What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[OhNeil1969]

My parents got me my first tank (a 10 gallon set up from Woolworth's - guess I'm showing my age) when I was about 5 years old. I remember just sitting in front of the tank watching the fish and pretending that I was watching them live in the ocean. As I got older and went away to school the hobby fell to the wayside. For years, however, I would tell my wife stories about that fish tank and how it inspired me while growing (up until my junior year of high school I was sure I was going to be an oceanographer and follow in the steps of Jacques Cousteau). I guess my wife got tired of hearing the same stories over and over again and decided I needed a new tank so I could have something new to talk about. So 3 Christmas' ago that was the big box under the tree with my name on it, a TopFin 30 starter tank. Since then, even to my own surprise, I've jumped head first back into the hobby. Admittedly, I've learned that I really didn't know squat about properly maintaining an aquarium. It seems like everything I remembered about fish from a child was either wrong or outdated. But that is what makes the hobby that much more fun this time around. Not only do I get to admire the beauty of a well set up tank, but I get to enjoy the sense of accomplishment when I test my tank's water and the choices I've made are working. And you know what? I still sit in front of the tank and pretend I'm in the ocean watching the fish in their natural element.

 

[xATLxBRAVESx]

My parents had a 20 gallon freshwater tank when i was young i was super fasinated by it. But sence then iv had 2 betas and a 55 gallon with 2 sucker fish over 12'' each. Plus some zebras and goldfish. Now i have a 5 gallon, 29gallon, and a beta tank w/ one crowntail beta. Im planning on getting another 55gallon soon, anyways thats my story.

 

[breedinggoldfish]

I fell in love with all types of goldfish at first, and I also enjoyed watching a friend of mine breeding goldfish, and I tried it myself. It was really fun... And so I decided that I should be a fish hobbyist myself. I'm starting to like bettas these days too. They're really beautiful.

 

[WendiDell]

How I got started with Freshwater Fish

I have an unusual beginning into Freshwater Fish.
Seven years ago I went to a Lab in Portland,Or. to have Blood drawn. In the waiting room they had a huge Freshwater Tank with a lot of different kinds of fish.
But what caught my eye were 3 common Plecos. 2of them were close to 2' long and the 3rd was a little over 6".
When I saw the Plecos I thought, My grandson (Casey) would love that fish, it looks so prehistoric. So I asked everyone in the lab what it was, no one knew. But, they said "If you really like them, take one". I didn't know anything about the fish or cycling a tank or not putting a fish in a brand new setup.
So I said, Sure, like an Idiot. I chose the smaller Pleco and they put him in a big bowl.
I drove the hour and a half it takes to get home In the middle of a storm with a fish in a bowl. I stopped at Walmart on the way and picked up a 10 gallon tank(lol) .
Casey loved the Pleco, so we named him Eddy Fisher and I set up the tank and put him in it.
Then I proceeded to find out what kind of fish he was. What a shock, when I found out how big Eddy was going to get. I immediately started looking into larger tanks.
Shock again when I found out how much large tanks & stands costs.
A few months later I found a 55 gallon tank/stand with all the stuff on Craigslist for $115.00, delivered.
That tank is now our Cichlid tank and we have another 55 gallon Tank with 4 Tinfoil Barbs. We still have the 10 gallon tank as a QT and we also have a 5 gallon hosp. tank, So 1 fish has now grown into 4 tanks and a hobby is now a full time addiction.
But we all love to just sit and watch our fish for hours.
Aquariums are so peaceful and they have a calming effect on all 3 of us.
We have 10 African Cichlids, 2 XL Blue Gouramis, 4 Tinfoil Barbs, 1 Bushynose Pleco, and 1 Common Pleco. All of them have names, to many to list here.
And I can't wait until Casey is old enough to help with the tank maintenance. He just turned 10, he was only 4 when we got Eddy Fisher.
Unfortunately we lost Eddy and all the other fish we had at that time to an ick infestation, from the first spot to the death of the last fish was 8 hours. At that time we had never heard of ick. I made it my mission to find out all I could about ick so I would never loose another fish to ick, so far so good.
I would get bigger tanks but, I'd have to put my couch in the garage to make room.
That's my fish story

 

[mandy2936]

Very nice, WendiDell!
Good to hear that you learned from your mistakes.
Fish keeping gets so addicting, doesn't it? haha

 

[WendiDell]

Very nice, WendiDell!
Good to hear that you learned from your mistakes.
Fish keeping gets so addicting, doesn't it? haha

Thank you.
I just wish my learning wasn't at the expense of some great fish.
I started out with the smaller breeds like Green Tiger Barbs, Cherry Barbs, German Blue Rams, Dwarf Gouramis, And Neon Tetras.
It was the Neon's that brought ick into my tank and killed everyone. Which if I had know about QT, it wouldn't have happened.
Now I'm into some larger fish. If I could afford it, I'd get a 120-150 gallon tank and have a larger school of Tinfoil Barbs and A few large Plecos.
The 4 Tinfoil Barbs I have are relatively small, 4-5". But, they have so much personality. The same with my Cichlids, they are such individual characters.
At this point I'd have to say "Hello my name is Wendi and I am an Aquarium Aholic and I'm so happy I found AA".
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ALL

 

[ChelseaLake]

I love love love animals. My mom kept saltwater tanks for many years, and after the sad, expected death of her father in December of 08, she suddenly stopped. The house was never the same without aquaria. Something just felt off.

Late last year, I went to a Chinese restaurant, and asked the guy working what kind of fish he keeps in his indoor pond. He kept several kinds, and we got to talking about how he comes in early on weekends to clean the coins out (stupid kids keep throwing them in despite the signs), and how much joy they bring him. He let me watch him feed them, and I was amazed by the beauty and grace of his goldfish.

I did a TON of research, and finally decided on starting a tank of my own. I started with guppies at the recommendation of a friend online, and they're still kicking today. After setting up my guppy tank, I decided that I wanted to tackle goldfish (that sounds hilarious!).

I started with an old 10g tank I had, cycled it, and bought a large, beautiful Black Moor, whom I named Mai. She thrived in the environment I had created for her, and I taught her to hand feed, which made me fall madly in love with her. A couple of weeks later, I came across a 29g, threw down the cash, cycled it, and moved her into the 29g, and added a friend for her. I got a golden telescope, and named her Pei. Both are hand-feeding now, and I'm about to buy a 55g strictly for fancy goldfish.

I'm constantly on the go. My life is very fast, very hard, and it doesn't stop coming at me. Keeping a FW aquarium allows me to slow down, connect to nature, and become calm. Calm and happy. I truly feel as if nothing we as humans create could ever be as beautiful or fascinating as what nature has given us, and after keeping fish, I think I've finally come to realize this.

As an aside, I suffer from debilitating depression and a recurring eating disorder. The only form of therapy that has worked thus far has been aquarium keeping. I'm not sure if it's the intellectual challenge, the beauty of the creatures I am caring for, or something else, but it works. It helps me suppress those negative feelings...something I absolutely must do in order to perform my function as an EMT properly. I love my underwater world. Not sure if I'm ever going to come back up

 

[Tim Wheatley]

My earliest memory is of a fish tank, it's like a single image and I can see motion of Red, Orange (Platies/Swordfish) and green (plants)... I'm not sure if anybody else's brain works like mine, but I often see images of things I see in large detail, and this is probably the earliest: My mother tells me they only had a fish tank until I was about 9 months old. She was amazed I had memory of it when I told her about it.

I've wanted to keep fish my whole life, was not able to until after I moved from the UK (where I am from) to the USA and settled in Massachusetts with my wife (who is from Illinois). I had read about fish for years before I started.

We moved (with the fish) to Illinois in 2009 and I added six more tanks to the collection. Most of my tanks have fish which I intend to mix and put in a planned 475 gallon tank I want within a couple of years. I want a specially built one (I think from glasscages.com) which follows the dimensions of 24x24 then obviously extremely long. Plenty of braces required. Should be fun.

Anyway, so I guess why I wanted one was because of a childhood memory.

 

[Rokuzachi]

Two parts to this one for me... a then and a now

When I was about eight I was regularly looked after at an Aunt's house. They had a large aquarium in their living room that had a Tiger Oscar in it. I always enjoyed watching him and feeding him grasshoppers.

About six years after that, my friend's parents were selling an aquarium. My memories of that Oscar all came back, and when I heard about the tank and stand for sale I jumped on it with all of my saved allowance

It was a 55, I later added a 29, three 10's and a 5 to my collection after confirmation from my father that our 80 year old house could handle the weight in one spot. Later I replaced all of it with a 125. But, when I moved across the country, I had to sell it all. Then there was a decade or so where I didn't keep an aquarium for various reasons.

My re-entry into the hobby was at the behest of spotting a tank that would fit perfectly for some open space I had. Then I was at LFS and I saw this legion of Hoplosternum littorale, ranging from 2-4 inches. They had maybe 12 or 15 tanks on this one wall, and in half of them there were these packs of at least 3 zooming around the tank, snarfling for truffles and completely ignoring their various tankmates.

I saw them and was like "Oh yea, I need an aquarium. Now. And those are going to be in it."

I knew I wanted a tank, but seeing those silly catfish at the store turned my 'maybe in 6 months' daydream into a fevered search for the best deals around town so I could get my stuff together and start cycling the thing

 

[WendiDell]

I love love love animals. My mom kept saltwater tanks for many years, and after the sad, expected death of her father in December of 08, she suddenly stopped. The house was never the same without aquaria. Something just felt off.

Late last year, I went to a Chinese restaurant, and asked the guy working what kind of fish he keeps in his indoor pond. He kept several kinds, and we got to talking about how he comes in early on weekends to clean the coins out (stupid kids keep throwing them in despite the signs), and how much joy they bring him. He let me watch him feed them, and I was amazed by the beauty and grace of his goldfish.

I did a TON of research, and finally decided on starting a tank of my own. I started with guppies at the recommendation of a friend online, and they're still kicking today. After setting up my guppy tank, I decided that I wanted to tackle goldfish (that sounds hilarious!).

I started with an old 10g tank I had, cycled it, and bought a large, beautiful Black Moor, whom I named Mai. She thrived in the environment I had created for her, and I taught her to hand feed, which made me fall madly in love with her. A couple of weeks later, I came across a 29g, threw down the cash, cycled it, and moved her into the 29g, and added a friend for her. I got a golden telescope, and named her Pei. Both are hand-feeding now, and I'm about to buy a 55g strictly for fancy goldfish.

I'm constantly on the go. My life is very fast, very hard, and it doesn't stop coming at me. Keeping a FW aquarium allows me to slow down, connect to nature, and become calm. Calm and happy. I truly feel as if nothing we as humans create could ever be as beautiful or fascinating as what nature has given us, and after keeping fish, I think I've finally come to realize this.

As an aside, I suffer from debilitating depression and a recurring eating disorder. The only form of therapy that has worked thus far has been aquarium keeping. I'm not sure if it's the intellectual challenge, the beauty of the creatures I am caring for, or something else, but it works. It helps me suppress those negative feelings...something I absolutely must do in order to perform my function as an EMT properly. I love my underwater world. Not sure if I'm ever going to come back up

First, Happy Valentines Day to all.

Next, I very sorry to hear about your depression, It's quite a monster to carry around.
My daughter suffers from sever depression. There are times when she needs to be watched 24/7, to save her from her self. And there are other times when she's almost her old self again. She also suffers with major GAD,
that often prevents her from being able to leave the house. Then to make life harder, her son has Aspergers Syndrome. Which makes him easily overwhelmed by almost everything.
To top it all off I was injured at work 8 1/2 years and 5 back surgeries ago.
My life is full of stress and if it weren't for our Aquariums I think I to would drown under the weight of it all.
We got the 1st Aquarium to help my Grandson calm himself when things got to be to much for him. But, it wasn't long before we all were spending any free time just starring into the Aquariums.
I so agree with you that Aquariums are a kind of Sanctuary. The Aquarium has helped my grandson on numerous occasions. But it really has helped my Daughter with her depression. Like you our fish have been better therapy for her than all the medication and psycho babble combined.
On the very rare occasion that I'm alone, I spend the time with our fish, or here on AA (lol).
I know how much having Aquariums has helped my family. I'm happy to hear that your Aquarium gives you some peace.
Best of luck to you and your fish.
Wendi

 

[Owl307]

When I was young My mother and I set up a fish tank. Only a ten gallon. I loved it! We had guppys and the guppys had guppys and so on... But we had to shut it down. Now A few years ago I remembered that wonderful memory and have had fish since

 

[OhNeil1969]

When I was young My mother and I set up a fish tank. Only a ten gallon. I loved it! We had guppys and the guppys had guppys and so on... But we had to shut it down. Now A few years ago I remembered that wonderful memory and have had fish since

Welcome back to the world of fish!

 

[WendiDell]

When I was young My mother and I set up a fish tank. Only a ten gallon. I loved it! We had guppys and the guppys had guppys and so on... But we had to shut it down. Now A few years ago I remembered that wonderful memory and have had fish since

That's a great reason to start fish keeping. Are you still keeping guppies? Or are you trying something new?

 

[celticfan]

I used to have a fishtank we got from my mums friend when I was about 8. It was about 55 gallons, from memory and only had 4 fish in it, one black eel like algae eater, 1 big goldfish and two small goldfish. It was cold water and its funny all the things i know now, when i used to clean it about once a month i put the fish into the bath, emptied all the water out the tank scrubbed the whole inside of the tank and the stones and the filter then put it all back and put the fish back in. Never added any stuff into the water or did pwc or nothing and we had the fish who were all fine for about 2 years. Then we moved and gave them the tank back, it's about 11 years since we gave them it back and the big goldfish and the black eel like one are still alive.

Now I don't really know why I started again, my girlfriend of about 8 months now has one in her room so it could be that and my uncle has one who I was working with so it could be that too. I just seemed to wake up one day in December there and decide to get one.

I originally got 2 bala sharks and 3 scissortail rasboras but the balas didnt seem too happy so i gave them to my uncle who had them already about a week later. I then got 2 platies a couple of days later, then about a month later got a bronze cory, another platy and 4 buenos aires tetra and have had them all for about 10/12 weeks now. The female platy is pregnant.

Just remembered I moved house about 2 weeks before I bought it so it was probably that and that I had been seeing fish a lot at my uncles and gfs before.

 

[Bettababe1011]

I have had bettas, and I caught a very serious case of MTS...

I have to have another tank. I'm getting a twenty five gallon for FREE from a friend. She had fish, they eventually died, she doesn't want the tank anymore.

I'm getting some fish after a FISHLESS cycle, and I can't wait!!

That is my story. It's not much, but it is what it is.

Damon Salvatore is awesome. Enough said.

 

[Owl307]

Welcome back to the world of fish!

thanks!

 

[Owl307]

That's a great reason to start fish keeping. Are you still keeping guppies? Or are you trying something new?

No but my sister still is. I do have amecas though.My main tanks has killifish, amecas, and kribensis,crayfish all living peacfully together. I have a 40g as my main tank a ten gallon to breed the killifhish and then a few back up tanks. I would love another big tank even bigger than the 40g but i'll have to wait awhile.

 

[WendiDell]

No but my sister still is. I do have amecas though.My main tanks has killifish, amecas, and kribensis,crayfish all living peacfully together. I have a 40g as my main tank a ten gallon to breed the killifhish and then a few back up tanks. I would love another big tank even bigger than the 40g but i'll have to wait awhile.

WOW!!! When you decide to start something, you don't start small. Most people get 1 tank, get addicted to the hobby, then get a few more. Looks like you knew what you wanted.
Not a criticism, being decisive is a good thing, have fun.

 

[Owl307]

WOW!!! When you decide to start something, you don't start small. Most people get 1 tank, get addicted to the hobby, then get a few more. Looks like you knew what you wanted.
Not a criticism, being decisive is a good thing, have fun.

Thats fine. I love love fish. Yes i do know what i wanted but it took a long time to decide what fish i actually wanted. I have a 125 gallon in the basement that i was gonna put ciclids in but then i didn't because one of my friends 125 just burst and they have to get all new carpeting. I think the biggest i'll go is a 75 or 90 but hey you never know with me! Current list 1 dog, 2 rats 1 hampster tons of fish! I've also had gerbils other hampsters birds geckoes snakes gunie pigs but i have narrowed it down to rats and fish that i have grown to like the best. By the way rats are like minni dogs they are amazing pets

 

[WendiDell]

Thats fine. I love love fish. Yes i do know what i wanted but it took a long time to decide what fish i actually wanted. I have a 125 gallon in the basement that i was gonna put ciclids in but then i didn't because one of my friends 125 just burst and they have to get all new carpeting. I think the biggest i'll go is a 75 or 90 but hey you never know with me! Current list 1 dog, 2 rats 1 hampster tons of fish! I've also had gerbils other hampsters birds geckoes snakes gunie pigs but i have narrowed it down to rats and fish that i have grown to like the best. By the way rats are like minni dogs they are amazing pets

They really are. When my daughter was little we had pet rat named George. Short of wagging his tail, he was a lot like a dog, and just as smart.
I envy your mini Menagerie. We use to have a house full of all kinds of animals. Dog, Cats, Rabbits, Wolves, and a Parakeet.
Bur I was injured at work.. Aug. 2002. So I had to cut back on the pets.
So for now it's just fish keeping. But what started out as 1 Common Pleco, given to me for my then almost 4 year old Grandson and 1 tank. Is now 2 55 g tanks a 10g Qt and a 5g Hosp. tank and with 14 Cichlids, 4 Tinfoil Barbs, i common Pleco and 1 Bushynose/Bristlenose Pleco, and 1 XL Gouramis named General Grant. Actually they all have names. It kind of became a tradition after we named our first Pleco, Eddie Fisher.
We are working at getting a service dog for my Grandson. The only hang up is our Landlady.