Fish for my daughter

[feelathome]

Hi,

I am sure I posted this yesterday, but it seems to have vanished, so ill try again.

I promised id get my dd a goldfish for her 8th birthday. After reading on here I realise this was a rash promise, and that they are not suitable for a small bowl in a child's bedroom.
My question is,
Are there any fish that would be? I'm happy to get a filter, but she won't have room for a large tank, so are there any fish I can get her?

ps I would make sure it was properly fed and cared for, I know she is too young to have complete responsibility for an animal, but I hope this will begin to teach her how to.

My dd2 has three fish (all small ones). I bought a Mermaid starter pack. Comes with everything you need. Go to a good pet shop and they will give you good advice.

There are fish called White Cloud Mountain Minnows that are easy to care for but need to be kept in minimum 60 litre tank with filter. That's not a 'small bowl' obviously but it's not a huge tank either here . I also made the mistake of getting one of those small tanks (although it did have a filter etc) and got a fancy goldfish for it - subsequently found out that small tanks/bowls are not suitable to keep any living creature in really. I now have a large tank with growing fancy goldfish in it!!

My own tank is only 60l, and she is not having one that size, its way to big, needs lots of cleaning, etc.

Small fish tanks are a total nightmare to look after and they are not very good for fish either. Unfortunately there are no laws about what can be sold as a fish tank so most of the small ones aimed at children are rubbish. Even though they are aimed at beginners, small tanks are actually harder to maintain than larger ones. You shouldn't really consider anything less than 60 litres if you haven't kept fish before.

Depending on when your DD's birthday is, you may or may not have time to get it all set up and get fish in there. It takes around 4-6 weeks to set up a tank properly before you can safely introduce fish.

You might find this and this useful.

If you're short on space then there are some invertebrates like beetles or stick insects that might be more suitable. Fish aren't very interactive and while they are not massively complicated to look after, your DD might find something else better unless she's really into science.

HTH a bit, if you need to know anything else just ask :)

thanks Eau,

I have just started keeping fish myself, got a 60l tank with a few platies and guppies. I set it up properly, after reading all about it on here, and it seems to be doing well.

I just wanted a simpler version for her, but it doesn't look like this is going to be possible. Ill have to rethink her present, and hope she doesn't get too upset.

DH thinks we should just get a bowl, cos if they sell them they must be OK, and its how we both kept goldfish as a child, but i don't think my concience could deal with this, now I have learnt how detrimental this is to the fish.