Your first tank

[AJ_117]

So what was you guys' first tank? How long ago was that (and pictures if you gave em). If you still have it, how has it evolved? How much have you learned since then?

Heres mine; my 10g community when I was 18

 

[AJ_117]

And here it is now - 2 years later - a betta tank

 

[Bbarb27]

My first tank was a 29 gallon in 1994. Undergravel filter, black mollies and a common pleco. The internet barely existed at the time so everything I learned was from books and other aquarists, and I knew nothing about fishless cycling. Amazingly, the mollies and pleco lived through a fish-in cycle and survived for many years although I now realize the pleco's growth was stunted.


Tank is still in use (but I now have 7 more!) and is a lowlight, planted tank with sand substrate, a bristlenose pleco and school of julii cories. No more undergravel filter though!

 

[sinibotia]

A 26 gallon bowfront when I was 9. Still holds water! Took it down when I left for college. But before I left it had cherry barbs and ram cichlids! Someday I'm going to bring it back up here and do something cool with it.

 

[coralbandit]

first aquarium(not goldfish bowl) was a 29g meta frame slate bottom in 1977.
First aquarium(for fish) in my own living arrangement( second floor apartment)1985
was a 6' 100g on an angle iron stand!(even then safe enough to have 6x6 inch diamond plate steel cut for under feet with carpet added{the math still scares me}).
Can't remember much besides guppies and livebearers for the 29.
The 100 had all the fish I was not supposed too!
Snakehead,arrowanna ,pacu(red and black) clown knife, stingray and of course over all my years of fish keeping....clown loaches!
200 LARGE goldfish a week for a year and never lost one clown!!For real!
All the big fish got traded back in!
The arrowanna is still one of my favorite fish I will probably never keep again.
I do still however have 11 clown loaches in my 180gallon DT(display tank) that are between 10-15 years old!

 

[sinibotia]

first aquarium(not goldfish bowl) was a 29g meta frame slate bottom in 1977.
First aquarium(for fish) in my own living arrangement( second floor apartment)1985
was a 6' 100g on an angle iron stand!(even then safe enough to have 6x6 inch diamond plate steel cut for under feet with carpet added{the math still scares me}).
Can't remember much besides guppies and livebearers for the 29.
The 100 had all the fish I was not supposed too!
Snakehead,arrowanna ,pacu(red and black) clown knife, stingray and of course over all my years of fish keeping....clown loaches!
200 LARGE goldfish a week for a year and never lost one clown!!For real!
All the big fish got traded back in!
The arrowanna is still one of my favorite fish I will probably never keep again.
I do still however have 11 clown loaches in my 180gallon DT(display tank) that are between 10-15 years old!

I want to see all of those clowns, I need pictures. You're describing my dream tank

 

[AJ_117]

first aquarium(not goldfish bowl) was a 29g meta frame slate bottom in 1977.
First aquarium(for fish) in my own living arrangement( second floor apartment)1985
was a 6' 100g on an angle iron stand!(even then safe enough to have 6x6 inch diamond plate steel cut for under feet with carpet added{the math still scares me}).[emoji38]
Can't remember much besides guppies and livebearers for the 29.
The 100 had all the fish I was not supposed too!
Snakehead,arrowanna ,pacu(red and black) clown knife, stingray and of course over all my years of fish keeping....clown loaches!
200 LARGE goldfish a week for a year and never lost one clown!!For real!
All the big fish got traded back in!
The arrowanna is still one of my favorite fish I will probably never keep again.
I do still however have 11 clown loaches in my 180gallon DT(display tank) that are between 10-15 years old!

That big of a tank in an apartment was brave hahaha. I like hearing all the stories of older tanks back in the day, since technology has changed drastically (no LEDs or digital controllers or the like), especially being a relatively new fish keeper myself

 

[Brookster123]

Maybe Fresh2o will.post my firstish for me.. can't find it on my phone..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[bettaowner]

My first tank was an eclipse 6 gallon bowfront from when I was 4. I raised guppies in it and remember giving some away to other family members. Since then I started doing more natural planted tanks.

 

[Nils]

Mine was actually just 2 years ago. I went through a fish in cycle with 2 Julie Cory catfish and one peppered Cory. Surprisingly they all made it through. The 10 gallon they were in is actually a land hermit crab tank now, the hermit crabs old tank had a crack in the bottom and so once the fish were in a 16 (my current tank) I used the 10 for crabs�� Don't have pictures and I am kinda glad because it was the most sort excuse for an aquarium you would have ever seen. But yeah that was my first tank.

 

[dragon14]

2g Aqueon tank:
http://www.amazon.com/Aqueon-AQE17100-Evolve-Aquariums-2-Gallon/dp/B00BUFRQ0G

With a male betta last June. He is the fish in my profile picture. Sadly, we lost him last October due to dropsy It was heartbreaking. We loved him so much.

We still have it; it's an emergency betta tank or a quarantine tank now.

 

[ImACoolguy]

I want to see all of those clowns, I need pictures. You're describing my dream tank

Lol Sini *heavy breathing* pver the clowns.

My first tank was a 2.5g from petsmart after my cousin dared me to keep a goldfish with him. He had his in a bowl and its name was Juliet. Mine was a black moor goldfish named Wilbur. Needless to say he lasted a week before getting ich and died. I was so distraught that I lost my little friend I *hangs head in shame* got 3 more and over time they didn't die of ich but rather jumped. Very disappointed I vowed to sit down and do research and the rest is history.

I used to have a picture of it. Needless to say it was very cloudy. The tank has held many things since them from the goldfish to guppies to a tiny QT to a wild caught crayfish(picture). It now rests as a snail culture for a puffer.




Caleb

 

[TheresaM]

I kept bettas since I was in middle school but my first 'real' tank was a 29g kit the spouse gave me for Xmas over 10 years ago. It sat on a half wall in our townhouse so the front could be seen from the living room, the back from the kitchen. At various points along the way it housed:

platies
pearl gourami
yo yo loaches
kuhli loaches
bristlenose plec
dwarf puffer
German ram
paradise fish pair that successfully spawned
krib pair that successfully spawned

I no longer have that particular tank but it was a surprise gift that I absolutely loved and learned so much from!

 

[PassengerTN]

Won a goldfish from the fair in Memphis when I was 3 or 4 (1992-1993) years old , named him Gus. Parents got me what I would guess was a 5-8 gallon hex style tank. Gus lived many many years in that tank too. My dad worked at a fiberglass plant back then and brought home big sheets of plexiglass and made his own tank. It was probably 4.5ft long, 2ft tall, and 8 inches wide. Sat on top of the bar in the kitchen. Once he had it sealed water tight, he brought him a few dozen feeder goldfish and dumped them into it, along with Gus who was probably 6-7 years old at that point. All the fish died, he couldn't figure out why, tank got tossed out. Fast forward to now, I'm in my mid-20s, married with two kids and we have 4 tanks. Lucky for my kids, I'm vastly more knowledgeable than my father was back then and we haven't lost any fish that my kids have claimed as their beloved wet pets lol

Jesse

 

[FishieKeeper429]

I started with a betta. In a one gallon. I know. It's terrible. But I knew nothing, I just really want a fish because I never had any pets due to my mom being allergic to cats and my dad being allergic to dogs and all of my brothers and sisters being allergic to both... Except me. So I saved up my money at the beginning of freshman year of high school and bought my beloved betta, Socrates. I bought him a tiny 1g betta kit, knowing no better and having very little money to spend. I used the crappy packaged food that came with it and MAJORLY over fed him but he was a hardy fish. I eventually realized that Socrates was not very happy and I look around the Internet to find out why and I stumbled on this website and it's all history from there. Socrates lived to be a year and half old and died when I moved across the country and the movers abused my fish. He lived in a 5g at the end of his life. He was a good fish. I bought a betta after to make up for missing him and now I'm a betta breeder so how about that! here's a picture of his 1g tank

Then his 5g

 

[Clayman]

My first tank was about two years ago. It was a 10g with 6 tiger barbs that I got to use as a nightlight in my kids room. I cycled it with fish in before I knew anything about fish keeping. Can't believe they made it. Didn't change water until the cycle completed. Wow. Now I have 6 tanks running. I have learned a ton since then. A lot of it from coralbandit who posted earlier.

 

[cgthebeast]

I was about 12 at the time an got My first fish who was also a betta named shark (it was a very vicious bugger) sadly I didn't know any better an kept him in a half gallon for at least a month with a plastic plant. One day I notice his fins didn't look right an low and behold he had fin rot. This started my adventure into the wet world with me buying him a 3 gallon with a heater an a filter. After setting him up an watching how much more active he got, I was hooked. That was 5 yrs ago an Shark lived into4yrs of that adventure happy and healthy. Now I've had owned an takes down
Sharks 3 gallon (torn down)
10g freshwater (torn down)
25g FW(torn down)
45g hex(torn down)
25g SW (torn down)
36g bow front (up an running)
10g SW (it's back up though I'm about to tear it down)
Future 55g saltwater upgrade (pumped and broke for that)

Now my father had fish when I was about 4-6 yrs old an I think that was what really inspired me into getting me into this hobby. Trying to claim apart of my childhood back

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[xXDiamondNekoXx]

My first tank was a small 1.5 gallon with a betta in it. I kept owning more bettas in there until I realized I had to get a proper tank. It is now a 2.8 gallon tank with two nerites in it, Stalker 1 and Stalker 2.

 

[54seaweed]

My first saltwater tank after not having one for almost 20 years ,
It is a 37g bow front I had it set up about a year and a half . in 2013 it won feb tank of the month the link below will bring you to it.
February 2013 Tank of the Month: 54seaweed's 37 Gallon Mixed Reef
unfortunately after this I up graded to a 40B that I kept till 2014 , than I upgraded again to a 90g you can see that by using the link below my signature,
tearing down the first 2 tanks was very heart breaking but in the end it was worth it

 

[Mebbid]

29g 2.5 years ago