What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[d9hp]

I may be a little late on the pleco story but, have you guys seen Star Wars I. I think the guys name is Jar Binky or somin. Its been a while. He looks just like my sailfin pleco.

[fishfreek]

Originally Posted by d9hp

I may be a little late on the pleco story but, have you guys seen Star Wars I. I think the guys name is Jar Binky or somin. Its been a while. He looks just like my sailfin pleco.

Its jar jar binks.

I think thats how you spell it.

[d9hp]

Well, back on the subject. I got a tank out of JEALOUSY! I got a 10 gallon when I was young, had some cool fish, gave them to the neighbors, whose dog crashed their tank. Then one horrible day my dad backed into my tank (which was in the garage). About 7 years later, 6 months or so ago, While at the beach, i saw a cool salt tank and was hooked. Most 14 year old dont have the money to go salt, Im one of them. So i traded some of my old junk for all my freinds tanks. I got 3 little fish bowls and a one gallon setup. Now I am down to a toad tank but am wanting to get a paludarium soon, size will be around 25 or 29 gallons.

[cdawson]

When I was growing up I loved fish, anything to do with fish amazed me (still does). I made my parents take me to the vancouver aqaurium almost every weekend, no matter what it was the only thing that could constantly amaze me. I always wanted to get fish, but my parents would never let me. Until one day I gained the status of adult and had my OWN money, the first tank I got was a 10 gallon with a 3 spot blue gourami, tiger barbs and an albino channel catfish. Since then I've now got 2 10 gallons, a 30 gallon amazon setup and I just purchased a brand new (now cycling) 50 gallon brackish tank to put a green spotted puffer I'm temp. housing in my amazon tank, an archer fish and 2 mono argentus. Within a few weeks I should have pictures of all of them!

[totalbeginner]

i'll try to keep it brief. One of my earliest childhood memories was of gazing for hours at a school of neon tetra's, the shiny neon blue stripes were like headlights to a rabbit. I can't even remember who's tank it was. I was in my little sisters work (LFS) and was just browsing, 20 gal tank kit £120. bought it, set it up, hey presto hobby in a box. OK not quite as easy as that, but not as difficult as i thought. now i'm hooked, got a 30 gal tank cycling right now and a quarantine tank that just need setting up( one thing at a time though. next year i want one of those 300L corner bowfront tank, wicked.

My only regret is that i did not join aquarium advice before i started, i wish i knew what i was doing when i was doing it instead of knowing what i did after i did it. luckily i haven't made any serious mistakes YET.

[the Ents]

Hi all,
thanks for this wonderful site - even if we don't write, we read up on something every day here - the fount of fish lore.
i had a 10 and a 20G when i was a kid; danios, swordtails and fry, mollies, cories, angels, and plecos (back then, noone could tell us just what these weird prehistoric -lookin fish were. i had a book- and thought they looked like this type called loricariid - to a 12 yr old named lori that was kool...). We both had dogs and B had a parrot who still lives with his Mum back in England.

Boris and i decided this past xmas to 'take the plunge'...with fish.
This was soooooo much less commitment, we thought.

Also, i'm in the bio-clock, now-or-never time and thought a pet would 'tide me over'. (Sorry 'bout the puns - i'm from Milwaukee and it's almost a cultural thing. Real 'groaners' get special recognition....)

Also, life in NYC lately has been very stressful (HA!), full body case of hives for me, and cluster headaches for B and my fish get total credit for being healers! You know what they say about the one who saves your life....
Since then, we have succumbed to MTS and now have upped to a 55G, and 15G and the 10 is a Q-tank now. We've just had a second batch of guppy fry this morning( i know, hard not to do), the mollies are gearing up for theirs, and it seems the cories are bumpin bellies, too. We've had our share of emergencies, beaten cases of ich, shimmies, dropsy (mygod, it now sounds as if we're bad fishkeepers) and are learning all the way. Hopefully we never make the same mistake 2x. We feel much better knowing there's this site to learn from.

We have a pt -time production co. which specializes in outdoor camping weekends like mini Burningman or Glastonbury; lights and sound, DJs and live acoustic drummming circles and transformational environments, with emphasis on live-action roleplaying, a la Lord of the Rings, and we've just finished throwing a fish-themed party in a huge loft. However, we aren't getting much else done cuz we just sit and watch the fish! It's like having a mini-festival in our own lv room! How we are going to survive without'em during the year's annual festival, i don't know!
Fantasies of bringin' 'em along to live in 'Gollum's Fishshack' are flitting through ma hed...jus' kiddin'
We'll get phishie photos to ya'll soon.
Thanks fer being there!

[rallycat]

Hi! Newb here. I've been keeping small tanks ever since I was about 10, any kind of fish have always been very interesting / relaxing / therapeutic for me. I've always been drawn to fish with lots of personality - gouramis, cichlids, etc. Freshwater is so much easier and more affordable to maintain on a college budget, so I set up my 29 gal as soon as I moved in and stocked it with every type of gourami I could find at the time. :P I love to sit and watch them play and chase, do their typical gourami things. I also have a 10 gal w/fantail goldfish and a 'night-time' 5 gal w/glow-in-the-dark plants and a blacklight in the hood. An albino cory and 2 black tetras call that home. That's all for me, thanks!

[StarrKill]

I remember back when i was a kid and my parents a had a tank in our downstairs. Im not sure of the size. It may have either been a 50 or 100. But i remember seeing neon tetras, probably some other fish, and this one very beautiful male betta who was red and blue. It was cool to me at that age because we also owned a Beta VCR. I thought the fact that they had the same name was the greatest thing ever. Eventually my parents got so busy with their careers that they could no longer keep the fish, either that or they all died. One of those. But, we haven't had a family fish tank since then. Like i've said in another topic, I have had a small tank of my own, but never got too serious about it. Now that i am home all of the time taking care of my daughter, i will have time to take care of some fishies too. And have something to do as a hobby, since i dont get out much.

[ConanTheLibraia]

My whole life I have loved and been interested in animals. In like the 3rd grade when looking for pets, some mysterious force made me decide to go for fish. I got a 10 gal. with a small fantail, black moore, algae eater, and snail. I don't remember it too well but I was a kid and I dont think i had too much luck with the fish. I guess i put them away. Now its 9th grade and my friend got a 10 gal. goldfish tank and reintroduced me to the hobby. I have a setup similar to the old one only now I have a second small fantail, a small comet. I enjoyed it so much I decided I want to go bigger with tropical fish. I recently aquired a 27 gal. eclipse aquarium for free from my brother in law who is moving to a new, bigger aquarium. I just got it up and running today. Anyways, thats my story.

[Electrobes]

I have adored all pets of all kind. To a kid who had ADD, its amazing how pets can be very addicting, and keep it so! But I started with a betta, then went 10 gallons with random fish here and there from goldfish and dojos, to tiger barbs, to two green spotted puffers. Then one day I got an offer I couldn't refuse on my current 29G, made that beast the current puffer layout, but will be converted to my main planted freshwater tank. Thats my story