What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[mushroomfarie]

My dad always had fish while I was growing up. His passion was pirhanas. He had a huge tank. (guesstimate 500 gallons). He had 6 pirhana that were about 8-10 inches long. I ended up taking over one of his smaller tanks when I was about 8. Talk about a community tank. I had angels, betas, guppies, mollies, corries, swordfish, tetras.... You name it ; I had it. Still to this day if I cant sleep all I have to do is stare at my fish. THe sound of the filters have always comforted me. I never went to my parents for comfort....I went to my fish. It was only natural I would get a fishtank as an adult... It just seems odd to me how it seems I had better luck with it when I was a kid.... O'well I geuss I have some relearning to do... :?

 

[benji-star]

my story began with a fish bowl and one small fan tail gold fish. The fish grew fairly rapidly and soon it needed a bigger tank so i got one of those prefab kit things from walmart. This got me hooked i then moved up to ten gallon. Now on to the 20 gallon and we will see how far it goes.

 

[Lil'Fishy]

For my birthday i got a platty and a betta, in a one gal. We didnt know anything about keeping fish...our water changes consisted of removing the fish into plastic cups and dumping out all the water, refilling with new water and putting the fish back. Even cleaning out the filter...who knew that nasty brown stuff was good! the betta started to get mean toward the platty so we removed him, and did another water change ("removal" would be the more appropriate word) When i dumped the water...i saw little worm,looking things..with eyes!! They were baby fish, not parasites!!

And so it began. 2 fish turend into 5, and so on. Atleast now we know the proper way to do thing . Besides, it would be kinda hard to dump a 37 gal in the sink

AND both the platty and beta are still alive!!!

 

[Paulo]

Well, I find Frshwater Fish to be "Beautiful" and easier to maintain...

plus they are easier to take care and be fed.

 

[Jchillin]

When I was young, we had a 10 gal goldfish tank. I loved watching them grow and spawn (watching the fry escaping to hiding places). Of course, I left home (college - marriage, etc.) and I could never convince my wife to have a tank. I would secretly go to LFS and watch the fish. Visits to my parents home would start the process all over again until one day my oldest son wanted a puppy. While there, my wife spotted an angel tank and fell in love. The rest is history! We started with a 10 gal goldfish and just recently upgraded to the 30 gal. FW.

 

[Nystina]

My story..... About 10 yrs. ago I got my first job. It was at a LFS. I started out in the small animal room and upon showing a great deal of interest/curiosity toward freshwater fish(partly because taking care of the fish seemed like a way better job then cleaning up after gerbils ), my managers decided to move me into the freshwater section. I immediately fell in love with a particular species of fish, Discus! So, i decided i would learn everything i could about discus in hopes of one day being able to keep some of my own. I always heard they were a challenge... i love challenges.
Well.... i actually did keep discus at one time, but due to a misfortunate accident (my aquarium shattered while i was at work due to a defect in the glass), all my fish were lost.
After that, I re-evaluated my funds/time constraints, and decided Angels were a little less demanding and almost as appealing. So i've been keeping a nice little (acrylic ) community tank with angels ever since!
Recently i have found myself with some more time on my hands so i decided to dive head first into a heavily planted tank (learning my lesson... very difficult to manage). I found this site looking for ideas to aquascape my tank... and here i am and lovin' it!

 

[joeliowa]

We started three years ago with a couple of ten gal tank to keep the pond fish in over the winter , 1st year was ok then the next year the koa had gotten larger then we got a 55 gal tank so when spring came around , the fish went out to the pound and we started to stock the tanks with oscars and cichlids and then we picked up a 90 gal tank and we are heating the pond this winter.

 

[Umberle]

ah well. I went to a carnival with a friend and we walked out with like 3 goldfish and for some reason even though I don't think any of them were mine, I ended up with them because I was at least willing to buy a tank. So I went out, bought a tank (2gal because I didn't know nothing), and proceeded to watch them die horrible deaths and pester everyone here about how to stop them from dying. Of couse by the time the last one died the tank was actually cycled so I went out and bought three platties figuring I was going to buy a bigger tank soon. I lost one to the fact that I asked for 2 females and a male and got the reverse (yay petsmart) now I can gender them myself so it won't happen again. Needless to say it was like Tyson vs. Holifield. In anycase, I've had them in that 2 gal for far too long and I just bought a 20 gal which I'm working on. Going to plant it etc. Just need a stand really and I can get it started.

But really, I have vague memories of my parent's wall'o'fish. I was about 3 years old but they had 6 tanks on a massive stand that could have handled another 6 or so. Each of them was over 20gal and upwards of 55 (this I found out later) But I have very distinct memories of a knife fish and a 'flock' of tetras (different tanks). They had some angels and some silver dollars I think too. So given I remember this from when I was 3...I suppose it was just a matter of time.

 

[mumrah]

when our betta died, we wanted a gold fish. So we got a 10g goldfish tank kit, but ended up with tropical fish, and eventually some plants.

 

[MoxieGrrrl]

My daughter begged and begged and begged for a fish. Rather than get a goldfish in a glass bowl (which I know would have kicked the bucket in like 2 weeks), I decided to get a complete aquarium set and give it to the family as a gift this holiday. I am still gathering the pieces together and get to go on another shopping spree tomorrow. Since deciding to get the aquarium, I've learned a lot here and am lookig forward to our new family hobby

 

[SerLunchbox]

well, lets see .... Well, i wanted an aquarium for years. Just never realy had the cash to get one with schooling, groceries, rent, bills, etc... until one christmas when my lovely darling of a fiance went out and got me a 10 gallon starter kit. Needless to say i was so happy i almost forgot all other presents under the tree. In years past i had small 2 gallon cold water tanks but after i had a black mollie goldfish die after keeping it for about 3 years, i just gave up on it. My fiance is just kicking herself in the arse now because i have progressed from the 10 gallon to a 50 gallon and looking to get more. I guess my 10 gallon is used to spread the joy of aquarium hobbiests as i graciously gave the 10 gallon and all accessories away to a friend that wants to start out small. Then again, when i have a house i have a plan, an expensive plan, but a plan none the less. I plan on making a platform (extremely secure and reinforced) out of concrete in which i will have a tall tank made to house a bamboo shark (so far as it stands) along with a few other tank mates. I plan for this tank to have a nice pillar coming out of the top of the tank going to the floor above. I plan for this pillar to reach a glass floor that will be in my kitchen. This pillar will have a hinged glass tile near my butchering station. Therefor feeding will be easy and cool. (of course this tile WILL be locked up) Anyways, whenever i have kids, if i happen to have a daughter, I will take her boyfriend aside and show him my modest collection of razor sharp knives, my butcherign station and lastly i will have a chunk of meat sitting near the feeding hole. i will open it up and drop it in followed up with "you do anything to my duaghter and you can be made to dissapear". oh the visions i have. Well, that is just a portion of what i want to do.

 

[Alabastor]

I had always loved to watch the fish at the docters office, at around 7 my mom got a 30 gallon which I would sit and watch for awhile. Finaly 3 years ago she got a 55 gallon aggresive tank. I LOVED watching them fight with each other.

Thats when I desided I wanted a tank. (Wanted a bigger one then I have.) And for my birthday my father got me a 10 gallon. (A bit disapointed but happy.) And said if I kept the 10 gallon clean and all the fish healthy for christmas he would get me a 20 gallon.

But 5 days from christmas and there hasnt been one sign of him getting me one. (Kinda hard to hid a 20 gallon tank in our house without anyone ever noticing) Even Karla siad she didnt think he was going to get me one.

So I'm going to use every bit of money I get for christmas to buy a 20 gallon myself. I should have more then enough since I at least get 100 bucks, that and my dad owes my 10 so I should have enough.

Sorry I got kinda carried away. I tend to go on alot when I'm telling a story.

 

[Wolf]

Did you get it?

 

[Chilly Willy]

I've had several tanks during the course of my life but never truely understood the hobby as most of my fish died within months.

However I did have luck with a pond turtle I got from a LPS that burnt down. I house him in a 55 Gal Tank and he lived the life of Riley. This was in 1998 so by my calculations he's almost 7 years old.

Unfortunately I him when I was with my ex-wife and she got my Michealangelo in the divorce . Hopefully he's still alive and well.

My wife now got sick of hearing me talk about Mikey so she bought me a 55 Gal tank for Xmas this year. Although I didn't do a proper cycle (since I didn't know they exsisted until it was too late) my fish are all doing well and I'm doing water changes everyday to help keep the bad stuff down.

I admit I have tons to learn but the good news is I have alot of time to learn it.

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

Guppies, Guppies, and more Guppies!!!!

I love em period!

I saw those HB blue kind first and thats what did it for me

Anyhow I have kept fish off an on for along time and I will always have a place for them in my Heart

 

[caribou]

I'm new to this forum. just getting back to aquaria after a 10 yr absence. I'm setting up a new 90 gal tank as soon as my cabinet maker get the furiniture done. how much gravel do you think I need for this tank?

 

[spike]

well when i was younger i kept a single albino oscar in a tiny 20

untill needless to say he died

after that i was very dishearted and gave up the hobby until my last b day i decided i needed a hobby to keep me busy during the winter monthes

so again i got a tiny 20 for my b day and got two little oscars for it

in about a month they got too bigg an started to fight..... alot

so i had to give one away i took him too the pet store to get ridd of him

everyone sayed i should try to get money for him but i was too sadd at parting with my friend that i didnt even talk to anyone when i was there i jus found an empty tank said my goodbyes and floated the bagg an ran for the door

after reading alot of info on this fancy computer thing i found i needed to upgrade badly

so i saved all my pennies and looked in every shop i could find for a nice bigg tank for him

finnaly found an alrite deal on a 75 long

didnt really have enuff to set it fully so i had to make sum sacrifice at first

this was almost a year ago an now spike as i call him is gettin pretty bigg

then oner of my friends had to get ridd of his two setups a 30 an a 10

so i gladly accepted these tanks

only problem he kept convicts 2 of them

but 2 convicts turn into 100 convict real fast so i had to find a store that would take them all from me

i did this (got nothin for them he said i should pay him to take em)

now i had an empty 30 an a 10

looked around till i found a store that acually takes care of there fish saw a little yellow fish with black spotts swimmin lookin at me

decided he could grow into the 30 so i set it up brakkish for him an jus recently got him in there (super cute those puffers are and smart too)

so to date i gots a 75 for spike, a 30 for spot, and a 15 or so for sum danios (which are no funn at all) an a couple froggs an a monste plec which i have to switch over soon

so ya about a year i been into it again an im more hooked than ever


wow thats a real long post congrats to me for runnin my bigg mouth

but theres jus so much to say im sure i could go on for hours

oh btw im the new guy, nice to meet yall

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Well, when I was really young (about 10 or 11) I got a 10 Gal tank, and had it set up, the fish in it lasted for 1 year, (there was no heater, just a corner filter)

Recently My Mom moved out west and couldn't take her tank with her, it was a 20 Gallon FW with 2 half striped barbs, 1 Albino Cory and a 9" SailFin Pleco. Feeling bad for the pleco and his cramped enviroment I set on getting a 40-50 Gallon.

Got a call from a guy at work asking if I saw the deal on 75 Gallon tanks at Big Als, so I went down, the 55's and 75's were the same price, so I grabbed a 75 (4' x 18") and that's where I stand for the hobby, this is all in less then 2 months.

I've built a stand for the next tank which I'll be getting shortly, a 150 Gal. then I'll sell this one with filters/gravel to my sister who wants to upgrade the 20 I gave her (originally my Moms)

I don't just get in a hobby, I drag everyone down with me

 

[TashGaia]

Simply put: Platies.

 

[Menagerie]

I don't just get in a hobby, I drag everyone down with me

Sweet!!