Our 4yr old son wants his own tank

very cool tank...goldfish usually tend to have something wrong with their swim bladder at some point. every single goldfish i have ever had has had something wrong with it. they are fine for a while then start swimming sideways or are suddenly unable to swim below the top of the tank. usually it is easily fixed though by a saltwater dip because they just need to fart/burp.

 

My son recently turned 5 and is still very interested in his aquarium (5g Fluval Chi). The tank is doing great, I'm impressed with what he's learned so far. The goldfish got too big so we traded it for 3 guppies a few months back, they have sinced multiplied. He's been asking a lot of questions about my reef tank and understand that he can't keep SW fish in his tank...so now he wants to know if he could get a reef tank too, he want 2 nemos.

I have lot of spare equipment lying around, pretty much everything needed to setup a 10 or 20g reef for him but it wouldn't be plumbed into my main system.

I've never had a small, stand alone reef tank....how big of a pain am I in for? I'm looking for feedback from reefers that have kept smaller tanks for at least a year. Sorry, not that I don't value the opinions of other less experienced reefers but I'm looking for some long term feedback, I already know there is a bit of extra work needed up front.

 

Here's a pic of his chi, I've never cleaned the glass and the tank is 8 months old. We cut the plants when they grow out the water.

 

Why not a common goldfish? They don't get big when you have a small tank. My teacher as a 14 gallon starter kit with a couple of plants and 2 goldfish(common) they are a year old and still 1-1.5 inches.

 

Very nice tank to!;D

 

If you have caulpara yes. The stuff grows like a weed and can spore out and kill a tank!

 

Nice looking tank! Thats awesome that your son is into the hobby as well. If I ever have kids they will be raised with fish just like you are raising your son.