Back in the hobby with my 10-year old

[tuonor]

Hi all!  In June, I started a planted tank with my 10-year old.  I had several tanks in high school and kept a small community tank in college (miss that one it was a retro chrome-rimmed tank I found at yard sale).  More recently I kept a planted tank over a decade ago with my now 16-year old.  We were perhaps a bit ambitious with that build (high-tech planted, wierd nano tank with restricted access, high-grade crystal reds and zebra otos).  Eventually burned out fighting algae...and then pee wee soccer, little league and eventually 2 other kiddos happened.

Roll forward to today.  My youngest is 10 and I'm getting back into fishkeeping with her help (or as she'd say, I'm helping her).  Aquarium is a 14 gallon all-in-one peninsula design.  Planted low-tech.  We did a dry start and flooded the tank in mid-July.  Starting to stock the tank and today it holds a mystery snail, japanese trapdoor, 2 nerites, 2 amanos and a bluegrass guppy (his love interest unfortunately jumped to her death).  Plants are monte carlo, anubias pinto, ludwigia and some floaters to keep nutrients in check while the tank matures.

Have learned alot from amazing sites like this one and look forward to being part of the community.

FTS about a week ago:

My kids' old school journal (cool stickers courtesy of the Co-op):

(for those following along, Almond the snail was fine but Taylor the guppy was not 😞)

Edited September 5 by tuonor

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I love the carpeting that you achieved in the tank! Looks cool! Welcome back to the hobby! Glad to have you here.

[clownbaby]

What a lovely tank!!! Welcome back to the hobby! And tell your kiddo she is very lucky! Back when I was 10 my tanks were overstocked artificial messes! Super great to see young folk creating beauties like that. 

[tuonor]

On 9/5/2024 at 9:49 AM, clownbaby said:

What a lovely tank!!! Welcome back to the hobby! And tell your kiddo she is very lucky! Back when I was 10 my tanks were overstocked artificial messes! Super great to see young folk creating beauties like that. 

Thanks.  Its been super fun and we've both learned a ton (particularly about patience).

On 9/5/2024 at 9:20 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I love the carpeting that you achieved in the tank! Looks cool! Welcome back to the hobby! Glad to have you here.

Appreciate it.  We did a 6-week dry start, misting daily with something called Wabi-Kusa spray.  Fertilizes while keeping mold away (and smells great to boot).  The monte carlo we planted spread out nicely but the dwarf hair grass didn't (and still isn't doing much).

[Tlindsey]

On 9/5/2024 at 11:16 PM, tuonor said:

Thanks.  Its been super fun and we've both learned a ton (particularly about patience).

Appreciate it.  We did a 6-week dry start, misting daily with something called Wabi-Kusa spray.  Fertilizes while keeping mold away (and smells great to boot).  The monte carlo we planted spread out nicely but the dwarf hair grass didn't (and still isn't doing much).

Welcome aboard and back to the fishkeeping hobby. I remember the chrome framed aquariums with the slate bottom😄