Skip to Content
Home » Decoration » Current Page

11 Aquarium Gifts You Can Give as a Christmas Present

Finding aquarium gifts can be a difficult mission. What should you get? Do they have it already? Will they like it? I am sure you recognize these questions. At least I do.

Some of the best aquarium gifts include marimo moss balls, glass algae magnets, decorative air pumps, a thermometer, a gift card, some fish food, and so much more!

Let me help you with some inspiration. Here are 11 gift ideas you can give to an aquarium fanatic and to any aquarium hobbyists.

1. Marimo Moss Balls

11 Aquarium Gifts You Can Give as a Christmas Present

The first present on this list are marimo moss balls, and they make for great purchases. These are super soft balls of moss that do well in any freshwater aquarium.

They are the perfect gift for someone who has an aquarium, and they often come in a kit, because they help are beautiful, you can not have too many of them and they help clean the aquarium water a little just like any other live plant.

Moss balls are available on Amazon and they work well for most fish tanks. They are not that expensive, you can check them out here. They make for a great beginner gift, plus they even help reduce the need to do a water change so often!

2. Glass Algae Magnet

11 Aquarium Gifts You Can Give as a Christmas Present

The second gift is an algae cleaning magnet, a great option for any aquarist and aquarium lover alike. These magnets are super convenient to have, because they allow to to clean the inside of the glass without putting your hands in the water.

If you want to buy this gift for someone, make sure they do not already have one. To find out without them knowing, ask them how their aquarium is doing and if you can see it.

They will like that you show interest, and if you casually ask how they clean algae of the glass them will definitely tell if they have one of these magnets. It’s a great idea because it helps take the load off your filters too!

You can find the magnet on Amazon here.

3. Air Pump with Decoration

11 Aquarium Gifts You Can Give as a Christmas Present

Chances are that you have seen these decorations before. It might have been a car opening the bonnet of the car, or maybe a treasure chest that opens regularly. They are a lot of fun to look at.

These things can be a fun present to give to someone that has an aquarium, and it reduces the worry of not having enough air in the tank.

To find them on Amazon, check out this link. However, keep in mind that the air pump itself is not included. If you want to give the complete package, you will need to buy that one as well. The “frequently bought together” suggestion is a fine options.

4. Thermometer

A convenient piece of equipment for the aquarium hobby is a thermometer, because it is important to keep an eye on the water temperature as you can image.

If you know that the person you are shopping for does not own a thermometer or is currently using an analog one, a digital thermometer will make them very happy. It is super easy to read the temperature.

A really popular one that gets a lot of good reviews on Amazon is this one here. Find out what the best aquarium thermometers are right here!

5. Santa Decoration

11 Aquarium Gifts You Can Give as a Christmas Present

Number five already, Christmas decorations! We all decorate our homes with all kind of decorations, so how cool would it be if you could also decorate your aquarium.

Because not everything is suitable to put in your aquarium, these dedicated Christmas decorations are a great gift to give for the festive season.

To find these online, click here. They have more that just a Christmas tree.

6. Moss Christmas Tree Set

11 Aquarium Gifts You Can Give as a Christmas Present

Now I can image this gift to be a suuuper fun gift, but it is a bit of an experiment. Why? Because it requires the person to grow their own tree from moss in their aquarium. Aquarium plants are always great!

Growing the tree is probably quite a challenge, with the chance of the tree dying or not growing at all. This is only a good gift if you know the person likes to experiment and try things. Also, if the person already has a lot of real plants in their aquarium you know that they have experience keeping plants in their tank.

Before you head over to Amazon, I want you to know that the moss is not included. This has been a bummer to some people who bought it, so therefore I am telling you in advance.

If you are unsure whether they have their own moss in their aquarium already, you can buy some at your local fish/pet store.

Alright, check out the trees on Amazon here.

7. A Beautiful Book

Something that I know almost all people keeping an aquarium will appreciate is a nice book that has a lot of images. Looking at other aquariums is something of a guilty pleasure, a bit like people that are into gardening looking at other peoples gardens.

Now because keeping an aquarium has been around for so long, you can often find a lot of books on it in the used books section. That is where I normally look. Also, I think this is fun skimming through a lot of older books.

If you choose to head out to find an aquarium book, make sure you choose one that has a lot of images in them. This can be images of fish, plants or entire tanks.

As you probably have noticed I have recommended a specific product with a link to where to buy it in the rest of the article. I have chosen not to do this here, because I got all my books from a second hand store and they are all in Dutch (I’m from the Netherlands).

I will order some English books in the future to read them, so I can add a recommendation for you. For now, I recommend doing the same as I did: go out and find a book with beautiful pictures.

8. A Pillow or Plush

There are a lot of children out there that have an aquarium for themselves. If you are looking for an aquarium present for a kid, chances are high that you did not find anything of interest in the previous ideas.

Therefore, I want to add this option.

For a child, I would recommend getting a fish plush. There are different plushes online, so if you are lucky there is one of the species that they are actually keeping. That would be best without a doubt.

The picture above is this plush from Amazon, and is called a betta fish. It is rather popular to keep in smaller tanks, so maybe they are keeping a similar fish?

9. Funny Water Bottle

11 Aquarium Gifts You Can Give as a Christmas Present

This water bottle looks fishy. Alright I said it, and making jokes in a blogpost probably is not super effective. Oh well.

The 9th gift on my list of potential gifts is this water bottle with a whole bunch of goldfish on them. It looks really funny to me, and it will also be a gift that someone will use every day.

It is a very practical gift.

Also, you are helping to reduce plastic waste when someone is still carrying disposable store bought water. If you give them this it might encourage them to refill this bottle instead of cracking open another disposable one.

If you are looking to buy this bottle, which I think can make someone very happy, check out this link on Amazon.

10. Live Food / Frozen Food

For this gift, you need to know what kind of fish the person is keeping. If they are only keeping some shrimp and snails in a small tank, getting live food will not do them any good.

Instead, try and see if they have small fish swimming around. Because if they do, getting live food like daphnia (water flea) will be a good idea. Frozen food can also be a good option.

If you plan on getting them some food, go to your local fish store and ask them what they recommend. They will probably expect you to know exactly what kind of fish you are buying them for. Just tell them that you do not know.

After that they will definitely ask you if it is freshwater or saltwater. This is something you do have to find out. So set loose your inner Sherlock Holmes and find out beforehand. Casually asking them will probably suffice.

11. Gift Card

And finally, when you know that you want to get something related to their aquarium but you do not know what, getting a gift card from their favorite store might just do the job, and it works as a good birthday present too.

If you know to what store they are going, go there and ask them if they sell gift cards. I am 99% sure they probably do.

Going this route will allow them to spend the money on their aquarium but at the same time buying something they really need. This might be something that we could not have thought off, or it was something on this list. They one thing you know for sure is that they will be happy with it.

Conclusion

To conclude, I know that it can be hard to find gifts for someone. But now you know that their passions is keeping fish, I hope you found some inspiration in the ideas in this article. Other ideas for the best gifts for a fishkeeper include ornaments, a heater, an automatic fishfeeder, new gravel, some live plants, fish food pellets, new substrate, a bottle of beneficial bacteria, corals, pump reservoirs, and so much more!

Let me know what you got them and if they liked it by sending a mail to bart@aquariumgenius.com.

Have a nice day! And depending on the time you read this: merry Christmas and a happy new year!

References:
Banner image – Author: Susanne Nilsson Licensed under: CC2.0 No changes made