What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[The Barb Keeper]

It is true fish are contagious. A roommate of mine has a few tanks. I always found myself staring into his tanks, and then I thought why don't I just get one of my own? well 1 turned into 2, and now I'm thinking of a 3rd. now it's almost like a competition between the 2 of us. Who can have the cooler tanks lol. I've definitely have some catching up to do, but my advantage being I make a little more money than he does yay!

 

[lamby]

my first tank was a compulsive buy picked it up for $80 on special got a pair of rainbow sharks only because they where called sharks then couldn't help my self buying cichlids now i own 3 tanks and have another on its way.

 

[ShawnKC]

As a youth my Dad always had a 20 G tank with mollies, swordtails, etc. Now I am 58 and have become enamored with (Procambarus allen) Electric Blue crayfish. I did a ton of research and decided to set up a 30 gal. breeder tank as a species specific aquarium. I have a 3D rock background and a mix of fine and pea gravel bottom. I am presently soaking 3 nice pieces of driftwood and will eventually get a few plastic plants for a more natural decor, as I understand the crays have a tendency to cut up the live plants. I will be using an AquaClear 70 filter. Once the tank has cycled a bit and I have the proper ph levels I will order a medium sized Procambarus. I also have read that the addition of a few danios will be make suitable tankmates since they are quick and swim in the upper to middle levels of the tank. Any other suggestions will always be appreciated.

 

[Diver423]

When I was younger my parents bought me a 10g tank and I loved it. After having it for a few years the heater malfunctioned and pretty much cooked the fish, after that my parents didn't get me any more fish. 16 years later I have my own place and I started off with a 10g starter kit. My collection just grew the other day tho when I got a 10g tank for free

 

[Nyghtfire]

Well i've been into fishing (angling) for aslong as i can remember i always loved watching fish swim through the water and one afternoon i decided to set up a tank.
well that spiralled out of control to 7 tanks running at one point, varying from simple betta set ups to a coral probagation (spelling?) and everything inbetween. now i have cut back to one sort of . i work for a local pet store now and have about 100 tanks give or take. life's good happiest i've been in a long time.

 

[Musicfreak]

I have always had fish tanks on and off ever since I was about 4 years old. I have always loved them. I have mainly had 10 gallon tanks and a few small bowls types that I had in my room when I was growing up. I now have a ten gallon but today having everything switch over to a new 30-40 gallon tank that my husband and I got from a family member. I'm excited to have a bigger tank since I never had bigger than a 10 gallon.

My husband and I have been on a hunt for a bigger tank for a few months now so finally having one set up and ready to go is nice. Plus my son who is 3 is really excited about it too.

 

[vaquero]

At 9 years old we got our first Guppy tank. It was huge to me and we had over 20 in one tank, I think it was a 10 gallon one. Well my sister was the caretaker of it and I couldn't "touch" it for fear of losing my life. I could look at it, but not too close to scare the fish. So this went on for awhile until they had babies. Man what a PITA that was. We had to get an outside birthing tank, you know the ones where the pregnant fish was in the top and had a wedge shape inside so the fry could go down to the bottom with out being eaten. well this lasted for about a month, changing fish out (they spawned a lot) and eventually we had to sell the fry to someone or let them be eaten. Believe it or not, we used to catch the fry and put them in plastic bags and freeze them, then use them for food. That was the mentality back in the late 60's early 70's. After the guppy craze (they all died) we moved onto hamsters (used the same tank for them), and that sprouted many other "pets" to watch and then eventually when the interest died along with the hamsters, we moved onto rabbits. Again that was my older sisters doing and I felt it was cool, so long as I could play with them. NOT!!! Don't touch MY rabbits!! Ok so when the coyotes came in the night and got them, we were left with the cat. I did find a turtle I kept for awhile, but he "ran" off never to be seen again.( our reputation of keeping pets alive got around quick)! So what else was left you ask? Nothing for me, so I talked Mom into letting me get my own fish since we already had a tank it wouldn't cost anything except for the fish right?? Wrong! Guppies didn't need a heater, big filter, or decorations. But the new fish needed all that and more. Seems the LFS trip to just buy fish turned out to be quite an ordeal.Don't remember what kind I got but, I Killed those suckers in two days. Water conditioner would have been great to know about as well. So after setting up the tank, new fish included, I was off onto an exciting game of fish ownership. I have had many tanks over the years now and have always enjoyed them. Money and interests change over the years, but I always go back to being an owner of a fish tank or two. I have three tanks now and plan on adding another when my Balas and Silver Dollars get bigger

 

[Andy Sager]

I was always fascinated by my Grandmother's fish tank and spent almost every minute I was at her house staring at it. Fortunately for me, both of my parents were friends with people who owned pet stores (with one being a certified ichthyologist who later became my mentor) so we went often to the stores "just to look."
My journey into fish keeping started as a practicle joke on my best friend. He had a female guppy that he had won at the county fair and asked me to watch it for him while he and his family went on vacation. My Dad came up with the idea to buy a male guppy and keep the two together for the week I was watching her. When my friend returned home, I gave him back his female and had the male hidden in a tupperware container in my closet. (Needless to say he was amazed when the female gave birth as he had had the fish alone for about 6 months. I then had to fess up as to what had happened. LOL )Now, what do I do with my male guppy? Thus my first fish tank. That was over 45 years ago and I still LOVE FISH to this day!!!

 

[...joey...]

Me and my sister wer driving down an old country lane and we saw a sign post for per shop so we had nothing better to do so went in and there was larry (my electric blue crayfish) I had never seen anything as cool so I told my gf and we made the decision to get a tank and cycle it as quick as possible to get larry same story as everyone else from their it grew and grew!

 

[fishman1995]

my mother got me a fish magizene and i have liked fish ever sense simple as that

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Plants. Whenever everything is grey outside during winter, the tank is still lush and green. Ahhh...

 

[Duydawg]

I had initially started with 2 dwarf frogs in a little container. I realized that this was not enough space for 2 live animals, so I upgraded to a gallon container.

I ended up getting a 10 gallon tank as a gift.


I also saw this betta tank and was inspired to make a zen like aquarium for my room.

I want a betta fish and my 2 dwarf frogs.

 

[thomasina]

To have something my grandson can enjoy and that we can share since he has a tank also! It makes for a closer relationship if you can enjoy what he enjoys!!

 

[not-pro]

I have found that it has given me and my kid sister more reason to hang out. Wholesome hobbies bring a family together!

 

[Cafrye]

I got started with freshwater aquarium when I first got married and my husband had one.
I really enjoyed it. Now many years later (about 30) I still keep aquariums (I now have 4: 2-75 gallon etc.) and a pond with more fish. I really enjoy the fish. I like having babies in my tanks too.
I thought about salt water but I read some bad stuff about how they catch salt water fish destroying the environment and about half of what they catch dies.. I didn't want to promote that.

 

[CraigRets]

This might souund kind of funny/werid but the main reason I got my tank was for snails; Golden Apple. Idk why but I always loved them! Once I got my tank I invested in some minnows and now I love them too.

 

[Wroberson]

Here's several reasons why I want a bigger tank. I'm thinking the 340 gallon. The 500 is tempting too. Anyway just thought I'd post this link and price list.

Glasscages.com - Glass Aquariums

 

[AaronW]

Freshwater is for me because I can afford it

Merry christmas!

 

[NinjaTetra]

I just saw a beta in a store and got it, and from there I loved fish and kept getting more

 

[Vatilla]

When my family visited the States, I saw these awesome little frogs in containers that you could keep and feed and whatnot. But since we would have to cross the border, we didn't get them. It turns out that a few months later when we were at a mall, they had one tank left with the same kind of frogs! I begged and pleaded and my mother let me get them. It bugged to no end that these little African Dwarf Frogs were trapped in that tiny container, so I asked my friend if I could have her old fish tank that her mother was trying to get rid of. These two little guys (named Perri and Entree) lived in that 5g from August 2010-January 2011. Until Perri got eaten. By Entree. Shortly after, I bought Eerie, another little ADF. But Eerie carried some sort of disease passed it on to Entree. They both died within two days. About a week later, I bought two Mollies. I of course had no clue how to care for them and they both died in two weeks from SBD. Those were my last fish until this past June, when I went into my local pet store (it is tiny and doesn't sell anything for fish but Betta's themselves) and fell in love with a little white fish with purple fins. I told my mother I was buying it and she had no say, so she drove me down and I got "her". Well, she was a he. When I brought him home and got him in his little midget Betta tank that I was using until I purchased a proper one, it turned out he was actually pink with red fins, not white with purple. This little guy, named Pigg, is what got me into freshwater again and I thank him for it every day looking into my beautiful tank watching him zip around with my Otos and watching Estabon the snail eat cucumber to his heart's content.