Keeping it all in the family: How do you involve your kids and/or S.O. in the hobby with you?

[Sink_or_Swim]

How about finding out with him how storms at sea behave, and how the animals deal with it? Find a way to integrate it into what he loves, and you'll probably have better luck. Did you know some storms cause it to rain fish? XD Waterspouts are pretty cool, too.

That is a great idea, thank you! I didn't know about the raining fish, that's very cool. He'd probably love learning about that. He has told me about waterspouts before - I never would have thought bringing up storms at sea as a way to connect with him about the ocean and what I love about it!

 

[hoffmeyerz]

My wife and kids (not so little anymore at 26 & 18) love to watch the livestock and chime in on names, we had a Harry Potter theme running for awhile. Essentially they all like the fun stuff but nobody wants to help with maintenance work
They also like to make fun of me pointing out I have a "nightly inspection" time, I guess I have a habit of looking over everything right around the same time every day.....who knew! LOL

 

[Wasabiroot]

My cube is in the living room, so my wife will take a look at it from time to time. She likes the fish antics and will let me know if something is unusual or if there is an odd noise I should check out. She also points out any growth she sees. I try to get a coral or fish she likes if it's compatible in the tank. There's some rasta zoas on my zoa garden because she picked them out.

 

[javierdlv]

I have been around aquariums since a kid and salt water since I was 12 years old. So, when my wife and met in high school, I introduced her to the hobby, even setting one up for her at her parents' house. Sometime after we got married and were able to buy a house, I told her it was time to get back to the hobby for which she gladly agreed. Since I live in Miami, the Florida Keys are readily available to visit. We made it a point to make our drives a family activity. Unlike most enthusiasts, we are blessed with the opportunity to collect our own fish. With the three kids (1 boy & 2 girls) and my wife, we made a formidable team. It was always exciting coming home because every item in the dive bucket had a story. My wife and I always enjoyed their enthusiasm and stories during the drive back. As for the aquarium, everyone helped with the aquarium and yes, every fish had a name. LFS were not part our activity until I got into corals, can't get those in the keys.
Fast forward to present day, the kids are grown up and have moved on with their lives. The best thing is that to this day, they still want to go with me to catch fish for the aquarium. For us, it is never just a "hobby" but a way to share as a family. Oh, and yes, the girls still name every single fish.

 

[efilho]

My family find it beautiful, and that’s it: I guess there could be a big panel display hanging where my tank stands, running some aquarium images, and they would find it pretty much the same… ‍

 

[Charlie G]

That's beautiful. <3 I'm high-functioning autistic, myself. Let me know if you ever need someone to talk to about it.

That is great. My son is 17 and high functioning on the spectrum as well. His fingerprints are often on the glass as he comes over to observe. Although he doesn’t seem too interested in water chemistry, etc he loves animals and is concerned for our livestock. He is the one that always makes me aware that something around the aquarium doesn’t sound right.

 

[Eienna]

That is great. My son is 17 and high functioning on the spectrum as well. His fingerprints are often on the glass as he comes over to observe. Although he doesn’t seem too interested in water chemistry, etc he loves animals and is concerned for our livestock. He is the one that always makes me aware that something around the aquarium doesn’t sound right.

Awesome <3

 

[neo1738]

My 3yo loves to help me feed algae waffers to the YT, clean the glass, I let her push the button on my Hanna checkers, she likes to help me rake sand or flip snails too (she usually just splashes a bit and then I take care of it after she's done lol). My wife will help fill the ATO if I'm in a bind and feed if in a bind. Otherwise she'll do what I ask but is hands off.

 

[OU812Reefing]

How do you involve your kids and/or S.O. in the hobby with you? My wife has moved from tolerating the hobby to being more casually interested, and my kids have gotten more and more interested in the reef hobby the older they get. My daughter in particular loves to go to the reef shows and stores with me. Both the kids name the fish and talk to them. I show them videos and have been teaching them about different fish species. How about you guys?

1) How involved are your family members in the reef hobby?
2) What are some ways they participate with you?

Here's a couple of pictures of my daughter from 9 years ago when I was first introducing her to the hobby.

My wife helps me with water changes and my daughter helps with cleaning the glass and changing filter socks

 

[65newbie]

It's my wife and I with our 3 daughters. The girls like to name the fish. The oldest likes to use Flipper Float to clean the glass. The youngest likes to help me feed them. My wife will call me if the tank is "making funny noises".
I have a Display tank on the main level and a frag tank in the basement. The wife knows if she askes me to do laundry(in the basement) or grab something from the chest freezer (in the basement) I might take longer than expected. lol.

If she is looking for me in the house she told me she checks the fish tanks first. lol

I love the salt water and I am glad my family can enjoy it with me.
*** My wife and I went to Aquashella Chicago and Aquashella Orlando last year. We both had a great time.

 

[Freshnsalty]

How do you involve your kids and/or S.O. in the hobby with you? My wife has moved from tolerating the hobby to being more casually interested, and my kids have gotten more and more interested in the reef hobby the older they get. My daughter in particular loves to go to the reef shows and stores with me. Both the kids name the fish and talk to them. I show them videos and have been teaching them about different fish species. How about you guys?

1) How involved are your family members in the reef hobby?
2) What are some ways they participate with you?

Here's a couple of pictures of my daughter from 9 years ago when I was first introducing her to the hobby.

I have a lot of spine injuries and am awaiting surgery. My SO and daughter help with all of the tanks and they have learned so much and appreciate and respect the hobby.

 

[Reef Altitude]

Our family enjoys the reef tank a lot. We started with a 38 gallon tank in January, "just something small to see how we like it" and now have a 200 gallon tank that was set up in August and just getting some fish in there. My wife likes it enough to have allowed the 200 gallon tank to happen! but probably not enough to do it all on her own. She majored in biology in school and does think its really cool.

My dad and I had a reef tank when I was in younger for 5 or 6 years and that got me into it to begin with. My dad loves seeing the new tank but is glad to not have to take care of it (or buy gear).

Our three year old likes the fish and can name the corals (montipora digitata, fungia, blastomousa etc) and our tomini tang is "Mr Tang".

Like others have said any time a new creature emerges from a rock we all call each other over to investigate.

We do some of the water testing and maintenance together and are teaching about nitrogen cycle and elements in the water and how they work to keep everyone healthy. It is pretty cool to see how much the little guy picks up. Plus he helps with any projects that have to be done.

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

ive gone to every show/ swap with my mom ever since i was like 13/14 years old so because of that she became really interested in the hobby and im 27 now and we just hit rap texas this past weekend. both had the diamond passes and it was a great time! got the chance to speak with some legends within this industry along with seeing a lot of the hottest items and corals the industry has to offer today. i actually partnered up with dr.timsaquatics so i do videos and social media content for them which was super cool to have that opportunity pop up and also that my mom was there with me to see that take place! it was cool because she's been doing it with me since day 1 so for her to be there for that was just an awesome thing! we've been at it for a minute and it never gets old!

 

[FOO-CAT]

Just me, kids and wife don't care to be involved. They like it, but that's about it. For me personally, its fine. I need a hobby for myself. It's my alone time/therapy, happy place most of the time.

 

[ClownSchool]

I make them feed the fish while I’m on vacation.

 

[Wasabiroot]

My wife seems to enjoy looking in the tank at least once a day. I attribute this to it being a 50g cube so it's not too dominant in our living room but has a lot going on visually. She will call me or text if any equipment sounds weird or is acting up. I have explained some stuff to her like the essential functions of the equipment running and what each thing does (at least on a basic level) and she will also ask if something is acting in a way she isn't used to. She's also let me spend a lot on corals, especially when I was first starting out and prioritizing acquiring the pieces I liked. Now I'm at the stage where I'm watching stuff grow in, it's not me spending money in a misguided collectoritis way. I'm sure that helps lol.

 

[JZ199]

My wife loves the tanks, I bore her to death trying to explain how things work and why we can't add certain fish she wants... but she has no problem helping with any maintenance and actually just came up with the plans for our next tank that's going to be 200+ gallons, so I'm stoked! My little guy just turned 2 and loves staring at it and watching all the fish, we got him a starter freshwater aquarium to be his "own" tank, before he's big enough to start helping dad on the saltwater tanks.

 

[408Dartfish]

My daughter like most kids are curious about the aquarium. I’ll let her touch some soft corals, hermit crabs, serpent stars. She’s always wanting to catch a fish with the net lol, we don’t bother them.