What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[DepotFish]

Can't pass the fish section in the store without stopping to make fishy faces! I needed a pet I can have in my dorm room and watching my fish relaxes me after a hard day in class.

 

[boomboom]

It really started because I didn't want to waste a tank. about a year ago my son beg and i mean beg for a lizard and so for his 10th birthday I purchase a leporad gekco, unfortunatly is commited sucide , but with two large lab always licking your tank wouldn't you.So it started harmlessly
a 20 gallon tank, guppies,danio and a pleco. then I saw a beautiful shark ,
and then the tank was empty, no more shark my 15 yr daught was terrible upset. I fill the twenty gallon to easy then up graded to a 33 gallon an month ago and converted my 20 gallon to brackish ( love my dragon like my kids) and now well i need a bigger tank, in truth two teenage kids, two dogs full time demanding job and a husband my tank are the most peacful thing I have

 

[Flutterby21782]

I took a second job at a pet store, owner was a friend of my currant boss. In the store there were puffers, a parrot cichlid, and a yellow cichlid (small, kinda rectangular in shape, Walmart sells them). One day the tank got sick, I set up some sick tanks (store didn't have them). Needless to say I fell in love with them, when they appeared to be better I took them all home. Within a few weeks the puffers and teh cichlid died. The parrot is still kicking, has another parrot buddy, 8 tiger barb friends, a pleco buddy, and a red lobster.

 

[honmol]

. . .

When I was 8 my parents separated and my dad moved about a mile away. He lives in a condo with a decent sized patio in back. Well, I'd always loved elephants so when he found a small elephant spitter he got it and a small pond for it to spit into. Later we got a path so that the water would travel into the path and down into the pond. We got a few floating plants and put river rocks in the bottom. Next we decided that we needed some fish for the pond and went and purchased 4 guppies. Within a month I had about 60. They outgrew the pond pretty fast so I started moving them into tanks. Now I have to sell most of my fry but I accidentally inbred them (even though I kept adding new stock) and now I have a gorgeous male with a pretty blue and gren spotted tail that's as big as he is, maybe bigger. I'm starting on community aquariums and want to eventually move into salt water

 

[Itwasthisbig]

I had a particular crazy friend who through these great parties with 70's theme's, well he still lives in the 70's

I always wound up waking up on the coach with my face against his tank 250g. Then I noticed any time I was in his house that I sat next to the tank and people used to shout at me because I was mesmerised.

Purchased a tank that day and never looked back.

 

[CompMage]

WHen I was a child, many many years ago. My parents friend had 3 huge SW tanks and a FW tank in every room of the house. And I mean everyroom, I'll let you think about that for a minute or two. Yep one there too!! Anyways I've always admired them.

I've never been able to till now that I live on my own and have my own place and I don't got to worry about a cat fishing. My parents excuse when I was young. I can now have lots of fish. And I DO

I currently have
55G Perfecto Tank /w
7 Three Spot Blue Gouramis
7 Black Skirt Tetras
4 Small gold colored fish of unknown species.
1 Black Mistery Snail

10G Perfecto tank /w
8 Fancy Guppies

10G Perfecto tank /w - At my office
4 Fancy Guppies
5 Neon Tetras

50G Unknown brand tank - Planted
15 Tiger Barbs
1 Rainbow Shark

 

[Japola44]

Well let me see here... I think my ubsession started at a young age.
I remember my first fish were 2 gold fish when i was 3 or 4. After that i got 2 salamanders and a 10 gal tank. When they died 2 years later, my small animal hobby went into the closet. I found horses not exactly something u keep in an aquarium. In any case I eventualy some how ended up with a box turtle that ate lettuce and turkey(i know not natural...blame my sister lol), but he got sick and my dad took him to an aqaurium. Left with an empty 20 gallon I convinced my parents to get me a leopard gecko. He lived for a good few years until when out of town our care takers didn't care for him. Suddenly last year I decided on getting fish a very spontanious choice. I got a bunch of guppies and plopped them into my 10 gal. They eventualy all passed from what i now know as ick. So again out of randomness i had the urge to get a real tank set up. So, i did. Here i am now with a 10 gal puffer tank, a 20 gal tank with a baby bichir senegal and baby bgk and 2 dwarf gouramis. Soon i shall have my 55 cycling to move my bichir and bgk to. From there i suppose the next set up is 100 gal tank lol. In any case i love it. I love it a lot. I have always been intersted in aquatics and its great to have some pretty and interesting fish swiming around

 

[Ryehard]

I've always had a facination with aquariums and aquatic life in general, but never thought of having an aquarium of my own because I never knew anyone that had one. Then one day a friend of mine purchased one of those baby red-eared sliders you can get at flea markets and in china town and discovered he had no clue how to take care of it. When he got tired of it I decided to adopt it and bought everything under the sun that I thought would aid in it's survival including many reading refferences. 6 months later I was left with a 29 gallon aquarium, a few different filters, tons of decorations and water quality products and no more turtle (R.I.P). It finally hit me that a freshwater aquarium would be a great idea, and would certainly be something I could handle after spending several hours a day tending to a sick turtle. So far so good. Now I just can't wait until I can get more larger tanks!

 

[potterlu]

So, what made me want a freshwater tank, huh? I'm not quite sure. I know my family had a small (2-3 gallon) tank when I was a kid; fish never seemed to last too long in that thing, and I was never really bitten to look after fish overly diligently. It became the domain of my mom and sister, and we saw various goldfish and bettas come and go over the years.

Fast forward about 10 or 15 years. I'm now done university, and one day walked into a furniture store to poke around at stuff for my apartment. I walk in the basement, and there's a "huge" tank sitting there. I ended up picking up the tank about a week or two later.

That tank was set up in September. Now I have the original small tank from my parent's place, a 10 gallon, a 25, a 45, and a 60. I think I'm coming across another 45 in the next week, and may be picking up a 125 on Monday. My name is Luke and I have a problem...

Luke

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Obsession with eels, sharks, loaches, etc.

 

[jgc8fan]

Hmmm... What hooked me was... My brother had a big 55 gallon SW tank with a lionfish that I never paid any attention to... I was more of a rodent person (hamsters, gerbils, mice, and even a rat once), but when my brother got rid of the tank I found a Wardley Tropical fish book lying around and started looking through the pics... Well... When I turned 17 I was helping my brother move and found that book again... Went out a couple days later and bought a 10 gallon tank setup. Been hooked ever since except for 7 years ago I decided to try a SW aquarium... I kept it up for 6 years, but could never get a handle on algae. Gave the SW up last year (still miss my Maroon Clown, and my Coral Banded Shrimp) and switched back to fresh. Right now I have 40 gallon and 20 gallon freshwater tanks.

 

[aquanewbie72]

I had fish often as a kid - nothing major - 10 gallon tank with assorted goldfish won at the county fair and so forth, a neon tetra and algae eater here and there. My husband was an aquarium junkie before I met him- unfortunately he had to let it all go when life led him down paths where fishes and 55 gallon planted tanks couldn't go.
But then he met me! And often spoke of how much he missed it and his stories and passion for it really got me re-interested in it as well. So, this past Christmas, I decided all I wanted was a fish tank. And thats what I got - a 26 gallon glass bow front aquarium.
Its been a rough start - I had to get through the cycle, an ich epidemic which killed almost everything, and lately a mother of an ammonia spike that had me freaked out. But the tank has been up and running 2 months now, I have 7 healthy happy fish to show for it. And I can't wait to UPGRADE next Christmas.... I'm thinking 90 gallon?? LOL

 

[raverain]

Also another newbie making the obligatory intro...

My father (RIP) kept three 75 gal FW tanks until I was about 6. I have childhood memories of angel fish and large plecos, etc. My wife (fiance at the time, 6 years ago) and I had some luck with a 10 gal. goldfish tank so we jumped on the chance to inherit a 40 gal. from a friend that was moving many states away. We had to move it and all it's inhabitants 25 miles to my house but they all survived. Our success with this tank forced us to setup the 10 gal. again. Next came the betta tank, and now we just got a 70 gal on a stand with a 35 that is exactly the same width as the 70. It was used but it all cleaned up great and I am looking forward to adding livestock soon, as well as posting some pics because we put a decent amount of work into this tank and stand. We aren't sure what we are going to do with the 35, bt we are considering making it a newt tank. However, next up in the fish world is a salt tank!

 

[Guest]

I have always liked aquariums but never thought I could have one. Here is my story:

I found this 6 gallon tank at a sale for $3.50. It was a nice one too. I thought..oH! I could put a turtle in there!!!!! So I bought it and then realized that a turtle would be too big for that tank. I then decided to get some fish. I had no clue what I was doing so I bought a dwarf gourami, yellow gourami, and a goldfish, and a ADF. A week later the dwarf died..then the goldfish, then the ADF...my yello g. lived for a year and a half. When I found a 29 gal. at a sale for only $15(came with hood and everything) I got it. I moved my gourami in there and got platies and mollies. my fish did better in there. I have read as much as I can on fish and have gotten better at it. I still have more to learn but I really enjoy looking at my fish.

 

[benda]

in college, my friend's roomate had a tank of piranha. i was fascinated by these fish, but never thought about keeping them because i didn't grow up with fish or other pets of any kind. i didn't think i could handle the responsibility.

this christmas, my girlfriend gave me 2 hermit crabs, which i've kept in a 10 gallon. as i became comfortable with the semi-daily maintenance, i found myself fascinated again with piranha (but not any other fish - i wanted something "awesome"). last month, after a few weeks of research, i sprung for a 29 gallon tank with the intent of keeping a single prianha for life.

in the process of "fishy" cycling with some barbs, i decided against getting a piranha. i found out the 29g is way too small, and i figured i'd probably lose interest in watching the piranha after a few weeks or months. rather than give up and/or return my tank, i decided to go with a freshwater setup.

i now have a few barbs in my 29 g, nearing the end of the cycling process, and i can't wait to start adding other freshwater community fish and finding out where this hobby takes me. and who knows, maybe somewhere down the line i'll have a large tank where i can admire a school of healthy piranha.

 

[kaz]

budget

 

[kyektulu]

It was my partner that first wanted to keep tropical fish as his father did when he was growing up.
The first aquarium I bopught him for christmas it was a Rio 125.
Since then it has really got me into fishkeeping.
We have even made 3 tier 9foot long shelves in the spare room which now house 5 aquariums used for breeding and quarentining, except one large bow-fronted tank which is used to house my prize Dragon Goby!
Of course we are going to continue adding more tanks to our fishy family, im sure we will never believe that we have enough fish or tanks.

 

[mrspughster]

Growing up my parents raised angel fish and oscars. We had a few tanks running most of the time. Once we started moving all over Texas they got rid of the tanks. Then about 6 years ago my dad wanted a tank again. He bought a 55g and had bala sharks and some other small fish. He also bought a small pleco. He unfortunately started losing his sight and could no longer keep the tank. So I begged my hubby, telling him that would be an awesome Mother's Day gift. We had a 10g already and I combined the two tanks. I kept the balas until the grew too big and kept jumping out of the tank. Found a cool fish store to give them to. I still have the pleco which is now 14" long. Plan on setting up the 10g for a plant tank. Gotta get it back from a friend that has a turtle in it now. I love my fish. They know who I am and will come say hi when I sit by the tank. I find it totally relaxing.

 

[fishygurl]

When i was 6 or 7 i had a whole bunch of christmas money because people kept buying me stuff that didnt fit, so i randomly (and i mean out of the blue!) decided i want "fishys". So i got a 3 gallon tank with no heater, under gravel filter not cycled of course. And what did i put in it? A neon tetra and a albino cory! (ouch) I named them eartha and tuba (are you starting to get the impression that i was very wierd when i was little! ) Surprisingly, they lived for three years. Well, now i am 12 and i just recently get a new tank, 24 gallon fishless cycled and now the home of 6 cherry barbs 3 zebra danios a pair of dwarf gouramis and 2 cories. My friends think im wierd for actually reasearching fish, but i look at their tanks (very few have them though) they usually have crazys set ups with nothing right, including awful stocking plans. Then they get all upset when they just throw some fish in a tank and they all die within the week. I love my fish and i wish that people would learn to appreciate this hobby better.

 

[Guest]

Its a fun hobby - lots of accessories and you can create a living piece of art with a good planted tank. Why freshwater? Cheaper, easier, and just as cool IMO.