What was you first fish tank?

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i've still got my first tank set up in the basement with a little catfish in it, going on five years in it's current setup. it's well over twenty years old, a little ten gallon job. it used to be stuffed to the gills with guppies, and has housed the dreaded carnie goldfish prizes during it's service.
 
they do say you should keep new fish seperate from your own till ypu know they ar'nt deceased wich we never did with our sloth paid the price cause they all died. since cleanig the tank found out iut was'nt my fault the filter was knackered got a really nice new one and a new bubble stick i am so going to take more care of my babies now before it was feed them change water feed them change water they are going to be haapppeeee fish now
 
my first tank was a bowl like a 5gal . i had like 10 feeder fish..i thought they were gold fish... i dont remember much from there i do remember that when i used to clean the tank i would throw all of them in the sink with the water running so they wouldnt die. and i would empty and put new water in the bowl and throw them back in. i was like 6 or 7 then
 
I have one of the worst stories I'm willing to bet. I was probably 10 and got a 10 gallon tank with 2-3 bubble-eye goldfish (can't remember the species name) and a pleco. Had bright black/pink gravel, fake plants, and a Whisper filter with the activated carbon inserts. I fed the fish with flake food, and would change out the filter insert like the directions say once every month. I NEVER did a water change that I can remember and only topped up when it went down. The tank constantly stunk of decay (likely due to the food/poo buildup). I can't recall exactly how long I had the fish but I swear it was at least 2 years.

By that point the 1-2 remaining goldfish were the size of a small apple, and the pleco was probably 5-6 inches long (I was a kid so those sizes could be exaggerated).

Bottom line is those conditions and care were horrifying and I have no clue how the fish survived as long as they did. Probably one of the reasons why I'm so active on these forums...trying to atone for my younger years.

This tank was later taken outside in my backyard one summer when we decided to catch tadpoles. We caught so many from a tiny lake (it was a bad summer I remember and it was drying up so they were concentrated), that you could barely see in the tank. I have no clue how they didn't all die from ammonia poisoning/oxygen depletion, but I remember we returned them to a local stream later in the summer when they had all turned mostly to juvenile frogs.
 
my first tank was a little hexagon no bigger than say 3 gallons, terrifyingly i had a small goldfish in it, and he thrived and i even won a science far doing an experiment with him =] (i did nothing but watched his breathing, no actual experimentation on him) and my neighbor has a few what i know now are mollies, and i took those from him when his mom wouldn't let him keep them, i cured one of ick and i have no idea what happened to any of them

my next was i think a 1.4 gallon bowl with my betta blueberry, i was so happy feeding him each day around 5 and i remember bugging my mom about it, i cried when he died, but then i was about 8 =[

now later down the road i was biking with my mom and found a turtle on the side of the road that didnt look too good so i took him and brought him back to my house, found out later that he had 3 legs, and the other looked like he had it bitten off and it healed, i named him Tripod =] he was no bigger than 3 inches then, and is now about 6 or 7 =] had him for a good 4 or 5 years now in a 10G now a 29G =]

also now have 3 bettas each in a 1.5 G tank each, a 10G with 4 giant danios and 2 Opaline gouramis with my girlfriend's turtle in their with them =] and my most recent addition and current addiction (besides my girlfriend of course =] she's always first) is my 14 biocube with a clarkii clown and firefish goby =]
 
My first tank was a small 1.5 gal hex tank with a beautiful betta well over 20 years ago . I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and it did not live long but it did not help out that my room mates in the barracks while in the Marine Corps were pouring whiskey and beer in the tank to see if my fish would live or die while I was not around . I know , people can be cruel . But that never turned me off from the hobby . As soon as I was out and settled down I bought a 10 gal and worked my way up to larger tanks .

I now tell those interested in starting the hobby to get the biggest tank they can , because of my trial and errors and troubles starting out with small tanks . It's odd looking back on my mistakes and thinking to myself " what was I thinking doing this or that " after all these years of keeping fish . And I am still learning .
 
My first tank was a 10 gallon and I had about three blackmoor goldfish in it (the black goldfish with the googly eyes). I had no set up. I didn't have a filter, a cover, a heater - nothing. I occasionally changed the water. Those three fish lived for years. Go figure. I was just a kid when I had them, but I remember I really liked them a lot and I took as good care of them as I could at that age. The fish eventually died, and then I got a newt - he was brown with flourescent orange spots, and I named him Maurice.
 
When I used to live in NJ, there was a fair in my town every year. They always had this game where you could win a goldfish. So I think my first tank ever was just a bowl that we kept the goldfish in. We eventually got a 10 gallon and kept some goldfish in it. I also had a betta around that time. I just kept it in a small bowl. I didn't really like it and eventually got bored of it. I think it died. I was only 9 or 10 at the time. I feel really bad now when I look back.
 
Growing up, we always had a fish tank (as well as dogs, cats, hamsters, and birds) that my Mom took care of. The fish tank that I remember most is when I was around 10 yrs old. Mom had a climbing potted plant that was a get well gift, as it grew and climbed she ran out of places to put it. Eventually it was put next to the FW fish tank that was filled with an array of fish that we liked, plus the little tacky looking decorations :)
I should've mentioned that at the time we lived in Westwego, Louisiana.
One day we saw the leaves moving on the top of the plant. After a few moments of watching...a lizzard climbed out onto the top of the tank, held on to the edge and got a drink of water. We never moved the plant until we were sure the lizzard had moved on ;)
 
knowing me as a little kid (and now ;)) i would have been in that bush lookinn for that lizard.
 
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