What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[Greeny]

It was the tadpoles that did it for me. My five year old twins and I were taking a walk around our 1 acre natural pond and saw thousands of tadpoles. I thought it would be fascinating for them (and me) to watch the metamorphosis. So I got a 4 gallon tank and 4 guppies and we scooped some tadpoles out of the pond.

Within a week, I had learned a lot about fish and caring for a tank (it seems like a lot, but it is really a drop in the bucket of what there is to know). I bought a used 50 gallon tank with 10 fish yesterday and I am completely entranced by my cats, tetras and unknown stripey fish.

I am hoping that this will hobby will teach me patience. My instinct is to go buy every kind of fish I can find so I can watch them. Also get a few more tanks going so I can have room and get saltwater tanks, breeding tanks etc. etc. etc. I am doing my very best to wait two weeks to bring home any new fish for this tank so everyone can get settled in.

Until a week ago, I thought this was a totally lame animal to keep as a pet. Now I know better!

 

[michrrdn]

I started my tropical aquarium 7 years ago mainly to get away from my nagging wife.Now i am addicted.

 

[ainsleythurston]

I've always loved aquariums and I think the fish are soothing to watch.. It is proven that watching fish reduces stress and anxiety! I only had like 2 or 3 aquariums in my life time, but now since I have this awesome site I can continue.. I have a five gallon with a betta in it right now and I want like a 55 gallon!

 

[Leeny]

For my birthday about 5 years ago, my parents bought me my 29 gallon. The way they did it was that they scheduled it with the cycling so that I'd be able to have fish in it exactly on my birthday. It was pretty cool.

 

[fished]

oscars

 

[Barnature]

The only pet besides the family pet (a Ragdoll named Victor) that my parents allowed. ( I have budgies now and maybe cockatiels for my birthday. My dream bird is a sulphur crested cockatoo. My dream dog is a bernese mountain dog the other dream pets are ferrets, chinchillas and a HUGE saltater tank.

 

[je5ta]

it all started with bett'a who kept dying so I gave up on those and started with a couple of barbs and neons...I kept wanting more so I ended up buying a 2ft 80lt tank with a stand and it was all downhill from there

I am in love with my gourami's! Every time i prune the tank they come up to me to touch me with their little feelers =) They remind me of betta's without the hassle lol

 

[tlkng1]

Oh boy..LONG history Blame my science teacher in, uhm, 6th grade I think (that was in '77). He had a tank set-up in the classroom; can't remreber what was in it now, maybe guppies. Had to have one, parents were reticent. Did the typical "I'll take care of it and everything" plead. Parents wouldn't budge. Dad brought some work home and I earned the cost of the tank, accessories (complete with the castle bubbler) and fish. Mom was more paranoid then I was stayed up all night that first night to make sure the fish didn't die. Got hooked on mollies really early.

Since then, the adventure has never stopped. Upgraded to a 20, then a 29, then a 38 (which had a mirror back..I loved that tank), all freshwater. I went to college in 83 and had a tank in my dorm room. Went in the military in 85 and had a tank at every duty station. Some were in my room, a few stations liked them so much they had me set-up "unit mascot" tanks, again, all freshwater.

I moved to New Orleans in 92 and a friend of mine had this 90 gallon reef system that absolutely fascinated me. I am a cerified diver and loved reef dives. The movers had cracked all my tanks in transit ( I won't get in to THAT fight) so in recompense for looking after her horses while she was out of town, in the heat of the standard New Orleans summer, my friend bought me my 75 gallon specifically to indocrinate me into the world of saltwater, that was in 93. Everything went very well for the next 6 years and I had a thriving reef with all the assorted corals, blennies (my favorite saltwater dwellers) etc. Unfortunately, I was transferred to Virginia in late 1999 and the saltwater was apportioned off to different friends in the New Orleans area.

When I got to Virginia, for some reason I didn't have the will to reset the tank. The movers had destroyed the stand and I wasn't keen on spending the $400 for a new one. The 75 remained crated and sitting in my living room; , I used it as an extra coffee table of sorts.

I moved to the Baltimore area in 2003 and my father made me a custom cabinet for the tank. I initially set up the 75 as a fish only saltwater with damsels and had a 29 and 38 going with freshwater planted. Again, all livebearers for the most part with some tetras and cories thrown in.

The water quality for aquariums here is not the best. Depsite routine use of an RO unit, I gave up the saltwater just due to time and space, or lack thereof. I rinsed out the 75, several dozen times, and reset it as a freshwater. Back to my swordtails.

Right now, I have the 75 with two cories, two white clouds, a pair of juvenile Koi Swordtails and a pair of Green Swordtails. I have a larger pair of Koi swordtails and two Blue Platties coming. I had a concern over some low level ammonia readings so hadn't added anything to the 75 in a long while. The problem wasn't the ammonia, it was my test kit.

I have a 29 set-up with 2 cories, a pair of Dalmation Sailfin Mollies and several juvenile sailfins. I sold off the 38 just due to lack of space in the house.

I also have the requisite 1 gallon Betta tank with a Crowntail Betta.

I've managed to make fellow hobbyist in every state I have ever lived in and that includes Connecticut, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Oregon, Virginia and now Maryland

The best fish store I had was out in Beaverton, Oregon; haven't found one yet in any other state that can even compare.

Terese

 

[DragonFish71]

I started out with fresh water tanks when I was a kid and found that keeping the tanks clean, planting, redecorating and just watching the way the fish behave was very relaxing. I went to SW for a few years once everything in the FW died. The variety in SW is astounding, but so is the pricing. Not too mention there is so much too keep track of that I just couldn't keep up. I gave my LFS all the fish I had and tore down the tank, cleaned it up and went back to FW.

So for me it would be the ease of FW, the selection of live plants, some of the colors of the fish, and just the fun of it.

 

[Nippy Fish]

When I found out that keeping bettas in a bowl is cruel...and I had a betta in a bowl. I immediately got a real fish tank for him. Now I have 7 fish tanks...3g up to 55g. Bettas, the gateway drug.

 

[JPKeenan]

for me it was stress relief. then I got the bug and wanted another tank, now I am going to be on a 4th tank by the end of the month.

Sitting at the computer I look over and see my colorful little friends swimming around. It is also a good conversation piece. Anyone that comes over sees the tanks and we start talking about them.

 

[DragonFish71]

for me it was stress relief. then I got the bug and wanted another tank, now I am going to be on a 4th tank by the end of the month.

Sitting at the computer I look over and see my colorful little friends swimming around. It is also a good conversation piece. Anyone that comes over sees the tanks and we start talking about them.

Only 4 tanks? Eeeesh, my boyfriend is only wishing we were still at 4, we're darned near out of room (I still have the dining room wall empty *cackles softly*. We're at 7 now in just under a year. He gave me my first tank in years last year for my b-day. Poor sucker!! He is just now understanding the addiction and is hooked. He has been drooling over a 125 *lol*

 

[fromtheheart]

I got started because I had a thing for bettas but unfortunately mine died. However, a good friend of mine got me some glowlight tetras. I'm quite smitten by them.

 

[JPKeenan]

Only 4 tanks? Eeeesh, my boyfriend is only wishing we were still at 4, we're darned near out of room (I still have the dining room wall empty *cackles softly*. We're at 7 now in just under a year. He gave me my first tank in years last year for my b-day. Poor sucker!! He is just now understanding the addiction and is hooked. He has been drooling over a 125 *lol*

*lol* know what you mean.. Just some quick math in my head while I was at work and I was figuring that once I get water in all the tanks I have now I will have something like 10ft of glass Thankfully my cat is not a jumper.

Your quote “Unless a serpent devour a serpent it will not become a dragon. Unless one power absorb another, it will not become great.” I should post a pic of one of my tats.

If I can get a seal to stay put I will have gone to 5 tanks in a year.... Luckily I got addicted to fish instead *lol*.

 

[Trisomy21]

My friend got me into it and gave me an extra 15g tank he had with pretty much everything needed to start up. Initially had some feeder fish in there
and noticed one didn't belong, turns out to be a peacock cichlid and recently added a kenyi. They're both very small and have plenty of space for right now, but I'll be getting a 55 gallon shortly. So glad I got into this.

 

[LT1FirebirdSLP]

My girlfriend had a couple of small betta tanks and it got me thinking about how much I wanted a tank. I always had one as a kid but never got around to getting a tank again until now. She had to give away one of her bettas because she just started to have too many fish so that was my excuse to go out and buy a nice 28 gallon bowfront kit! LMAO!

 

[nukesk8er]

well im 15 last year my brother got a 10 gallon tank from his friend he wanted to get manganese cichlids or jaguar cichlids we went to pet's mart and got 2 then about 4 months later they died so we did some research and now we no a little better how to care for cichlids we currently have 1 10 gallon tank with a jaguar cichlid 1 20 gallon community tank and 1 30 gallon tank with african lake malawi cichlids

 

[fishfreak5]

I was hooked at... 12 or 13, at My sister`s husbands house he has a huge saltwater and a small freshwater (with a not so small pleco, he is about 13 or 14 inches long...) I am 15 now have a 20 gallon tank with 1 loach, 1rubberlipped pleco, 1 platy (she is EXTREMELY fat.) 1 glass fish (1 died last month) and about 6 or 7 guppies 5 or 6 males ( who are REALLY interested in the glass fish) and 1 female guppy.

 

[mermaid8]

Mine started off with a friend selling their's and my husband decided to buy the 2 tanks they had. so after that i was hooked... so now i have an over abudance of fish and three tanks. oh my....

 

[Badger]

I like the balance it adds. Two computers on one side of the desk, two tanks on the other. It's nice and relaxing to look over there and watch fish swim around when I want a break from staring at the screen. The final straw was when I got a nice aquarium screensaver, then said to myself "hey wait a minute, I can do this for real!"