep by getting the tank filled. I spent the next 4-ish hours mixing salt, dechlornating tap water {Mistake 3, tap water usage} and filling the 36 gallon tank. Before I went to bed I dumped a bottle of Bio-Spira into the tank.
The next morning he ran into the bed and jumped on me out of excitement that everything was done in the tank. Shorted me sleep, but well worth it seeing the expression on his face that it was all done. Sadly, all of that went away when I had to tell him that we had to wait a few days (thanks bio-spira) until we could get fish. For the next 5 mornings as soon as we were both up he got one of his lil-kid cups out and put some water into it so we could test the water. After 3 days in a row of 0 ammonia and nitrites and extremely low nitrates I gave the green light to go get fish. We packed everyone (wife and the 5 month old) and headed off to the fish store to let him pick out fish for his (as he called it) new salt tank. Immediately he wanted the clownfish. The guy from the store helped me talk him out of the clownfish as the one fish would come close to blowing moms fish budget. He ended up picking out 3 different damsels {Mistake 4, **** fish} and off we went. He helped put them into the tank to acclimate and then was the spotter when we netted them and put them into the tank. It was his “job†every day to feed the fish (with help from dad)…and he took this job serious. He also had the job (mom assigned job) of holding the bucket to make sure that the water changes didn’t spill all over her carpet. After Christmas (a month or so) he was rewarded for taking good care of the fish he and mommy went and got some new fish to add to the tank, he got his clownfish and the wife got a saddle puffer. Sadly, just after New Years Day all of my mistakes came back to haunt me and the tank crashed and we lost all the fish.
He and I have learned from our mistakes. We have since drained the tank, and redone the sand and rock process only this time with new rock and sand from reefrocks.net. As he said, he was the “Official salt sturrer†for the 0TDS RO water we got from the local grocery store. The tank is now almost completely cycled, and his patience will be rewarded with a trip to the LFS to pick out some fish for the tank. He is still excited as can be about fish and asks frequently if the “big salt tank†is ready for fish yet. By taking the time to include him in everything that there is to be done with the tank I hope I have excited the next generation of aquarists.
*Side note to the story* His little sister, now just over 1 year old, already is pointing to the cichlid and saying â€ishâ€. So here we go again
. No one in my family has ever had a fish so my parents still question why I love them. 
