What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[pcbarr]

oops

[lex]

My parents always had a fish tank. Thier fist was a 15gal hex with three or four angels in it. I remember feeding them when Mom wasn't looking... of course I fed them too much and got in trouble a couple times when I was little. hehe.

Later, I think after I had killed the angels, (oh well) we got three goldfish who lived in a 10gal aquarium. Dad put me in charge of water changes and top offs. (Which I hated at the time, and couldn't wait for these new fish to die) To my despair they lived for a good 8 years I think, then finally kicked the bucket.

Once I got out of the house and married I realized I don't dislike fish as much as I thought and have two tanks of my own. Someday I will have a reef, but that's a long way off yet. Happily enough, my husband fully supports my fish keeping hobby as long as he doesn't have to do any of the maintanace.

[noteworthy]

Fish are very peaceful and fun just to watch.

Only now if I could get my cats to get along with my fish

One of my cats will sit for hours and watch the fish and turn his head.. side to side. heh.. Another likes to jump up top and stick their paw where the opening is on the filter

I'll have to make something to block off that space

[Endgame319]

I hate to admit it, but it was the finding nemo movie

[shawmutt]

I hate to admit it, but it was the finding nemo movie

Hey, at least you didn't run out, buy a 5 gallon aquarium and some sea salt and throw a clown fish in!

[tommiejr]

Now here is a fish story you won't belive!

I got into tanks many years ago to learn one thing. How to CATCH more fish! Yes that is right, how to catch more fish. I was big into competition crappie fishing. I wanted to learn as much about crappie as I could. I decided to set up the biggest fish tank I could find (a 55gal) and put 4 wild crappie in it. Bought a few books on rasing fish and figured out how to keep them alive. I never tried to actually catch "my" fish, rather I would just sit and watch them for hours trying to learn as much about them as I could. I would feed them live minnows from the lfs and watch how they took their prey. Learnded quit a bit. This all came to an end when a friend of mine who was also a local game warden came over. He informed me that keeping live game fish was illegal in NC. So my crappie went back to the wild where they came from.

I soon started missing my fish. I decided to set up a real tank. Started out going straight for the SA chiclids. Closest thing to what I had before. It was not to long, maybe a few years, that I had five 55 gal going. 4 SA chiclids and 1 african.

That was almost 20 years ago. I no longer do any competetion fishing, but I still love watching my fish. I now have 1 fresh tank with a few bigger chiclids and a 2000 gal koi pond that we are expanding right now to include a creek and secondary pond of about 1000 gal.

Maybe one of these days I will try salt but for now, the water I have is enough work on it owns.

Tommie in NC

Many years ago I got into FW fish cause I really liked the whole creativity aspect of it and thought that many of the fish were amusing and full of personality.

[ttimmer10]

I'm studying fish in college... actually about to graduate in May (YEAH), but have always been interested in nature, fish, and ecology. So, having a tank seemed like a logical step.
I find they are really peaceful to watch, and a satisfying hobby.
Like noteworthy above, I have a dog that will sit and stare at the tank for hours, she never really bothers them too much just watches them.. I think she finds them peaceful too (heeheehee).
I want to add a saltwater tank of some kind eventually, but will always have my FW tank

[coldsteel]

Well, here goes:
about 5 years back(when I was about 10), I went to a little carnival at my school. I played the little game where you toss the ping pong ball into the fishbowl, and I won a goldfish. I went up to the pet store to redeem the ticket, and the owner said he was going out of buisness, and he would give me a few fish; I was elated. I got them home, and the next day the first of them died. Well, before I knew it I was down to 1 fish, all by it's lonesome in a 1 gallon fish bowl. To my surprise, it lived about a year and a half until it grew too big for the bowl and jumped out into the nearby laundry basket. I was very upset until my sister in law told me, that since she was moving, she would give me her 10 gallon tank. Again, I was elated. It included 2 little tetras, a rainbow, and a pleco. Well, now I have a 56 gallon that i bought from my uncle for $20, and I am addicted.

[breezer40]

Just before x mas me and the wife went into one of the big pet stores to buy some cat food. The wife went up to the fish tanks so I followed (not knowing what freshwater fish were!). In one of the tanks there was a suckermouth catfish ... I fell instantly in love (with the fish). We came out of there with a complete 2 ft setup tank and a couple of books.

4 weeks later I brought my first fishes..Danios..then added 3 Platys but still I earned for one of those sucker things.

The guy in the store saw me so often we were on first name terms and the wife evetually let me buy a bigger tank. The best bit was this guy at the store was getting rid of his plec as it had outgrown his 2 ft tank and asked me if I would adopt it at no cost you bet! Pluto (the plec) is now 4 ins and looking very handsome.. I am now a total fish fanatic!