What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[Coyne]

When I was a kid (25+ years ago) I had a 10 gallon freshwater and always had fond memories of it.

Periodically over the past 6-8 months a co-worker will mention how he would like to set up a salt water aquarium and talk about what kind of fish he would put it in. I suppose these conversations got me thinking about my old fish tank and the nostalgia started to reach critical mass.

I arrived early to a blood donation appointment and saw that a marine fish store had opened up next to the place I donate, so I killed some time inside and browsed around.

On my way home I decided to stop in a PetsMart just to take a look... you know, see how much stuff cost and what not. Well... 2 hours later Im walking out of the place with a 45 gallon tank and all the toys that go with it.

That was 2 weeks ago. My only regret is being impulsive. I know now that had I done a little research I probably couldve shaved 20-30% off of my start up costs and would have done my initial cycling differently. Oh well. Im already thinking about my next tank, so I will hopefully do it better next time.

 

[bmckee727]

I feel like freshwater tanks are more tranquil, peaceful, and relaxing where as marine tanks are electrified, busy, and question raising. I love both but that's my own weird take on them. Lol

 

[Rango rox]

My fish

at the moment i have a ten gallon tank with one borneo sucker i have had had it for four years know.

 

[Bettacrazy]

when i saw a betta in the store, I instantly fell in love.

 

[my_little_tetra]

When I was 5, my first ever pet was a pair of goldfish I won at a school carnival. They lived in a large jar...so not good. But they were my little friends.

Then when I was around 10, my dad had a tank with a breeding pair of angelfish, among other things. (How he managed to be successful I don't know, because I don't think he ever really know anything about cycling or testing params.) So I decided I wanted my own tank. I started with a 10g, then moved up to a 29g around the time I was in high school. Unfortunately, I didn't know anything about keeping fish. I didn't understand cycling, and so lost many fish. I didn't understand the concept of water changes. I thought they were only to keep the water clear and the tank clean appearing...again, couldn't figure out why I couldn't keep fish alive. I always wanted angels, but they always died within a couple weeks. By some miracle, I managed to have some success with neon tetras and black skirts. Those must be some super hardy species!

So now, all this time later, I decided to give it a try again. This time I read up on how to do things right and I'm learning more now that I've found this forum. I started up a 29g tank, and though I've had a recent set back due to misunderstanding how often PWCs are needed (I had read somewhere monthly was plenty....wrong!), I am definitely having more success than before! I have angelfish, Colombian tetras and peppered corys. Though I lost a couple of the tetras and a couple of the corys with my PWC fail Once I'm absolutely sure my params are stable with my new PWC regimen, I want to fill their numbers back out so they will be happy.

I've even gone nuts and picked up a small betta tank, which I seeded from my 29g.

 

[Enardone]

I haven't read through this whole thread yet, but interesting to see how people get started.

My husband and I had got a really ugly betta shortly after we got married. He's really against keeping betta's in small things so we ended up with a 20g tank for it. We eventually added two angelfish to it. Now I have no idea what kind of angels these were, but in a years time they went from the size of a quarter to bigger than my hand! We had no idea how to properly care for a tank. Didn't know anything about cycling. Eventually it became so ridden with algea that all the fish died and we just gave up. Our experience left us feeling like fish tanks were just a gross mess to take care of. We were much more into furry critters.
Fast forward to about July of 2012. My oldest got some money for her birthday and decided she wanted a Betta fish. She picked out a handsome black orchid and a 1 gallon tank. We had the tank set up on a tall shelf thing we have separating 2 rooms in our house. It was fine for months. Then all of a sudden a couple months ago I would notice that the lid to the tank was on crooked or it would be completely off. I finally figured out that one of my cats had been getting up there and trying to get the fish. I still can't figure out how it was up there for 6 months before any cats took notice of it, but he became obsessive with it.
One night I was napping on the couch and woke up around 3am to a loud crash. That flipping cat managed to knock the entire tank down onto my dining room floor. So here I am at 3am, half asleep, trying to clean up this tank mess. I thought for sure the cat managed to get the poor guy, but as I was moving things to clean up all the water I found him! He was just laying in a pile of dust not moving. I went to get him and he jumped out of my hands. I grabbed a bowl and bottle of water real quick and managed to save him. Long story shortened, we had him in a flower vase up on the kitchen counter to keep him away from the cats (figured he would recognize the sound of the filter if we set the tank back up) and he just looked miserable.
We ended up ordering a 46 gallon tank with a stand in early March 2013 for him. So now he's in it with some zebra danio's and guppies, as happy as can be. The cycle is almost done and we can't wait to add more fish. Already we're planning our 2nd and 3rd tanks, haha.

 

[demodrin]

My 3 year old grandson and I walk through walmart, he always says fish so we go look at them, we have been doing that since he was 2, since he is a little older, I got him a 1.5 gallon glofish tank, after searching online for some tips on setting it up, seems that size of a tank is too small for any kind of fish. Well after more searching online seems a real fishtank is a fun hobby, My grandson and I are now setting up a 75 gallon freshwater tank, OUR first aquarium.

 

[Alyxx]

My 3 year old grandson and I walk through walmart, he always says fish so we go look at them, we have been doing that since he was 2, since he is a little older, I got him a 1.5 gallon glofish tank, after searching online for some tips on setting it up, seems that size of a tank is too small for any kind of fish. Well after more searching online seems a real fishtank is a fun hobby, My grandson and I are now setting up a 75 gallon freshwater tank, OUR first aquarium.

I love hearing from new aquarists who ditch those tiny little death traps! Seriously, though, I don't know why they even sell those things. They are a great way to get people really discouraged with keeping fish! They seem like a cheap (relatively, seeing as a bare 10 gallon costs less than half as much as most of those silly kits where I am) easy way to start keeping fish, but unless you do some research and discover that it's too small to keep anything alive, who will want to upgrade if they can't keep anything alive in the "beginner" tanks? I'm happy to hear that you found us here and have decided to start big! And I love hearing about people starting tanks with young kids - that's how I got hooked! My dad and I had a 75 gallon (I think) when I was around your grandson's age, and I've loved fish ever since!

 

[Cloudhp8]

As a child my mom always had some kind of fish tank or bowl with goldfish, tetras and guppies....My uncle had a 55 gallon long ago as well always caught my self staring at them for hours....it's been maybe 15 years since i have had one or seen one at home. One of my friends upgraded from a 15 gal to a 29 gal and gave me the old 15 gal last year. I started with just a dalmation molly. now i have i have a 29 gal with some dwarf gourami some guppies and 2 britlenose plecos i plan to try and breed!! now I am making plans for a 75 gal!!!

 

[katiekelsey]

Many years ago one of my friends had an aquarium and I loved watching the fish. She helped me set up a 20 gal. tank but since I didn't know anything about fish keeping I had a lot of casualties. I had that tank for several years but when I moved I sold everything. Twenty years later I had the itch to set up a tank again but didn't have room in my house. Eventually I figured how to arrange furniture to make room! Two years ago I set up a 46 gal freshwater tank and with the help of very knowledgeable people at a local fish store my tank is doing very well. I also search the internet for articles about fishkeeping and that's how just last week I found this site. I'm amazed at how many people have aquariums!

 

[Lyfeoffishing]

Okay so I am a college student who is majoring in marine bio. And just recently my friends have brought to my attention I don't have a tank which they think is weird. That is solely not the reason why I want to get a tank now. I had a tank my dad took care of when I was lil but I never took care of it. Anyways so in the past week I have been looking into tanks and within the next month I will be getting a 29gal or a 55gal tank. My main inhabitant which I will be building my tank around will hopefully be a cobalt blue lobster. My goal is to have this tank up cycled and fish in it by my birth day which is July 10th.

 

[Nikkid1987]

I'm 25 and my first tank was a 15g starter kit I got at Walmart ! My fiancés dad has 2 aquariums and I decided after like 4 months I wanted fish! So we got 2glo tetras a harlequin rasbora and a calico fantail goldfish . I know goldfish aren't good for the others(now). Lol now I've got a 29gallon and all is well yea. Still new and we love our "fish babies" lol

 

[jessicafish]

one of my cousins had been posting pictures of her betta fish on facebook. they looked so cute and sweet and I had some money so I went to the petstore and picked a 1g tank for a betta after some research I realized that the tank was to small so I upgraded to a 5g then while I was at the store getting plants for the 5g I saw a Betta that was slightly deformed just enought that nobody would have bought him.. I then bought another 5g tank for him... that was about 2 months ago. tomorrow I'm getting a 3g for a female betta that is being bullied in my cousin's sorority... the next tank I'll get will be a 20-30g for a sorority of my own... then a 75g for an oscar.. then a 55g for a hillstream loach and some white cloud minnows... I'm only 13 now but I'm gonna have to go to college somewhere near where I live now so I can take my fish with me!

 

[FishBoy185]

Well when I was younger I really wasnt intrested in pet fish at all because my dad told me that they were boring and you couldnt play with them at all. And on one day my grandma went to petsmart while I was at school and got me a 10 gallon tank with a filter and a heater and a light and when I got home from school I came home to a beautiful aquarium with 5 or 6 rosey red minnows bet moment ever

 

[Antheia]

When I was younger and living at home, I remember having a salt water tank that was awesome. We had some really neat fish. Thinking back to the olden days reminded me of how relaxing a fish tank could be, and how fun it was to get new fish and decor for the tank. I had already come to the conclusion I was not patient enough to have a salt water tank, so I decided to have a fresh water tank.

 

[JasonJason92]

Wow a lot of things. The water the fish the tanks. The serenity of the fish and water. But i learned that you have to do some research before you buy. I bought this huge tank and had some very good filtration i knew that much. But what i didn't know was how much you sometimes have to clean and since i am short and the tank was taller than me it was hard for me to do clean it. So i gave the fish away to a friend that kept fish. 3 months ago i restarted in the hobby. I bought the Fluval Edge 6 gallon tank and i love it. I have no problem cleaning it and the fish are so happy. Especially after i put in some live plants and some extra oxygen. That was so long. But i love my fishy fishy.

 

[MLM754]

LoL,,,

Wow a lot of things. The water the fish the tanks. The serenity of the fish and water. But i learned that you have to do some research before you buy. I bought this huge tank and had some very good filtration i knew that much. But what i didn't know was how much you sometimes have to clean and since i am short and the tank was taller than me it was hard for me to do clean it. So i gave the fish away to a friend that kept fish. 3 months ago i restarted in the hobby. I bought the Fluval Edge 6 gallon tank and i love it. I have no problem cleaning it and the fish are so happy. Especially after i put in some live plants and some extra oxygen. That was so long. But i love my fishy fishy.

I ad to respond. That is what I always say as I sit looking at my fish. I did not know if it should be fishy fishy or fisha fisha, like the McDonald commercial.

 

[Old Scales]

LOL I always say fishy, fishy too! OS.

 

[Younger94]

I guess my story is similar to many others.
My parents used to keep a couple of fish for me and my brother when we were little. We couldn't have bigger animals due to their work and our school. I took to them much more than the brother did and I adored them. There's something strangely hypnotic as a child watching fish swim around! They were used to teach me how to creatures live. Since then we've got a cat and now I've started keeping keeping fish, she is now permanently locked out of my bedroom (where my tank is located)!

 

[mzzguillory]

Marine too hard and expensive and golfish r ugly.