Future Reefkeeper in training...cute story!

[Tim gixxerman]

I wasn't sure where to put this, but I just wanted to share. We are still new to the saltwater world, as we've been freshwater (cichlid) keepers for 10+ years. We now have a 4 month old setup, and are learning more and more about our new 'pets' every day. We have fallen completely in love with the hobby, and adore our new fish friends and all their distinct personalities. It's been lots of hard work, but the end result is well worth it.

One aspect I wasn't counting on is how quickly my 7 year old is absorbing the new hobby. He has several fish in the tank as well as a few corals he picked out himself. What really made me smile was during one of our weekly trips to our LFS. The LFS has a DT setup for customers to look at, and it's a gorgeous tank, with anthias, two clowns, a hippo, purple tang, chromis, inverts, etc, and corals that are growing like wildfire. There's a step stool there for children to climb up on and look. While we were talking with their SW rep, I was keeping a close eye on him across the aisle while he watched the display tank. My son, who is never one to be shy or bashful, started chatting with an elderly couple who had stopped to admire the tank. I saw him gesture and point and was being very enthusiastic about what it was he was talking about. Curious, I wandered over to listen better to what they were all talking about. My son was teaching the elderly couple (who apparantly knew nothing about fish, much less saltwater) about the different types of species of corals and fish in the tank. Not only that, but in ALL his 7 year old wisdom, he was pretty darn near accurate in everything he was saying.

I think I have a future SW reefkeeper on my hands.

[Bilk]

It's a great hobby and your son will learn a lot from it in many other aspects of life besides just keeping a tank - responsibility and a further quest for knowledge and how to go about obtaining the information needed to do something, among them. I see a lot of kids today just happy to be playing Playstation. Your son will have a leg up on them

[spieszak]

he's a bit young for it now, but a lot of the local community colleges offer intro marine bio, chemistry type classes and the like, and they don't all require that you've graduated high school, just can prove some basis of knowledge.. . I took intro classes on lotus notes and programming when I was 12. It didn't "feel" like school, and that actually changed my approach to other classes. Plus I had college credits, before I applied to college. Just saying...