Taking a Poll: Where to put the tank?

[Skepticarcher]

Hello, I am in need of some assistance from the community. I purchased a 29 gallon and my husband and I are trying to decide where to set it up. The options are:

A. The Living Room, concerns are noise and movement, being that we have young kids who can get rowdy. 

B. The Master: concerns being that the room is small and out of the way, for viewing.

C. The Garage: concerns are no water source and music is often listened to out there.

I would take any and all feedback/opinions you all have. Thank you!

[AnimalNerd98]

Ultimately, it is up to you and your husband, but here are some other things you may want to consider as criteria:

1) Temperature: Is the room warm or cool? How will this affect your stocking? Will you go with heated or unheated?
 

Does the temperature fluctuate a lot? It will be much easier to keep an aquarium where the temperature is relatively constant (the garage may be an example where temp fluctuations will vary seasonally). 
 

2) Natural light: Does the room get any other light sources I.e. from windows or lack thereof? This will be helpful to consider since a lot of ambient light might mean more algae growth. 
 

3) Stocking: Planted tank or something else? Lightly stocked or heavily stocked? Are you going to need to perform several water changes in a week/month? This may help you decide whether it’s important for the tank to be near a water source or not. 
 

Here are my thoughts on your three options: 

Living Room: This may allow for the most viewing pleasure but I understand it may be a concern since there are young ones running around. This can be somewhat mitigated by having the tank elevated on a good solid stand so the vibrations from pounding footsteps are somewhat muffled/more distant. It can also just be a height barrier that prevents your children from being able to access/hit the aquarium. Also, if you are stocking the tank with fish that are not that skittish like some zebra danios or something, I wouldn’t be too worried about the noise/movement. 
 

Master: If there is limited access to view the tank, will you still get the same enjoyment out of it? The saying: out of sight out of mind really applies to aquariums. If it takes away from your enjoyment or ability to care for the aquarium, you might want to move some things around so that you can better view/access the aquarium. It may also be more quiet and allow you to house more skittish nano fish like CPD.

Garage: Temperature fluctuations and water changes will be your biggest challenges. Dean however was able to manage a fish room in his garage at one point. There are other ways to also heat/insulate a tank in the garage (check out Steenfott aquatics, the video where the hobbyist uses a grow tent). So it is definitely doable, but you may want to ask yourself: how much work/equipment do I want to invest into this?

 

Edited January 1, 2021 by AnimalNerd98

[Maggie]

I vote for the living room, and get very lively fish that won't mind the chaos. I think your family will enjoy it more, and your kids might want to learn the hobby, if it's out in the open where everyone sees it many times a day.

To expound on what @AnimalNerd98said about CPDs, I would add dwarf emerald danios (aka/fka dwarf emerald rasboras) to the extremely shy list. I have mine in a spare bedroom, as they totally freak out and hide with any movement at all. Plus they're so tiny and blend in with natural colors, it's hard to even see them until you're right next to the tank. It seems like guppies might work, as every guppy tank I see is filled with colorful, non-linear movement. But then you might need a plan for what to do with all the babies. Good luck!

[KaitieG]

Agreed with Maggie--We have 3 young kids and 2 fish tanks in our living/school room, which is pretty high-traffic, especially for kids. No problems bothering the fish (we have male guppies, corys, and neons in a 20 gal right now and female guppies and a betta in a 10 gal)--if anything they come to check everyone out when we peek in--especially the betta, who's super interactive.  

One thing I learned the hard way--kids (esp. toddlers) need to be expressly taught not to put extra stuff in the tank--when my youngest was 1, she decided to make the fishies some decorations out of play-doh and sneak them into the tank.  Everyone survived, but it was A MESS.  For us, fertilizer (which just looks SO FUN in that squirty bottle!) and fish food/chemicals/meds/testing stuff is all kept put away out of reach of the littlest one and away from the tanks.  Just a consideration if you go the living room route 🙂 

[Daniel]

I would put it in the livingroom. I did put my initial aquarium in the livingroom. Putting the aquarium where there is the most traffic means it will be the most viewed (and the most well maintained).

I wouldn't worry about noise, vibrations and the having the kids see the aquarium is half the point of having an aquarium.

[Hobbit]

I agree about the living room!

My husband and I have a tank in the living room and that’s also where we play instruments (mostly violin and some cello). I’ve watched the fish when he’s playing and they don’t seem to change their behavior at all. In contrast, we have a tank in the kitchen and every time he closes the silverware drawer all the fish jump. 😅 So I second the idea of putting the tank on a solid stand and putting the stand on some squishy furniture feet to minimize percussive vibrations. Constant loud noise doesn’t seem to bother my fish though.

I’ve thought about sticking my head under the water when we have music playing to see how it sounds but I haven’t done it yet. 😁

[lefty o]

i vote A, so long as the kids arent so rowdy they break the tank.

[Tanked]

Unless you are also going to get a fish cam, put it where people spend the most time.  Otherwise the aquarium is out of sight and out of mind; just another chore that needs to be done.  

[Alison]

Living room is the direction I am leaning on. Depending on what you use for a stand maybe you can put child locks on the doors so they can't get into the food and such on their own. If there are concerns about it being broken by a stray toy, you can look into acrylic rather than glass. Sometimes you can get monster deals on marketplace if you keep an eye out. I just got a 30g acrylic and stand for $150.

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

If it were me I would go with the livingroom. At our house that would be the location that was the most enjoyed and the most maintained tank due to its location.

[Chiclid addict]

I would go with the living room if it were me just make sure it is a decent size tank because I’ve had my dog knock over a 55 before but my 100 gallon has taken some pretty good hits and not even had the water slosh back and forth 

[Skepticarcher]

Thank you everyone for the feedback! @Angelfishlover, I never even considered my meatball of a dog, thank you for that heads up haha.