Tips, Tricks or Other Ideas for Convincing Parents to Let Me Get Fish?

[lovetopaint]

I'm pretty sure I know what my parents will say...
They'll say, "If you prove you are responsible with a few fish in our 4 gallon tank, you can get the big one."
So, uh, what on earth can you keep in that tiny thing....a betta? Maybe some 1.5" female guppies?
But on the plus side, I'll have two tanks instead of one!
So it's a win-win here....
If they even say yes.
But who knows, maybe they'll say yes right away!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

A betta or guppies would be my choice with that tank! If probably go with the betta though. I had some nasty luck with pet store fancy guppies and fin rot! I wouldn't want to take the chance of dealing with that while trying to convince parents to let me have a tank!

As for the apple snails, yeah they lay their eggs right at the top of the tank you can remove them and toss them or hatch them in a separate tank. I never got mine to breed, but they come in all sorts of neat colors! I had purple and blue ones!

 

[lovetopaint]

Thanks!
What types of fish do you own right now?

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I actually don't have any fish right now because I go back and forth from school to home too often. I would love a betta but don't have many good places to put one at the moment. They are also a pain to transport! I have a credted gecko and a dog right now!

Some day I would love to have a nice large tank in a living room or den. I love parrot fish and cichlids, but I also have a soft spot for cichlids. I'm hoping one day I'll at least have the extra money to spend on the hobby! All my hobbies seem to be expensive ones! Lol

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

I'm pretty sure I know what my parents will say...
They'll say, "If you prove you are responsible with a few fish in our 4 gallon tank, you can get the big one."
So, uh, what on earth can you keep in that tiny thing....a betta? Maybe some 1.5" female guppies?
But on the plus side, I'll have two tanks instead of one!
So it's a win-win here....
If they even say yes.
But who knows, maybe they'll say yes right away!

I would do a betta too...i breed both, but the guppies died a lot. They succumb to all kinds of things. they are more hardy if you get well bred ones, but those are costly and hard to find Betta's are extremely hardy...i've had them survive big tumors, multiple car trips, and other diseases that wiped out any other fish in the tank. Make sure when you choose one to get one that is active and healthy looking. Hope your parents let you get some!

 

[lovetopaint]

Expensive hobbies seem to be the coolest
Thanks, both of you!

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Expensive hobbies seem to be the coolest
Thanks, both of you!

haha, that's true! good luck!

 

[waddles99]

Fish are difficult, arguably more than farm animals. They not only need feed and basic care, but also because they live in a regulated environment they need water changed, filtered water, heated water, and good water params(i.e. nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, pH). I have goats and chickens in addition to fish. Sure the goats and chickens need food, water, and minerals, but i don't need to worry about the quality of the air they are breathing in. With fish its a whole different story, you gotta give them the environment on top of the care. Which means weekly or every other week change the water, maintain 78-84 degrees F water, filter it, and check water parameters monthly, and if you have bad params, fix it.

 

[lovetopaint]

I will be having two thermometers, one for each side of the tank, and I'll be testing for pH, high range pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

The water changes and tank cleaning were the worst for me just because I didn't really have a convenient way of doing it. I'm sure you could rig something up with buckets and a pump or somehing like that.

I ended up adding plants and for the most part, the tank regulated itself pretty well on its own. Once it was established, I only did water changes every so often but the numbers held pretty well.

The most frustrating part is waiting for the tank to cycle! I had to wait six weeks. I used a betta to cycle my tank (I was very careful to be sure the numbers weren't toxic to the fish, but my preferred method is to tank gravel from someone who has an already established tank. Then the other frustrating part was adding the fish in small numbers! It's hard to be patient sometimes!