[cottoncandy946]

My little cousin is 5 and she wants to get a betta.Her mom ask me if she would be able to take care of it by herself i think no shes too young but what do you think?

thanks:betta:,Kayla

 

[petlover516]

no one is ever too young! she can just by an AGA 2.5 gal kit, heater, a bottle of prime, and voila! for water changes, all she will need is just a cup!

 

[cottoncandy946]

ok thx for the info

 

[petlover516]

believe me she can do it-just tell her mom to keep a constant shedule on water changes. i had trouble doing this with my jack dempsey in a 15 long...yet amazingly he lived for 8 years.

 

[cottoncandy946]

ok thats what i will tell her mom thx sooo much

 

[DarkRevoultions]

Uhm.. before you do anything else unless I'm too late...

Is your little cousin very "rough" on animals or anything around the house doesn't matter if it is furniture or drops anything??

If yes then she can get one... just on a spot where she can't reach it so then she doesn't make an attempt to tip it over. If she is gentle with things, it's definitely okay!! just get her mom or your aunt to watch her for a little bit when your little cousin is going to watch over it. Because you never know when your cousin might accidentally tip the bowl or do something bad..

Constant reminders are best for children just not too much reminding. Like every single second, minute, or hr xD Probably once every few days so then your cousin won't forget.

 

[cottoncandy946]

well my cousin is rough with some things but gentle with others

 

[DarkRevoultions]

well my cousin is rough with some things but gentle with others

Oh so what is she rough on?

 

[cottoncandy946]

well she is mostly rough on bowls becouse she drops them ans with her toys

 

[DarkRevoultions]

well she is mostly rough on bowls becouse she drops them ans with her toys

Oh Okay. So what is she gentle with?? fishes and animals?

If she is rough on bowls, it's probably better getting a 5 or 10 gallon tank.. if you get a 10 gallon tank it would be 100 pounds, so it's going to be hard for her to knock it down. And people say that bettas like to be in open spaces sometimes, or shallow waters too. So you don't have to fill up the water to the top all the time. Since they are like puddle fishes or they do reside in rice patties, and there must be a lot of plankton or something there... but they do like to jump a lot.

a Betta bowl might not be good.. unless if the conditions are right, I'm pretty sure they won't jump out because people say that when the fishes don't like their tank condition they jump out to their deaths

That's why I keep a lid on top of all my tanks, and do water changes all the time to keep the nitrites and ammonia from trying to rise...

 

[cottoncandy946]

umm well she was pretty rough with my dachund molly

 

[DarkRevoultions]

umm well she was pretty rough with my dachund molly

Oh. So that might not be a good idea to get her the Betta. My English teacher from SO long ago had a young girl and she said that she won't get her fishes or any other animals until she is 9 or 10. Or whenever she is responsible enough

 

[cottoncandy946]

ok thats a good idea thanks alot

 

[DarkRevoultions]

ok thats a good idea thanks alot

No problem but if you ever do get a Betta for her, just be very careful because if she does break the bowl or do something bad to it... then you should wait a few months or a few years until she knows more about them

Oh, try and tell her some information about Betta's like make some story about them Children like stories about how Betta's like to be treated with care and very gentle.

I got experience xD

 

[cottoncandy946]

wow that's a neat idea. Inever thought of that. Well thanks soo much!

 

[DarkRevoultions]

wow that's a neat idea. Inever thought of that. Well thanks soo much!

No problem I take care of children a lot on my spare time, and they all have aquariums, but the tanks are big like 100 gallons + so they just leave finger prints all over the tank ha ha and some aren't very nice kids, but parenting tips always work especially when I have to use time out and break up sibling fights

Good thing I do my part on helping to clean the tanks when I have to when they need me to babysit their children. Or dog xD some people ask me to take care of their dogs for a while when the family goes out for dinner or to some place hahaahahaha.

 

[cottoncandy946]

nice job ha ha

 

[DarkRevoultions]

nice job ha ha

Yehp I'm pretty well known on my street really since I don't charge so much xD

I don't know how much people charge per person or pet, or per hr but I just put in a flat fee of 5 dollars an hr per child and 2 dollars per pet

I don't like to make people pay so much for just babysitting people or animals

how much would you charge if someone asked you to take care of someone else child?

 

[cottoncandy946]

umm i would probally charch 5.00 or 10.00 depending on how many children

 

[Chickadee]

Ummmm. While I think a fish for a young child is a good idea I do not think the unsupervised idea is a good one. I think a 5 year old will need help. They need to have gravel maintenance and some help with things. It is too hard to miss signs of disease and there are simple rules of safety involved like not putting your hands in the tank without a good wash first and do not have any cuts or sores on your hands and put them in the water. There also needs to be some supervision on the feeding due to the fact that the worst thing you can do to a betta is overfeed and a 5 year old is very tempted to keep feeding because the fish will keep eating.

No I do not think they can be unsupervised at that age but the idea of the pet is a good one, but a parent still needs to be in charge of the water changes and watch the feeding and then remove the food until the next feeding. Fish are living things and not toys and at that age there is the tendency to think of them as a pretty toy.

Rose