I was born in Miami, Florida, and being surrounded by water for me was a dream. My home had a backyard that could only be called a tropical forest.. Avocado trees, bamboo forests, mango trees, key limes, oranges, gapefruits, palm trees.. sandy, loose dirt. The beach, swamps, and rivers were always available if I wanted to go, and whenever my mother and I went to the beach, I'd spend HOURS chasing around guppies, and even some brightly colored reef fish (in the keys, there's miles of shoreline that's really shallow yards and yards out, but has large boulders spread around that reef fish seemed to love), but it had to come to an end.
We moved to Virginia (just my mom and I) and everything was too.. green. Forests, mountains, valleys.. but no real water. Some streams, some newts, frogs.. but where were the fish I loved so much growing up? I was instantly homesick for my tropical dreamland. There was a pond that we put some comets in, but that even wasn't the same.
Then, my mom got me my first fish tank. While it didn't relieve my homesickness, it was enough to satisfy me for a while, but something happened, and one of the live plants must have had something, because some kind of choking algae choked the tank in a matter of days. It was a huge dissapointment, but after that small gem of happiness, I started to grow to like my new environment, and my new amphibian friends. (There are some LOVELY amphibians here..)
We moved a few more times and stayed a few places, but eventually she got into an abusive relationship, and I was forced to move out. That's when I got my second tank. It was a lovely tank filled with tons of colorful little fish, but I made the mistake of buying a crayfish, and that was the end of that.
My mother passed away six months ago, and I feel so bad that she tried so hard to make me happy, and got me that fish tank, and I let all the fish die (even though at the time, at 11, I had no clue what the issue was.) I know that's such a small thing to think of, but it meant so much to me.
Now I'm starting a new tank (I still have the 10 gallon she got me, and I'm using it as a nursery tank until I move for college.) It's going to be a 125 gallon dreamtank, and now that I'm an adult, I can care for it as accurately as I can. My mom inspiring me to love nature, my perfect tropical childhood home, and such an interest in life and all it's possibilities, is what got me into freshwater tanks. Thank you for listening to my story. <3