Would you have fish with a toddler in the house? Acrylic tank? Or wait until older?

[Vulnor]

I had a tropical tank back in my late teens so I am not a complete beginner but it's long enough ago that I have forgotten a lot and wouldn't call myself experienced either.

For the last few months I've been really wanting to get back into it and have been doing a lot of research again. My house is small so I'd love just a single male betta in a ~30L tank.

However I've got a 2.5 year old DS. He loves fish and I think would enjoy watching it (It would be my tank and I'd do everything - I'm not looking at this as a pet for him). I don't imagine we'll ever get any furry pets so it would be nice for him to learn about animals and care etc. as he grows up.

He's quite well behaved and does usually listen about things he's not allowed to touch, but I am not sure I could guarantee it enough to feel 100% sure. At only 2, when it comes to safety I feel I can't rely on his impulse control. I'm having all sorts of worries imagining a toy flying across the room in a tantrum (which he hasn't ever done but there's time!) and glass shattering.

Obviously he's supervised but there's time I'm a few feet away e.g. folding clothes while he plays and I don't know if I want to sign myself up for a giant glass hazard in the house that I have to be terrified of taking my eyes off for a single second.

I've been looking into acrylic tanks - which I know scratch more easily - but perhaps would be safer with small children around. Any experience with these? They seem more common in the US and with bigger tanks from my searching.

Is a tank with young children doable? Or do I just wait until he's older? How old were your kids when you felt happy their impulse control was at a level they wouldn't do anything dangerous around the tank if you left the room to go to the loo?

A 2 yr old would have to throw something pretty hard to shatter a fish tank. It doesn't seem likely. I would be more worried about the tank falling and hurting the child, or him pulling it out of curiosity.

As long as it's properly secure and stable wherever you put it, and ideally out of his reach so he can't get his hands in the water or put toys in etc, I can't see a problem. The tanks that are built into furniture/ cabinets might be worth considering as they won't be easy for him to move or grab.

I would try to put it a little bit out of the way, in the corner of a room or maybe in another room (maybe in an office/ spare room that the child doesn't go in much).

Thank you for the reply. That’s very reassuring. Perhaps I’ve underestimated the strength of the glass. I remember with my own tank many years ago never considering it particularly fragile as it felt very solid but now I’m looking at it from a toddler safety perspective and all of the pictures of tanks I was looking at just seem very breakable all of a sudden.

The tank would have to go in our living room/ dining room and there’s a place in a corner that is out of the way of foot traffic but it is still the room he spends most of his day in. We don’t have an office / spare room. Our bedroom doubles as my office and then that only leaves DS’ bedroom which obviously would be no good. There’s not even any hallways wide enough sadly.

I could get one of those cabinets that it’s built into and anchor the cabinet to the wall. Then fish food inside the cabinet and locked.

I hope that would be sufficient. I think if I only need to worry about making sure it’s safe from being toppled I can definitely achieve that. DF is a tradesman and is very handy with this kind of stuff so I think we could get something sorted.

Thank you for the help!