New reef tank for my stepson?

[tahoetanks]

Just out of curiosity, I wanted to see what all of your opinions on this are.
My stepson is 12 and is only here every other weekend. He has loved the other reef tanks in our house for years. Now he wants us to start one for him. I'm all for encouraging him to enjoy the reef life. BUT...I also think that he should learn how much work goes into maintaining not to mention setting up a reef tank- and the $$$$$. I'm kinda torn. Go for it and suck it up doing all of the work myself? Or wait until he is a little bit older and can appreciate it more? What do you think?

 

[d0 thy d3w]

this is kindof a fun one for me!! i think u should make him pay for sum of the stuff..u could take care of the upfront costs such as tank,powerheads,skimmer,lights,and what not...but make ur stepson pay for salt, and livestock, if he has no way of making money, he could do chores around the house to earn some fish.....i wish i could have had a SW tank up when i was 12...but my parents werent into it so i never got any help from them...im 15 now and i have a sumwhat okay tank..but i payed for every last penny of it..which makes it all the more valuable to me

 

[fish3]

let him do your maintence for a weekend and see have him research i started when i was 12 and i'm 13 now and just got coral so take it slow start with damsels

 

[fish3]

i paid for a lot of it but i got a free tank for my dads friend

 

[trippkid]

I'll have to agree with d0 thy dw3, I started 20yrs ago, with no help, no LFS. If somebody wants something bad enough, they will do the work for it. I am not at all saying not to help your stepson, that is great, just teach him a little in the process. I 've started my 5yr old, who likes fish, my 4yr old likes crabs,snails, creepy stuff, etc., and my 2yr old loves it all. I think "fish" was one of his first words, "coral" was not far behind. If you're not comfortable with the idea yet, wait a yr or so, let him use some of his $$ to buy a hardy coral or something, and start teaching him now what is involved with keeping a reef or fish tank. Good luck

 

[tahoetanks]

thanks for all of the replies. I think I am going to do it...after a trial run next weekend when he will get to help with the water change and testing and all of the fun stuff. Then see where he stands with it. I have all of the stuff for another tank. So I think you had a good idea with him using his allowance to buy his corals and fish. Of course I will be giving him a gazillion kenya trees! Just to get them out of my tank.

Hey, the really funny thing about all of this, I am nurse and he almost has a better grasp on chemistry than I do. Almost.
Thanks again!