What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[lynda orourke]

I had a dream about setting up a large tank in the living room, it was a good dream so I desided to go a get one for real. I got a little 25l cold water tank whichI planted up and put kept a couple of fancy goldfish in. That was all good for a year or so but then they got ich and died. I was talking about my fish problems at work and my boss said he had a 150l tank and fish he wanted to get rid of, so now I have the tank from my dream.

[Loachie]

I've always loved animals, but never tried keeping fish (I didn't think they were interactive enough, LOL). When I went to college, it was my first time without any pets. I couldn't stand it, so I asked the dorm supervisor if I could keep something small. His reply, "If it can last 30 minutes underwater, you can keep it." He thought that was a clever way to say that only fish were allowed, but I took it as a challenge. I tried keeping a crawdad in a 2 gallon tank, but I was doing water changes every other day. So, I drove 3 hours to illegally purchase a turtle (selling live turtles is illegal in many Southeastern US states, due to salmonella fears). I felt very cool, having a contraband pet and I had two turtles for about 5 years. When they outgrew their 10 gallon tank, I put a goldfish in it. The goldfish had more personality than the turtles, and ended up having its own 29 gallon tank. I've had fish ever since. Now, 8 years later, I have a 29 gallon planted tank. When my newborn son cries, I put the rocking chair in front of the tank and he stares at the fish while I rock him. A new generation fish-lover!

[ShawnKaizen]

Aquarium fish keeping has a long history and has been a relaxing hobby for centuries. The ancient Chinese is the first civilization thought to have kept aquarium fish for ornamental purposes. Even earlier than the Chinese though, civilizations were keeping plenty of fish in various types of holding containers for food purposes. We've come along way since then and hopefully we can help others enjoy this great hobby

[robertselbe]

My son wanted fish and we bought him a ten gallon. Updated to a 29 gallon after the cicihilds were born. Then his Gourami got sick, so we had to go and get another 10 gallon to keep him alive. In the mean time, I thought I would surprise everyone by buying a 75 gallon. To be honest - I have no idea what I am doing. I have been reading to get educated. What our children get us into - what is cool is he has enjoyed watching the babies grow. Even though I have no idea what I am going to do with them.

[wims590]

i always wanted fish, i used to go down to the fish market with my grandad when i was younger in the little fishing town i grew up in peterhead, Scotland, i used to go around kissing all the fish..i know its gross!!
then i had two goldfish..spot and rover when i was around 5ish
then i had two fan tails..lance and rashid
then i had another 2 fantails ...dick and dom
then i thought i would like a big tank with exciting fish so i got my 260ltr.
i have always love going swimming with fish , really fascinated with them, went swimming with rays and sharks before and just really enjoy being around water and fish for some reason lol its so calming and relaxing.

[JesseL]

When I was a child, One of the foster families I lived with had A 10 gal. tank with orange swortails. I used to sit and watch the fish. They facinatated me. When I saw live babies come out ,I was hooked. It was years untill I got out on my own (I was passed around a lot in foster homes and group homes for kids without a home) so I could start getting my own tanks, but I never forgot that and aways said when I grow up I'mm going to to have an aquarium with swordtails just like I remembered.Over the years I've had many. When I was single I had tanks in every room. I am facinated with how different fish live, the details of water quality and how natural biolgical filtration works. I LOVE IT !!!!!!!!

[AndrewH]

A few co-workers of mine have reef tanks, and that's all they would ever talk about in the beginning I didn't quite understand what was so great about it... but after awhile it sounded pretty interesting. One day I saw a 10 gallon tank combo for sale pretty cheap and decided to pick it up. I knew nothing about fish keeping so I decided to do some research and learned fresh water was much much easier (which I already figured). After some research I set it up and bought 4 tetras and since then I have had several fish and haven't lost any either.

[rachaelsosilly]

Here is how I got started...

I started working in a pet store about 4 months ago. I was trained as a pet care assistant, where I would deal with fish and rodents and puppies and kittens. Clean cages, bag fish, etc. Well, I had already had a dog, cat, two birds, and pet mouse, and had never really given it a go at fish keeping. So I thought, why not? I'll get a Betta. Well, after vast research, I had to ditch the .6 gallon Betta bowl and get him something better, with a filter and a heater. 8 gallons later, I had gotten him a little Oto and ADF as a room mate. Well, that of course escalated and now he's rooming with a danio, platy, and guppy. They all seem happy. I don't think I'm ever going to get into live plants, because that just seems even MORE work!

Wish me luck on my new tank!

Rachael

[AquaScaper]

Instead of a saltwater tank i have freshwater because saltwater takes up extra work, and freshwater takes up less work.

[jim.m257]

Wow! I can't believe how long this thread has been open!
Anyway, not one to shy away from telling my story:

My grandad always had fish as I was growing up, mostly tropical FW.. When I was a little older my father bought a 3ft tank which housed a few platies, sailfin mollies, angels, guppies, tetras, mountain clouds, plecos and various other fish over the years it was in operation. That was my first community tank until the day I bought a couple of Kribensis. They were colourful and a bit of a step into the Cichlid arena, although not a very big one They bred and I moved them into a 2ft where they raised another couple of, unfortuantely canabalised broods.. Somewhere along the lines I lost interest or moved away, I can't quite remember. But I restarted in the habit by cleaning my girlfriends goldfish bowl the other day and buying her a new fish. This got me back on the Kribensis path and I've been hooked ever since!! If only I'd learnt about fishless cycling before I bought my tank, I wouldn't be changing water every day and worrying that my new male was going to make it! In any case I think he's going to be better fed than I am, variety wise, not amount wise of course..

I don't know why, but watching fish seems to take you to another place.. away from your troubles.. It's so relaxing you can't help but love it..

Jim.