What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[Frontosa Lover]

My uncle had caught a blue crayfish and thought it would make a great pet for me. I fed it turtle food and the occasional dinner scrap. He died trying to get out of the tank. I kept fish ever since (think I'll try a cobalt blue lobster one day). His name was Digger.

 

[Mayka]

When I was young we always had lots of pets 2 goodies who started in a ten gallon bit for given away into a pond, hamster, cats a dog. after we have away the fish out hamster died and out last car ran away. I would always ask if we could get a pet again. Answer was always no. After years we finally got a dog because we couldn't put him back in the cage in the shelter, has still stubborn to this day. Then we got tadpoles, none of them survived some escaped as we had them outside in an appartment (local ones not exotic imports) the rest does when we tryed to frog proof the tank, you are missed little dereks! :'( stupid idea but it started my desire for fish, so I could prove I wasn't useless. We then for another dog. And after alot of begging I was allowed a fish tank. But I had to do the research and keep the fish alive for longer than a month. Here I am 4 months later and only two shrimps died. Nearly had shrimp babies! But now have 2 male platys (suprisingly they get along ok) and three corydoras ( hopeing to get one more soon) one speckled and 2 pandas.

 

[louphoenix]

My dad bought me my first fish tank when I was just a little kid, so that's how I got started. I always loved the concept of a contained ecosystem and the fact that a healthy fish tank is exactly that. I've visited the amazon rain forest 3 times, twice as a child and once as an adult. On my second trip, I remember rowing my canoe over a shallow river pool with a rather endless grassy bottom and the shimmer of an enormous school of neon/cardinals (impossible to tell from that distance, they move so fast!). Nonetheless, it was absolutely breathtaking in the sunlight and from that moment on I was hooked. The rest is history!

 

[Ruutah]

Had tanks off and on growing up as a kid, even a few as an adult. But I worked 70 hours a week managing a restaurant and couldn't put the time in it needed. That and we lived in FL. I wanted to see fish I drove down the road and could snorkle a creek, river, spring. Or take a boat ride and go dive a reef.

Recently we moved to WV. I miss the water, and I've always loved the idea of a planted tank. So a freshwater tank was a no brainer.

 

[zooking12]

In the fifth grade, my science teacher required us to do a science project every quarter. My idea, at the beginning of the year, was to buy a newt to do all my experimentation (observational) on. The setup, complete with a newt, was $100. My mom, who was afraid of anything with legs, wasn't for it, however. So instead, we got a fish tank. The morning after my first night of fishkeeping, I woke up to swordtail fry. I took them out, fed and raised them, and 7 tanks and countless fish later, I'm hooked!

 

[OlgaL]

Got a wild caught crayfish, which as I discovered needed space and tank and some fish to catch... A year later I have a different wild caught crayfish, 4 fish tanks, dwarf shrimp , and about 20 different types of fish I'm hooked for life

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[traci.shea86]

Mine's pretty simple....I fell in love with a betta and it just grew from there lol

I would like to eventually have a saltwater tank with seahorses and grow my own coral reef.

 

[fishyb]

I was born in Okinowa Japan when my dad was stationed at Kedena Air force base. My dad had a fish tank with a puffer fish in it that my "Uncle" Flick obtained. I remember watching that thing eat. I thought it was an awesome fish. I remember after the puffer fish passed my dad cleaned the tank out and set it up for fresh water. We didn't have the money to go buy lots of fancy fish since he was in the Marine Corps not making that much money. We did however go out and buy some fresh fish that was in the tanks for sale at the market for cheap. Good memories. Anyways fast forward a couple of years. I was 12 years old living in the United States my dad got deployed to Iraq. in early 2000. Well, I used to maintain my 55 gallon tank to keep me from obsessing over my dads deployment. You know keep my mind busy so I didn't worry. Had sword fish (successful breeding pairs), had a crawfish in their that I caught out of a ditch and tossed in. Some guppies, and tiger barbs. It was a pretty sweet set up. Now I am 27 years old and getting ready to set up a tank. So me and my son can have memories taking care of it and have enjoyment. He loves the one my parents have at their house so I figured why not.

 

[guppygourami]

I was born in Okinowa Japan when my dad was stationed at Kedena Air force base. My dad had a fish tank with a puffer fish in it that my "Uncle" Flick obtained. I remember watching that thing eat. I thought it was an awesome fish. I remember after the puffer fish passed my dad cleaned the tank out and set it up for fresh water. We didn't have the money to go buy lots of fancy fish since he was in the Marine Corps not making that much money. We did however go out and buy some fresh fish that was in the tanks for sale at the market for cheap. Good memories. Anyways fast forward a couple of years. I was 12 years old living in the United States my dad got deployed to Iraq. in early 2000. Well, I used to maintain my 55 gallon tank to keep me from obsessing over my dads deployment. You know keep my mind busy so I didn't worry. Had sword fish (successful breeding pairs), had a crawfish in their that I caught out of a ditch and tossed in. Some guppies, and tiger barbs. It was a pretty sweet set up. Now I am 27 years old and getting ready to set up a tank. So me and my son can have memories taking care of it and have enjoyment. He loves the one my parents have at their house so I figured why not.

Wow, love the story. Very sweet and inspiring!

 

[Themollyguy]

Well my story is a bit odd into how I got into fish. Before aquariums I was really into gardening , herbs and vegetables was something I enjoyed doing. I walked into Petco one day and noticed the aquatic plants they had. The idea of them really fascinated me so I bought an anubia. Ended up buying a small 5 gallon tank just with dirt , gravel, anubias java fern and duckweed. I looked more into aquariums and fish keeping and got pretty interested. I have about 2 months keeping fish , currently have two 5 gallons , one 10 gallon and one 2.5 gallon. Currently keep molly with their fry, CAE , apple snails and a few Guppy's and goldfish. Once I save up enough money I plan on buying a larger tank and using the ones I currently own as planted aquariums with maybe a few fish. I'm just glad I got into the hobby !

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[ub3rn00ber]

won a gold fish from a fair... That stupid little guy cost me about $4000, 5g to 29g to 40, to 100g. Now I a 45g salt tank also. He also didn't make it, RIP little LT!

 

[lunch]

Not surprised if he ended up in a 45gal salt tank

 

[JMeyer]

I watched Tanked on Animal Planet

 

[Coursair]

I waded in a stream and saw fish and tadpoles and wanted a glass box of Nature to stare at in my house. My Mom got me a 20g tank and then I got the William Innes book ( my fishy bible)
https://www.amazon.com/Exotic-Aquarium-Fishes-William-Innes/dp/B0007J33FS

 

[nirbhao]

My daughter wanted a fish bowl. We did actually buy a one gallon bowl, but we learned pretty quickly and now have a 29 gallon community and 10 gallon guppy tank.

 

[ChanEKC]

Well my kids and i have had a really rough couple of years and have been begging and begging for a cat or a dog, and I didn't want to pay the 400 dollar pet deposit fee plus the "pet rent" which was an extra 15 bucks a month so I thought that a little fish tank would be nice and easy to manage. Buuut then I got to the fish store the little 5g tanks just didn't look apealing and so we ended up walking out with a 20g tank and 4 mollys. .. fast forward to now and we have a 29g tank and 6 mollys, a dwarf suckermouth and a Violet Goby.. the longer we have the tank the less it's for the kids. When we first bought it it had bright blue and red substrate with lots of cartoonish decorations. Now we have sand mixed with a little crushed coral, drift wood and rock caves to replace the cartoon decor and live plants all over the place. As for the easy to manage part I was totally wrong. I now realize why my mom's fish died so quickly! I spend more time changing out the water and testing levels than I do cleaning the kids' rooms.

 

[nirbhao]

the longer we have the tank the less it's for the kids.

Ditto. [emoji226]

 

[skradtim]

Decoration but now thinking of going more to plants with a few fish that are easy and require little water changes.

 

[moenaise]

My first tank was a 55 gallon piranha tank that I raise them from babies ( the size of a piece of rice). I had them for about 6 years and had to move so I sold them. Now I have a 30 gallon planted tank with the focus on a pair of German blue rams and a 5 gallon planted betta tank.

 

[max h]

I had a few 10 gallon aquariums as a kid over 40 years ago and enjoyed them. In the mid 80's living in an apartment i got a 30 gallon with a under-gravel filter and power head. After moving to Hawaii i did a conversion to try my hand at a saltwater system which didn't work out so well. Now this was all before the internet and all the fancy test kits etc. About 3 years ago our dog died of cancer, i talked my girlfriend into letting me put a 55 gallon system in I found for cheap. That worked for about 6 months, I ended up getting her a boarder collie pup for cheap. This last year she had really started getting into the aquarium since I started converting it to live plants instead of the artificial ones that where in it. She was wanting more fish then what we had and the 55 was getting close to being overstocked. Well long story short I found an Oceanic 110 with wood stand and canopy for $300, $10 for a used canister filter plus what I had on the 55, a pair of new LED lights at $50, heaters for $15, and 150 pounds of substrate at $25. Right now after a month the plants have doubled to tripled their size, the fish population has grown to the point I'm giving few away to make room for some more cory cats to fill out their shoals. i did stay away from salt again because of cost and maintenance on the systems.