# My 10 yrs old's planted tank.



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

My daughter has been working on a 33g planted tank with me since she was 9. She was very interested in fish and did not mind to dose EI and trim the plants, scaped away algae, and do frenquent water change with me. As a matter of fact she has been the one dosing EI for me every morning before she goes to school for many months.
So, I decided to give her a 25 tanks (which was a messy plant grow out/shrimp tank that I was using) for herself as her first own planted tank.
She promised she would look after it herself. For the last few weeks, she has been doing her Ei and weekly 50% water change, cleaning all the glass, doing all the trimming and planting with curved scissors and twizzers, feeding her fish and even washing the filter media every two weeks. She also cuts out polishing pads from filter floss that she replaces into the filter compartment when she washes the media. 
I feel that asking her to look after her own tank really installs a sense of responsibility in her. She is somehow able to keep her water really clean--much more clear than my planted tank. LOL 
She would not let me touch the tank.
She knows also the difference between tropical fish and cold water fish and she understands the importance of adding equilibrium "so the fish could breath better." 
I told her gold fish prefers a higher GH and alkaline water so she has been adding alkaline buffer and equilibrium whenever she changes the water.
My daughter is now 10 and this is her first planted tank that she is taking care of all by herself. 
She does the scheduled water change every Sat and she would spend sometimes more than an hour trimming and taking out dead plants and so on. It was a messy tank with a lot of overgrown plants before she took over.
Just want to share it with all of you here. Hopefully she will keep her interest.
Substrate: Pool filter sand
Plants: Anabius, java ferns, java moss, B. Japonica, Amazon sword, banana plant, hornwort, water sprite.
Fish: 9 white cloud minnow, 1 rolanda goldfish (about 2").
Filter: Rena XP (sponge>bio media>filter floss)
It was a very messy tank but she took out all the messy plants and took out lots of snails. I think it looks rather nice. Hope you like it.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Wow, it looks great!


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

Looks better than a lot of tanks haha, congrats.


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## GaryR (Sep 16, 2012)

My 2yo loves watching my tank and poking at it. I can't wait to give her her own!


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## sunshine_1965 (Aug 16, 2011)

She has done you proud. Tell her from me that she is an artist of plants. The tank looks great.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

well at 10 she does 10 times the job of keeping plants alive than me haha
good for her..


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Looks awesome! Very talented


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Thanks everyone! I will pass on the kind words once she gets home from school. I am sure she will be very encouraged. Thanks guys!


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## funkycat (Nov 3, 2010)

Wow very good looking tank!
When I was ten I was still using neon gravel and the cheesy bubble ornaments


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Tell her great job from us. Love the clean look of her planted tank. Felicia also has tanks of her own, but I do most of the maintenance although she helps by holding the hoses during all the water changes. Its great to see the next generation of aquarium enthusiasts getting started.

Anthony


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## Tarobot (Jun 27, 2010)

i'm not too sure about a goldfish with everything else? from what i read goldfish arent meant to be kept with anything else due to the high toxicity of their poop and how often they do it. a standard size for ONE goldfish is recommended at 20g/per with 2x30% water changes per week or something close to that. i think the avg goldfish lifespan is something like 20yrs with the world's oldest being 40 something. anything i digress, thumbs up for teaching your kid to take care of the tank but if you keep goldfish in there with only one change a week a crash might happen within a few months so be careful. chances are the goldfish will eat the banana plant though ive read they stay away from ferns. just something you might want to think about, im sure none of us here would want to read about a crash and your kid crying 3 months from now!


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Thanks for the comment. I was kind of expecting someone to comment on the gold fish and the tank size and all that. LOL. 
Their poo are not toxic but it is just that they can get quite big and has a high bioload so a lot of people recommend to have a very big tank in order to make sure water parameters can stay good and that the fish will not be stunned.. 
Usually it is recommended to have 20 gallon for the first and thereafter 10 gallon for every additional goldfish. Some people just recommend 10 gallon for each fish. This suggestion is made based largely on the filteration volume and how clean you keep your water but most importantly how big your fish is. Obviously you cannot put a fully grown gold fish in a 20 gallon even if he is by himself. On the other hand, if you have a sump the size of your tank it is obviously a very different story than if you only use a small HOB filter. And this suggestion is based on the assumption that people will not change to bigger tanks when their fish get bigger--while in reality we do. 
This is a little guy that is only 1.5" long, and he is staying in a 25 gallon all by himself. White clouds hardly has any bioload so this tank is very lightly stocked. Water parameter is excellent. I am actually worried about the very low nitrate but my daughter does not want me to dose too much nitrate. She is worried about algae. LOL
You are right. Usually goldfish is not meant to be kept with anything else. What happened was that the white clouds were there first and I dont want to give them away. They are very hardly and are basically sub-tropical or cold water fish which originated from China just as gold fish are. Oranda are a bit different in that they prefer water that are a bit wamer than that liked by other gold fish so they actually get along quite well. I have no heater in the tank, PH slightly above 7 and slightly higher GH. In the future when the goldfish gets bigger he might eat the white cloud but right now they are getting along very well. If the gold fish gets bigger I will just move him to another tank. It is not a big deal. 
The plants are fine. Nothing is eaten. If the gold fish eats the banana it is fine, most of the plants will nto be eaten by goldfish anyway so nothing will really be affected as far as look is concerned. 
P.S. My daughter will not cry 3 months from now if anythign happens. She will just learn from her mistake and move on. 
I want to teach her to be a responsible fish keeper so I have explained to her the bioload of gold fish and all that and she understands. She is the one who said we should not have 2 gold fish in a 25 gallon tank--only 1 is good. LOL
In Asia a lot of fancy gold fish keepers keep what we would consider as overstocked gold fish tanks. Some of these gold fish are show quality--they are healthy and the water very clean. A lot of it depends on the size of the fish, the amount of filtration and the frequency of water change.
Thanks for the comment, appreciate your trying to help. Will pass the comment onto my daughter.
Cheers.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I just showed all your comment to my daughter and she is very happy. Thank you guys all for yoru encouragememnt.
I really hope she will keep her interest and continue to take up the responsibility of looking after her own tank.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

Wow, good for her! She has done a great job.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

She did an awesome job, i wish i could make my tanks look that good. Keep up the good work.


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## mike604 (May 1, 2010)

Man when i was 10 my fish tank was not that good lol GOOD JOB !


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Tell her tank looks better than mine and I'm 28yrs old.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

What kind of filter do you have on there ? it looks like a Fluval but i never seen a Fluval Spray Bar. where did you get the solid elbow connected to the spray bar ?


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Scherb said:


> What kind of filter do you have on there ? it looks like a Fluval but i never seen a Fluval Spray Bar. where did you get the solid elbow connected to the spray bar ?


I'll bet that's a Rena spray bar he's attached to Fluval hosing.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

gotta get your DIYon , there is endless sizes of tubing and pvc, millions of very simple diy stuff out there... plus it gives ya something to "tinker" with , because after you build one thing it starts the gears turning and then you find yourself awake at night inventing things you dont need lol, maybe its just me but i cant ever just be happy with my stuff i am always improving this or i want to make this work better ,,but its all bs i just like playing with my toys..


Scherb said:


> What kind of filter do you have on there ? it looks like a Fluval but i never seen a Fluval Spray Bar. where did you get the solid elbow connected to the spray bar ?


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Scherb said:


> What kind of filter do you have on there ? it looks like a Fluval but i never seen a Fluval Spray Bar. where did you get the solid elbow connected to the spray bar ?


Hi,
It is a Rena XP. I got it from Pat (mykiss) and I have no idea if the elbow/spray bar is original. May be you can ask Pat?
It is a simple yet functional filter. Not too complicated to operate, even my daughter at 10 is able to take it apart and rinse the media every 2 weeks so it is quite cool 
As long as the water level does not drop below the intake there is no need to prime everytime.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Fish rookie said:


> Hi,
> It is a Rena XP. I got it from Pat (mykiss) and I have no idea if the elbow/spray bar is original. May be you can ask Pat?
> It is a simple yet functional filter. Not too complicated to operate, even my daughter at 10 is able to take it apart and rinse the media every 2 weeks so it is quite cool
> As long as the water level does not drop below the intake there is no need to prime everytime.


Cool, Thanks for the info


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## ctclee (May 3, 2010)

Very nice tank ! Looks great my 10 yr old really likes it too.


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## ctclee (May 3, 2010)

My lil 10 yr old girl spent over an hour in her tank today re-arranging her tank ! Thanks


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I just got her a bottle of excel and she will be dosing 1/2 cap every 2 days in her 25 gallon tanK starting Mon (Mon, Wed, Fri). 
The picture below is the 33 gallon planted tank that we have been working on together. This 33 gallon is 4 months old. It is a high tech Co2 tank and was too complicated for her to do on her own in the beginning. But as I showed her what I did, I could teach her photosynthesis and all that as we went over the need of Co2 for plants so it was quite cool actually. She was the one who gave me the idea of building a path in the middle, and she does Ei dosing and cleaning the tank for me. She also trim the plants and we go shopping for plants and fish togther for this tank.  I really enjoy sharing and having something in common with my little girl so just want to share this with you all.
Thanks guys.:0


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Both your tanks are gorgeous. Your daughter's maintenance efforts are impressive and her work shows. Congratulations to both of you!


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Thank you very much. Yes, I am pretty amazed by how dedicated she has been. She has really helped me a lot especially when I was busy or felt lazy.
I just bought her an axolotl for her.


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## shady280 (Oct 17, 2011)

gourgeous tanks!! my daughter is 3 and her task is to feed the fish for now. she knows their proper names and food names as well. hopefully she too can end up like your very tallented and dedicated daughter. their are adults and long time fish keepers who cant do what your daughter does!! me included.


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## Nicklfire (Apr 21, 2010)

wow, i love it, look like a mini island.. Time to get her some ada gear


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## gsneufeld (Jan 28, 2012)

very nice, a few gold cloud minnows would look amazing in there...


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Good idea on the path. it works well to give it definition. Looks Great


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## IceBlue (Mar 17, 2011)

Your daughter has done a great job, congratulations.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Thank you all for the encouragment. I will show her all your kind words...thank you so much.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

This tank has just had a new tenant moved in, which is a super cute axolotl (female). The goldfish has found a new home and the white clouds are staying. There is a 'cave' in the tank which is formed by two pieces of driftwoods forming an inverted "V" tied together by a rather dense foliage of jave moss and java fern. This and the space behind the rock provide hiding places and a sense of security for the axolotl. The spraybar has been turned backward so it is spraying water to the wall upward to creat aeration without creating much current, and all tiny gravels have been removed to prevent choking. Other than that, no other changes have been made to the set up and I am happy to report that this super cute axolotl is settling in very nicely.
Unlike some axolotl, this one eats pellets so it is rather easy to look after. My daughter now drops a pellet in every morning and when she gets home. 
These pictures were taken as the axolotl crawled out of her hide. Enjoy.


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## STANKYfish (Apr 21, 2011)

Your daughter does an awesome job on the tanks!! She must love her new "pink" pet, i also want one of those.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Nice pics, Good gob, Very Cool addition.


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## Smallermouse (Jan 28, 2012)

Well trained. Now u have one less tank to do work on. U gunna train her to do the rest? Just sit back and watch.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Funny you mentioned it. I have a small tank with some juvie discus that I am growing out and I just asked her to help me to suck out the uneaten food the other day. Since discus is much more unforgiving to mistakes I will not just leave her to them alone but I do ask her to do little things from time to time. She alwasy remembers to wash her hands before and always makes sure she is not using any soap when doing so. She also helps me a lot with trimming and dosing my other planted tank. 
I know sometimes when a girl reaches a certain age she could become difficult (doesnt want to talk to their parents and so on) and I am just glad that we share something in common which she is really interested in and very proud of.
I feel that if introduced at an early age and keeping at it kids are generally very interested in taking care of fish and tanks. When she first saw a picture of an ADA she was immediately attacted to it. It may have something to do with the fact that she used to help me with gardening and is very into art. We have such a good time working on our tanks together now. 
I am very happy about this. It is a rather heathy, educational, and enjoyable way to spend time with my daughter. I hope she will keep her interest.
Thanks guys.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

After we took down our 33 gallon we have some B Japonica left. We also purchased some plants in the monster auction.
She also won a wood branch from the planted tank contest which she has wrapped with moss and fern.
I recently bought her some plants from Bien.
With these new additions, and some serious pruning which she performed all on her own, my daughter's tank looks like this now.
25 gallon with 1 female axolotl
pool filter sand substrate
no co2
dollar store 13W bulbs x 2
light on 7 hours on a timer
GH=5, KH=5, PH=7.3, temp=72F
XP1 (Rena pre filter sponge, purigen, fluval bio cube, floss)
water change 30% weekly


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## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

That's a great looking tank! I'm impressed, her first tank blows mine away.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I think the aloxotl has grown a bit but I am not too sure.
Here are some pictures taken while she came out from her cave for a snack. We hand feed her my home made discus food.
As you can see my daughter has trimmed the B Japonica in the front real short. There were some very long val on the right which was forming a canopy but she cut those, too. LOL.
The axolotl likes the new wood branch we put in. She spends much more time in the front after the japonica were trimmed and the wood was placed.
Her cave is behind the big drift wood in the middle. It is hard to see because the wood is covered with fern and moss but it is the big mountain in the middle. It is hollow in the back.


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## Smallermouse (Jan 28, 2012)

wow so pink.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

It will look pinker if I change to some colomax bulbs. The body is not that pink in real but the gills are quite pink.


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## Sky83 (Nov 6, 2012)

Very nice tank !


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Thanks.
She did some trimming after I "borrowed" some of her amazon sword and b.japonica for the betta tank. I gave her some floaties Pamela kindly gave us. The sand bed was cleaned and made thinner.
This is what it looks like now. 
What do you think?


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