Top 5 Popular Aquarium Fish for Children to Take Care Easily

Popular Aquarium Fish for Children: The trickling water of the filter, the neon lights and the alluring fish are great tools for exploration. Fish care can be very easy as well as innovative for children and it creates an engagement among them.

With different sizes and colours, fish spark imagination and attachment among kids. Moreover, when they have a fish to take care of, a sense of responsibility can grow within them. Despite being easy to maintain, fish care can sometimes be challenging. So, you must choose the fish carefully for your children.

To ease your situation, in this article, we are going to discuss the most popular saltwater and freshwater fish for your children that are easy to maintain.

Goldfish

Native to Asia, these freshwater fish thrive in murky water and hence, you can captivate them in an aquarium with live plants and a little bit of messy bottom. They are very peaceful, need very little maintenance and can easily stay with other fishes in the same aquarium. But it is preferable not to keep Goldfish with larger fish as they become a feeder to the latter.

Children find these fish very attractive because of their colour and it becomes easy for them to take care of something that they like. You must keep them in a freshwater tank with a water temperature of about 17 Degrees Celsius, as these fish prefer a bit of cold water. This is expected to provide them with a longer lifespan.

Goldfish can be ideal aquarium fish for your kids as they grow very quickly and children like to observe their gradual growth. You must keep an efficient water filter as they generate huge faeces, keeping their residence clean will help them remain active.

These fish like to play and hide throughout the day for which, you must keep small caves, driftwoods and rocky sheds for them. For a balanced diet, feed them with a mixture of Goldfish flakes and granules. Alternatively, supplement Goldfish with live or frozen Brine Shrimp, Daphnia and mixed veggies. These large bulge-eyed fish need to be fed only once, which is very easy for children.

Bettas

Betta is a very colourful and popular aquarium fish children can take care of. These fish are originally native to the Mekong and Chao Phraya River basins of Thailand, while also living in the wilds of Asia. They prefer to dwell in relatively warm, shallow and stagnant water. So, as you keep them in a home aquarium for children, adjust the temperature to 23 Degrees Celsius and keep water movement low.

You should not keep these fish with other small fishes as they might become predators. Always remember to keep only one male in a tank as two males at a time will lead to the untimely death of anyone as they become territorial and fight till death. These fish are very active jumpers and they tend to jump out of the tank, so keep the tank lid sturdy and tight.

They must be fed with Betta flakes and pellets along with alternative high-protein froze food like Brine Shrimps or Bloodworms.

These fish can happily live alone in a 10-gallon water tank, filled with Java Moss, Anubias and Betta Bulb. Their small dwelling tank can easily fit in children’s bedrooms. These fun-loving characters create a bond with owners easily and since they come with differently shaped tails, they are very attractive to children. Being easy-to-maintain fish, they are an appropriate playmate and aquarium fish for children.

Guppies

The tiny freshwater tropical Guppies can get along very well with owners and demand very little maintenance. These fish can keep their owners engrossed in them with their playful nature. Guppies can help children to grow responsibility as they need easy care and children can maintain them with ease. They can undeniably spend their 2 years of lifespan in a 5-gallon water tank.

With peaceful nature, Guppies come in different vibrant colours, however, the females mostly come in drab silver colour. To engage your kids, keep male Guppies in the aquarium. These friendly ‘Rainbow Fish’ thrive mainly on plants, algae and spirulina with a feeding requirement of twice a day.

Keep Flame Moss, Water Sprite, Java Fern and Water Wisteria in Guppies’ tank. It is beneficial to keep floating plants in Guppies’ tank as they like to hide while at play. Keep temperature within 22-28 Degrees Celsius. Water filter is not necessary for this particular fish as they don’t produce much waste. Moreover, they dwell on algae so total cleaning of the tank is a no-no.

Angelfish

Native to the freshwater tropical region of South America, these six-inch fish have angel wings like tails and reflect light when they dive. These fish generally prefer slow-moving water and dimly lit surroundings.

Angelfish are one of those freshwater fish for aquarium that are easy to maintain and can be taken care of my children. When your kids prepare their tanks, tell them to put overhanging vegetation or canopy of leaves from the tank lid. This will create a joyous ambience, which surely provides a longer lifespan to your Angelfish i.e., up to 10 years.

These beauties come in silver, bright orange and black colours. If you do not keep them with their compatible partners (Boesemani Rainbow Fish, Dwarf Gourami, Platies and Mollies), they can turn aggressive, mainly during the mating period. These carnivores mainly eat Brine Shrimps, Bloodworms and prey on small fish and micro-invertebrates. They also prefer to have algae and sponges.

Keep a pair of male and female with each other and they can gleefully spend time together. Angelfish need a deep tank with proper filtration and slow-moving water with a temperature of 25 Degrees Celsius.

The highly infectious disease, Hexamita can kill your Angelfish as this is caused by parasites that dwell in freshwater. We recommend you clean the aquarium and keep the water warm so that parasites’ contamination can be restricted.

Blue-Green Chromis

These saltwater fish are very peaceful in nature and can easily spend almost 8-15 years of their life with any other species. Native to tropical marine water of the Pacific Ocean, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Red Sea and Madagascar, these fish can dwell easily with very low maintenance and easy care level. These damselfish species tend to be iridescent apple-green and blue.

These omnivorous fish dwell on Mysis shrimp, Krill and Brine Shrimps. Though meaty protein is a favourite to Blue-Green Chromis, when they come in contact with plants, they tend to become herbivorous. Blue-Green Chromis mainly like scavenging and algae are on the top of their diet list. When in captivity, you must feed them plant and meat alternatively thrice a day.

Keep the water temperature to a level of 22 Degrees Celsius. These fish inhabit coral reef areas in wilds, so coral laden aquarium helps them to play and hide. You can keep a tank full of SPS corals for a stunning display.

It is better to keep Blue-Green Chromis in a 30-gallon water tank, so they can move freely. However, if you keep them in a smaller tank you must feed these fish only once a day. Frequent feeding can hamper the water quality as Blue-Green Chromis produce waste. You can easily keep these fish in schools as they prefer company.

To conclude, we suggest keeping freshwater aquarium fish as pets because it highly engaging for kids. Owing to the satisfactory dwelling parameters, the above-mentioned fish can be friendly enough and taking care of them will develop responsibility among kids. They will learn fish diet, water requirements for fish and methods to take care of. These easy-to-maintain fish are highly acknowledged among children. Following our guidelines, you can teach your children about different fish that they can keep responsibly in a home aquarium.