What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[Pacu Man]

quite simply, pacus!

[Sponge Bob]

Wanted fish 5 years ago when I was 8. Bought a Male betta who lived for 3.5 years and a couple of feeder fishes (5 to be exact) for my 2 gallon hex. It was overstocked but I never knew about this stuff back then. Fast forward 5 years and now Im 13. Two of my feeders died, the rest got big and are still alive (gave away to friend). Im currently stuck with Bettas still I have 2 females 3 males and my first time ever betta frys !

[roblikesfish]

Hello every one.

My Name is rob and I am new to this forum. I live in Fort Worth Texas and I am 22. When I was a little kid my parents kept a 20 gallon tank filled with various fish. I would watch them for hours. Fast forward to this past weekend. My wife, my 2 year old daughter and I were in wal-mart picking up various pet products for our dogs and my daughter spotted the fish. So we roll the shopping cart over to the fish and she was amazed by them. Unforchantley we had to continue our shopping and she cried and cried wanting to stay in front of the fish. Once home she forgot about them but not for long.

Sunday we go back to wal-mart for some soil and planting supplies. She immediately recognized our location and wanted to see the fish .. I Broke down and got her two gold fish and a cheap 2 gallon tank Came with pump and light etc. Bag of colorful rocks and a plastic plant and we were off.

It being Wednesday now, I am glad we got them .. I have enjoyed them as has my daughter and my wife.


After some thinking and some surfing ( here I am ) I have decided this is a hobby I want to pick up ..

Cant wait to share my future travels, questions, and advice with you all !!

Rob

[yellowjacket171]

Hi my name is Cindy and I'm very new to the aquarium hobby. My three boys and I have had so many pets over the years, cats, dogs hamsters, birds, guinea pigs, and even a pot bellied pig, but never fish. I never wanted them because I remember my mom and her 10 gallon tank. She was always cleaning the tank, checking to see if everything was alright, and always worring about it. And I wanted nothing to do with fish. So in April of 2003 we went to Petco for a dog brush and guinea pig hay. Well I got the brush and hay and also walked out with a male betta, who was quickly named Charlie by my youngest son, a 2 gallon tank and all the necessary supplies, an impulse buy compliments of my husband and boys. So I go home knowing nothing about fish, set him up and go explore all kinds of information on the internet and found two days later I really liked my betta named Charlie. So early May I got my first 29 gallon aquarium up and running. I just love it. I'm always watching my nine fish instead of the TV and can't walk by without checking to see if everything is alright. And now I'm just like my mother, always making sure they are clean, healthy and I worry alot if things are not quite right.

[Kuroneko]

My answer is a little unorthodox.


I was having a boyfriend problem, my 2 ex's wasn't leaving me alone, and I couldn't find a man I was interested in. One day while I was talking to a friend she told me not to worry, that there "were plenty of fish in the sea." And I though, I don't live anywhere near the sea, but there are two fish in my fish pond. And it hit me! Maybe, if I buy a fish, I'll catch a man.

The very next day I went to the pet store and bought a tiny goldfish. For a while he lived in a small one gallon tank. Soon it was apparent that I would have to get something bigger. I went to a fish enthusiast friend of mine (who had just got a brand new 50 gallon saltwater tank) and asked him if he had any old aqurarims he wasn't using, and if he did could I buy one. He ended up selling me a 20 gallon tank with light and topper for 10 dollers. My little fish looked so huge in this big tank.

Two weeks after I got the fish I started dateing my boyfriend. Together we have become fish people. I now have a 29 gallon tank with 5 semi-happy fish. Our fish have offered us hours of happy entertainment, and a few soggy eyes in the process. We both enjoy many happy trips to the pet store, and one of these days we want to get a huge 200 gallon tank for our fish.

It sounds weird, but the fish really helped us bond, and we've had fish ever since we started going out 4 years ago. We are always trying to make the tank better, and keep our fish happy. We clean our tank with joy in our hearts, and smiles on our faces.

So when fate has you down, and there just aren't any fish in the sea, you can always buy one, and turn fate around.

Kuroneko,
A fish lover.

[phisigfish]

Well I am 19 and living in a Fraternity house so I had never thought to start a tank, plus I never had one as a kid. A couple of weeks ago my big brother in the fraternity was moving and he gave me a 29 [acronym:1a778dbc92="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:1a778dbc92] and I love it. I am currently running 2- 20gal Liberty filters and they keep the tank beautiful. I have several baby cichlids and they are the coolest fish. I found out today they love ghost shrimp. Moral is good in the tank I have recently added three real plants. My next big addition will be some texas holey rock. The best part about it is the fact that for the past year I have been called Fish (got the name before I got into tanks). Thanks for all the good advice and keep on tanking

[Punkymom]

Whew! I've been trying to read all these, but I can't get past the 2nd page!!! I can't read them all!!! WAAAAAAA!!! Anyway, on with my story.

I started keeping fish when I was in 7th grade. I started out with a 5 gallon that my mom bought me. I put 2 goldfish in it and a pleco. All died. Not surprising. Then my mom bought my brother and I 2 roundish 1 [acronym:f48d84007b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:f48d84007b] tanks and 2 bettas. I loved my betta!!! He survived so much crap...he lived for about 2 years. Then he croaked. I also had a 2 gallon hex that I still have that houses my current betta (much happier...). I finally decided to buy a heater for this 5 [acronym:f48d84007b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:f48d84007b] little tank and go tropical with it. I bought zebra danios and other stuff but I don't remember now...[acronym:f48d84007b="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:f48d84007b]. I do remember bringing the zebras home and running around the room with them hugging the bag...then the bag broke...and I had little zebras all over my kitchen floor...amazingly, they all survived...somehow. [acronym:f48d84007b="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:f48d84007b]. I was like "see my babies???" I was so obnoxious...Then I was given some goldfish and I put them (3) in the little 2 [acronym:f48d84007b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:f48d84007b] hex. There they lived for a year until I accidentally put soap in the water. I didn't mean to, my brother was mad at me, so to get back at me, he emptied out a dechlorinator bottle and filled it with hand soap...meany...So that was the end of 2 of the goldfish. The one survived, so I put him into my 5 gallon with my other fish and a couple of fiddler crabs...don't put goldfish in with fiddler crabs...fiddler crabs eat goldfish...it isn't pretty...So then I had to move here to the lovely state of Georgia where everything sucks (just kidding, I love it here) so I gave my 5 [acronym:f48d84007b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:f48d84007b] away to one of my friends. She put the fiddler crabs in her 10 [acronym:f48d84007b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:f48d84007b]. It's really funny because one of them died, and the other one got out of the tank and got eaten by her cat...stupid crab...teach you to eat my goldfish...So once I got here to Georgia, my mom asked me to set up the 2 [acronym:f48d84007b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:f48d84007b] hex in her bathroom. So I did and got a couple guppies and a CAE to live in there. They all did fine for about 1.5 years. Then I was cleaning the tank and the CAE got himself stuck in an ornament and I let it sit out of the water too long. He died. Then the guppies died one day mysteriously...strange...and so my dad bought zebra danios for the tank. I told him this wasn't a good idea...but would he listen? Nooooooooo...He must have gone through 20 zebra danios...then one Christmas my dad gave me a 10 [acronym:f48d84007b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:f48d84007b] starter kit. I was smitten. I set it all up and ended up putting zebra danios, tiger barbs, and a rainbow shark into it. Way too many fish, but there they lived happily for almost 3 years. Then I got lazy and didn't clean the tank. For a year...please don't kill me...I was going through some REALLY tough times and I was taking out my frustration on my fish...not a very nice thing to do...So here I am after about 3 years...with a 2 [acronym:f48d84007b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:f48d84007b] hex housing Mr. Grumpus (he flairs at EVERYTHING) and a 55 [acronym:f48d84007b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:f48d84007b] that's just started cycling housing a Firemouth Cichlid and will eventually house about 4 Severums and 4 Clown Loaches. I plan on either upgrading, or buying a smaller tank to house the clowns in when they get too big. I read they grow at a rate of 1 inch a year...so I have plenty of time. I've kept every single kind of fish just about. Zebra danios, goldfish, otos, plecos, CAE, Leopard danios, lemon tetras, tiger barbs, cory catfish, rainbow sharks, sword tails, snails, fiddler crabs, and assorted others. I also have had a ton of other animals...cats (currently have 3), hamsters, rats, frogs, rabbits (have 3), and hermit crabs. I would like to get a long tank and put hermits in it. I know they aren't aquatic, but they are still really cool...

[platylover]

Hi all,
This is my first post and I thought that this would be a great place to start. My story isn't as good as some of the others, but here it goes.
I was about 10 years old when my parents bought a 10 gallon tank, a few neon tetras and 2 african dwarf frogs. I would sit in front of that tank for hours just staring at the fish swim around. I did live in the country and had nothing else to do so I had plenty of time to watch those fish. My parents really didn't know much about caring for fish at that time and the fish eventually died off. We moved from the country to the big city of Des Moines for my father's work. The fish tank didn't make it. It had cracked, so that was the end of the fish watching for me. I didn't have much thought about starting back up for about 15 years until the day my wife thought that it would be good for my oldest son, who is 4 yrs, to have some fish. We went to the [acronym:8b463b6bfd="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:8b463b6bfd] and purchased a 20 gallon starter tank. I set the tank up while my son was at day care. When it was time to pick him up, I took him to the [acronym:8b463b6bfd="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:8b463b6bfd] to pick out a few fish. He was so excited! We brought the fish home and put them into the tank and decided that 3 zebra danios wasn't enough. When my wife got home from work that day we went back and bought 3 platies and 2 spotted corys. That looked better. About a month went by and my oldest son lost interest in the fish, but my interest had grown at a rapid pace. Now the fish tank is mine and my wife says that I am obsessed with the fish. I do have plans to upgrade to a 55 gallon tank as soon as I find room in our house.

[e-cat]

i started off with a 10 gallon tank for my birthday about 10 years ago and have now expanded a lot and have a bunch of tanks but have had too cut down due too a baby girl tanking over the old fish room, so im back too one tank with my catfish.

[izzy]

I wanted to have a dog, not just any dog, a newf! I thought it might be too big for the house so I was looking into alternatives. Past April I visited my family in Europe and my brother was taking care of 12g aquarium that actually belongs to my 3 year old niece. I liked it very much so I decided to get me one when I return back to US.

uppon my return I was looking around, surfing the web, bought a book and read it few times. In the mean time i was looking for a good startup setup. I figured 29g would be a nice start. Ended up that a friend of mine had 55g tank and stand he was willing to give away as he didn't use it in many years. So I took his offer. After transporting it home and cleaning it I ordered equipment for it (Penguin 330, [acronym:df3945f9f1="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:df3945f9f1] with 2 power heads, 2 heaters). I hooked everything up to a computer UPS to give me an hour or so extra juice in case of power failure

After setting it up and planting it I started slowly stocking it up... I lost few fish (2 neon tetras, 2 lemon tetras and 1 cory) in the process. But now the tank seems to be doing ok and fish are happy

Few months later I got the dog anyway Now I have a dog, a cat and 32 fish!

Now my next step is setting up 30g long aquarium I've got from another friend.

I wonder where it ends?