Too young for the hobby?

[steviebetta]

Jeez I feel old starting to keep fish now and I'm only 24. Fair play to all you guys thay started out early. Good responsibility to have as a kid.

 

[Fishingforfish]

Jeez I feel old starting to keep fish now and I'm only 24. Fair play to all you guys thay started out early. Good responsibility to have as a kid.

Better late than never.
I have 3 cats, 2 dogs, and a fish tank. I have a lot of responsibilities alright! Lol but it is fun having yourself occupied.

 

[steviebetta]

Yeah so glad I started now. I am 2 cats and 1 male Betta. Thinking of a community tank over the next few months. Just want to concentrate on my Betta for now

 

[FishieKeeper429]

I just started and I'm 15. I've wanted to since I was 12/13 but my parents refused. I finally convinced them to about a month ago and I have a 10g freshwater cycled aquarium and I just set up a new 5g Betta tank because the poor betta (my first fish) was originally in a 1g and I found this site and temporarily moved him to a 3g and permanently to a 5g with a filter and heater my poor Betta has had a rough life because of me. I'm just happy I learned before it was to late.

 

[jessicafish]

I'm 13 and I started at the end of last school year so I've been going for roughly 4-5 months... I currently have two 5gs and two 3gs running but I have a 10g I'm gonna set up soon! I would have bigger tanks but this hobby is a little pricey for a teen who doesn't have a source of income... I bought all my tanks when I had a steady dog walking job where I made a $100 a month but now my boss has a new job where she doesn't work as chaotic hours...

 

[Fishingforfish]

I'm 13 and I started at the end of last school year so I've been going for roughly 4-5 months... I currently have two 5gs and two 3gs running but I have a 10g I'm gonna set up soon! I would have bigger tanks but this hobby is a little pricey for a teen who doesn't have a source of income... I bought all my tanks when I had a steady dog walking job where I made a $100 a month but now my boss has a new job where she doesn't work as chaotic hours...

$100 a month?! Holy cow I would love to have that..lol yeah I know what you mean, when I went to my lps, they were selling 5g tanks for $76...and the heaters were $40+ depending on how many watts. It's crazy, considering it would literally take me months to save up my allowance just to get something small like that. However, my parents do buy things for me at times (yay!) haha

 

[Fishingforfish]

I just started and I'm 15. I've wanted to since I was 12/13 but my parents refused. I finally convinced them to about a month ago and I have a 10g freshwater cycled aquarium and I just set up a new 5g Betta tank because the poor betta (my first fish) was originally in a 1g and I found this site and temporarily moved him to a 3g and permanently to a 5g with a filter and heater my poor Betta has had a rough life because of me. I'm just happy I learned before it was to late.

Bettas were the first fish I ever kept (well, technically it was my mom lol).

I used to keep my 2 platy in a 1 gallon bowl (don't judge me!) but that was when I didn't have a clue about anything. They were in there for about a month until I learned all about fish keeping. Thankfully, they're still alive and they're now in a cycled 10g. They've been through everything--ammonia burns and lots of stress (no ich, though!), and they've been standing strong every step.

Everyone will make a mistake at some point, you just gotta learn how to fix it.

 

[Clownfishlover]

I started at 12 and now after a year the people at PetSmart know I know what I am doing. Lol I think your never too young to start learning how to care for fish.

 

[Bubbles0oO]

I got my first tank for my 10th birthday, and didn't find this site until last year. Im 14 now, and have 5tanks running.

Most pet store employees form chain stores just give me what i want, and all the mom and pop stores know who i am, and we have fish chats whenever i visit!

So i guess it depends where you live?

 

[Demonknight]

Hmmm, define starting LOL first real fish tank when I was 11? but we have always had minnow tanks at my grandparents place and it was tough to keep me out of them, I like playing with the fishes

 

[wilkieam]

I'm almost 18 and I'm brand new to this hobby, but I did get some weird looks at my LFS... My friend has been doing aquariums since she was 13 though, so I think you're at a pretty normal, in-between age to be in this hobby.

 

[Chsguy88]

I'd ask to speak to the manager next time. That's terrible customer service, if that ever happened to me I wouldn't go back... And I'd make sure none of my family or friends went either.

You were buying fishfood... She acted like u were buying cigarettes or something. I wouldn't have acted up, but I would have def gotten her name and had a nice talk with the manager about her.

Sorry u had to go through that

 

[Ayi]

When I first got my 10g the girl that was helping me put bright pink gravel in the shopping cart and I was like "umm don't the fish feel more comfortable if it looks natural?" She said it didn't really matter so I got blue gravel instead of the pink. Long story short I have blue gravel for sale and I always suck up black sand during water changes.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Lets see I really got into the hobby when I was 10, but i had fish in the house long before that. we always had interesting pets when i was little. my moms to thank for that andy dad just said we were crazy but went along with it. Anyway my parents bought me a 45 for christmas when I was 10 or 11. I was very active jn caring for my fish. I kept a small group of mbuna but still kinda went by my own trial and error of keeping them. Then once I hit high school between sports and everything else the tank kind of got lost. Then I meet my girlfriend and we decided we wanted a pet. We went to look for fish but ended up with a snake. Now six snakes later we got into fish. We revamped my 45. She picked up a 36. And then we built from there. Soon after I got my 125 and moved my Africans.