What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[dnaelting]

My story starts with my folks. When I was knee high to a pleco, my folks had 2 fish tanks. A community tank and a guppy tank. One day my sister, who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty, cranked up the heater on the guppy tank. Hours later, cooked guppy smell awaited when we got home. Soon after the other tank was sold and we moved to Sunny Arizona.

To get a view of water, I started my own 29 [acronym:46d4c4028b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:46d4c4028b] tank when I was in high school. It was a nice community tank. Lasted 3 years until I had to go to college. **** education, always got in the way of life.

Fast forward several years, and the wife and I decided we wanted some kind of pet. Kids have allergies to EVERYTHING so we decided to go with fish.

I loved my freshwater as a kid, now my kids love the freshwater fish. They can feed them and take part in raising the fish.

I think saltwater fish are nice, but a lot more work and a lot more cash, at least for the fish I would want.

Now, we are just waiting to add the 3rd and 4th tanks to the home.

If I just had a little more space, we could do a really big tank....

[krazymom]

I have always loved fish, so peaceful. I have had betas (first was a hand me down oldie, second my 3 year old caught to look at , third still doing great! ) for years. I just set up a 55 gallon from a friend who wanted her wall space back about a week ago. Of course I'm learning about cycling and quarantine now...after stocking it with fish today!!!!!!!!!!!!! DUH, should have researched it before buying the fish. Wish me luck!!!!

PS. Thanks for having something like this here for us 'newbies' to learn from the masters!!!!

[gbmorrison]

I began the hobby innocently enough...I was intrigued by an 8-gallon hexagonal acrylic tank at a reduced price in a direct merchant catalog. The built-in filtration was, of course, inferior. Nevertheless, eventually, the biological filter finally kicked in. I was amazed at how good a biological filter is! I bought a heater and kept mostly tetras. I kept the tank a long time, but it became scratched and ugly and the fish outgrew it. I then got a conventional 10-[acronym:895ee8239d="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:895ee8239d]. tank with a power filter, undergravel filter, and powerhead, and kept goldfish, then later tropical fish. I felt this was too constraining, so I got the 29-[acronym:895ee8239d="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:895ee8239d]. tank with larger filters, a powerhead/undergravel filter, and polishing filter with another powerhead.

Foolishly, I tried to keep silver dollars, yet they lived a long time. I feel now I should have purchased a 55-[acronym:895ee8239d="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:895ee8239d]. or larger tank, but I did not want the system to dominate the living room. (Nowadays, one may purchase a 37-[acronym:895ee8239d="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:895ee8239d] tank with the same footprint as a 29-[acronym:895ee8239d="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:895ee8239d]. tank.)

I have a quiet area of the home where I started the 20H aquarium basically with tetras and other community fish, and a similar filter/powerhead setup. I really like the entrancement and enchantment of these fish! I now think it's best to have at least a 20-[acronym:895ee8239d="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:895ee8239d]. tank to reduce the aggravation of keeping tropical fish....

I've also decided at this point to resort to canister filters. Cleaning the power filters and powerheads (each of which always get scummy) automatically takes several hours, and it's something I've come to dread.... I have a feeling that I should have started with canisters with the 29-[acronym:895ee8239d="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:895ee8239d]. tank. Stores and websites push power filters and not canisters, however. Lack of knowledge cost me money and time....

I bought a shelter cat a few years ago. Amazingly, she doesn't bother the fish (go figure)! Aquariums are a fixture that can really beautify a home and add peace and serenity, but a cat can be a loving friend and companion. I'm lucky that they live harmoniously....

Finally, I've found that our OKC water is really (extremely) hard (general hardness)! (Duh!) That may be one reason that people here like Chiclids so much (Chiclids prefer hard (brackish) water). It is very difficult to get our water softened; gradually adding distilled water is the most effective thing to do that I know about.... I'm also using resin pillows, which are effective but tedious to use. As the water softens, the fish are more active and don't hide as much: They are happier.... I've heard about peat, but I think that's a little extreme. I should have worried about this indicator of water quality years ago as well as that of carbonate hardness (OKC water is a little weak in that area).

[mr86mister]

The first fish i remember was when i was about 6-9(not sure exactly what age) but i remember the elephant nose fish in my moms 29 [acronym:33d024898e="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:33d024898e] tank along with these really good looking tiger barbs, so she had to get rid of that and we moved and my mom bought another 20 gallon and stocked it with Cichlids and i was amazed on how awesome they looked

it was time to finally get my own tank, i had two 10 gallons in our old house stocked with guppies and platy's...then we moved again so i sold all of that and finally got a 3 gallon and 2 one gallons in the current house, after a while i got the opportunity to get a 10 gallon from my g/f's aunt for a trade with a hamster, so now i have a 10 gallon, 3 1 gallons, a 3 gallon and my mom is thinking of getting a 55, talk about [acronym:33d024898e="Malaysian Trumpet Snails or Multiple Tank Syndrome, depending on context"]MTS[/acronym:33d024898e]

[Elmware]

When I was little, like about three or four, my Aunt used to have wall-to-wall rooms filled with aquariums of all shapes and sizes.

I got a 15 Gal. tank for Christmas when I was 15, and sold it later.

What got me back into fish was when one day at work, the people occupying the office above us were relocating, and I guess they didn't want to be bothered with moving their fish tank, so they came down and asked me if I wanted an aquarium with a fish. The tank was a 15 Gal. So I took the fish home, and wanted to add some more fish in the tank, but as I was looking up what kind of fish I had, it turned out to be an African Cichlid, which most of you probably know how highly territorial and aggressive they are. Well I still wanted more fish, so I bought another tank from PetsMart. They have good deals on 10 Gal. starter kits which even come with a heater. Most starter kits here don't usually come with heaters. When my Marigold Swordtails had babies, I went and bought another 10 Gal. tank.

The cichlid is still living and doing well. I had him since probably February or March this year.

[Blizzard]

Errm...I'm not quite sure how it started, but I sure do want one!

[Reefmonkey]

I vaguely remember my dad keeping a 20 gallon saltwater tank in the late 70s- early 80s when I was 3-4 years old, and then my brother I got 5 gallon freshwater tank when I was in kindergarten. We got a house on Galveston Island when I was in second grade, and I would spend my summers down there catching whatever fish I could and keeping them around to play with. In 4th grade, I got my first 10 gallon tank, then it was given to my older brother when I was in 5th grade, and I got the 5 gallon again, because I also got a pet gerbil that year. Then I think in 7th grade I got another 10 gallon, and got my first freshwater puffer, and I think that is when I really got hooked on fish. My freshman year of high school I started keeping small aquariums down in Galveston to keep whatever fish I caught for longer periods. My junior year of highschool I got a 20 gallon saltwater setup. My mom maintained it for me for a couple of years in college (while I had a 10 gallon freshwater setup, I think african cichlids), then I moved the 20 up to college and made it an african cichlid tank, and kept it that way until 2003, when I bought a 55 gallon, and set it up as a saltwater tank. Man, did that tank give me problems, and even when I had it set up the way I wanted it, it just didn't give me the same aesthetic joy as the cichlid setups always had, so after a year I took it down (I was moving in with my now-wife anyway) and set it up as an african cichlid tank. So, you see, I can't imagine life without an aquarium as I have had one all my life, and can't say I made a real conscious effort to get into the hobby, I was born into it, but I can say the moment that I decided I would always be a freshwater hobbiest, and not be seduced any longer by the saltwater side.

[Codefox]

I remember getting started with freshwater with my first fishtank. I got a little 1/2 gallon hex tank for my 7th birthday from a friend. I've been obsessed with fish ever since. I had that tank for about 6 or 7 years. My family added a little 5 gallon tank in the living room during that time as well. Finally, when I got a little money for my Bar Mitzvah, I got a 20 gallon tank for my room. After a brief period with a community tank, I started getting interested in cichlids, especially the rift lakes. I spent my high school years raising cichlids in there, and finally, just before I graduated, was breeding convicts (ok, granted, that's not very hard, but nothing is more fun to watch than cichlid parenting!)

My parents caught my aquarium bug and got a 20 gallon hex tank for my mom, which was basically set down in the living room with the expectation I'd set it all up. When I went off to college, the 20 gallon tank was sent to Goodwill since it would be a while before I could have a tank again. Finally, now that I've graduated, I'm working on setting up my new 55 gallon tank as an Amazon tank. Will I go saltwater one day? Probably...but I really find the things you can do with freshwater a lot of fun!

[ripvanrina]

It was a dark and stormy night...
my sister found a goldfish bowl in the attic - and before I knew it we were off to the [acronym:a9a33e5f61="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:a9a33e5f61] hand picking feeder goldfish and ignoring the poor employee's warnings that goldfish get huge and won't live in stagnant water.
who cares? we just spent $0.45 and had something to occupy us for the long weekend
got friends involved, and soon there were goldfish in bowls, vases and the like all over
1-2 weeks later, there were dead and dying feeder fish in bowls, vases and the like all over
now I really like animals, and I really like to do things correctly, so this failure really upset me. I suited up and ventured into the crawl space under my house and pulled from the spidery depths my dad's old 25g aquarium and equipment. Then I signed up for AA and researched, researched, researched and now have a fully stocked, successful tropical setup with no casualties to speak of

thanks AA!

[Emg]

Well....my daughter made me do it....lol....she wanted a fish tank for Christmas back in 2003..so I bought her a 10 gallon setup with everything in it to get started...since I didn't have a clue what it needed.

We had fun looking for fish to stock it with....then she talked me into buying a betta. I kept putting her off because We couldn't put it in the 10 gallon with the other fish and would have to get ANOTHER tank just for the betta. I relented....and about a zillion bettas and fish later.....I am now into community tanks, vivariums, newts, poison dart frogs....have bred one batch of betta fish (over 200 fry OMGosh)...successfully bred and raised a batch of german blue rams and am now taking care of about 40 halfblack pastel guppy fry....I don't even want to get into trying to count how many tanks I have.....but the largest is only 29 gallons....so far....

If she only knew...my daughter would NEVER have asked for that tank !! [acronym:0f201fb96b="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:0f201fb96b]