What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[FishGeek97]

For me, it all started when i went to some aquarium stores in melbourne fl, just for fun. After i got a look at an amazon tank with Discus, angels, and tons of beautiful tetras. i was hooked!

 

[MRT555]

I really want I large saltwater aquarium, but don't fell I have enough experience (or money). So I decided to go with freshwater, and get Cichlids. Someday I will get my saltwater tank though

 

[calfishguy]

I also want a large salt water.

 

[FishGeek97]

Haha me too, i'm actually building a 75g reef tank!

 

[Jill]

I got a 10 gallon for my 11th birthday, and I've been in love ever since.

 

[calfishguy]

Cool I'm thinking bigger like 200 gallons for the future.

 

[savage]

When I was a little kid, my grandpa and uncles had some beautiful tanks. Everything from pirahna to tetras. I remember spending a lot of time around them back then. My dad had what I think was a 20g in our house. I remember thinking the angel fish were the coolest things I'd ever seen. We never really knew how to take care of it (I think, I was pretty little), so it soon became an iguana habitat. But when we made the trek from Chicago to Wyoming, the tank didn't go with us.
So, some 20yrs later, I bought a 30g FW for my family when we lived in SoCal. I started with peaceful fish and a goal of having a pair of angels. Unfortunately we still didn't know what we were doing, and my wife was obsessed with cichlids. So, other than my eel, my peaceful fish perished.

We then moved to Wisconsin, and the tank did not make that journey with us.

I travel a lot for work and back in November I returned late one Friday night from a trip to Boise and wasn't feeling so good. A couple of days later I ended up in the hospital with internal bleeding. Spent a week in the ICU and basically came real close to kicking the bucket. I'm not an old guy, so this was a pretty big deal for my family.

Anyhow, death didn't want me, so I came out of it craving more hobbies. I wanted to do more meaningful things with my time. First I bought a new DSLR camera (actually did that on my laptop from the bed in ICU). Second, I went and got myself a 20g starter kit. I was so engrossed in it that I got my wife a 37g (it's now a cichlid tank, imagine that) and got my kids each a 10g starter kit. Then my brother saw how into it I was that he gave me his old 55g out of his garage. It had a leak and needed a reseal. Well, it's freakin winter, so I can't do a reseal in winter without having to leak test it in the garage. So I hit the Petsmart $1/g sale and got a 55g to use with all of the accessories my lil' bro gave me. The rest is history.
I am now an addict. By this summer I should add the other 55g, and we'll have 2-55g's, 1-37g, 1-20g, 2-10g. AND I'm planning on doing a 5g Betta bedside tank by June. My sife is also encouraging me to keep an eye on Craigslist for a good deal on a 125g, but she says that I have to re-do the floors upstairs first. LOL! I just can't get enough of this hobby. Oh, and count on more tanks, because my daughters guppies are fixing to multiply!!!!

 

[phoenixkiller]

My obsession started when I converted my 10 gallon turtle tank into a cheap Freshwater tank... and my fish journey has just begun...

 

[nwsharksfan]

I had a 30 gal reef tank in CA. When I moved to WA I got rid of everything and got a 92 gal tank. I didn't want to fork out a grand for live rock for another SW tank so I decided to go freshwater. I love my oscar - but I miss seeing all the random feather dusters, polyps and other random critters popping out of the live rock. My SW tank was also much more impressive looking. My FW tank has bog wood, and oscar, a jack dempsey and a couple plastic plants.

 

[Jenn27]

My mom got me started on my obsession. It started about 8 years ago, and took a break while we lived in Germany for over 4 years. At first, I just had Goldies and didn't know squat about taking care of the water other than vacuuming. I even did a total cleaning of everything (drained 100% of water) every month.

NOW, I know how WRONG that was. Now, I have a 55 gal tank with an Oscar that I adore, and I know how to take care of him right. We also have a 20 gal goldie tank that belongs to my oldest daughter...even though am the one that cares for it. lol We are also planning on a 100+ gal tank to move my Oscar into, and I want to change my 55 gal tank into a home for some schools of smaller fish, and a Golden Nugget Pleco. But, that plan is still under construction.

My husband wants a saltwater tank, as do I, but we just don't have the time or the money for that kind of venture yet. Perhaps when the kids are grown and out of the house.....

 

[Athaocity]

my inspiration would come from planted aquariums and tanks like iwagumi. when i first got into fish keeping, the "awesome ability", i would say, to create a small tank full of nature inspired me even more to go further into keeping aquariums and keep tropical fishes. i started when my older bro just got back from national gaurd training and he told me "yo im gonna set up a fish tank!" so i was like, "yeah! i was just thinking about one too!" so thats how my story began.....

 

[Zaedon]

Aquarium envy! When I was about 12 my parents friend moved in with us. He brought his 60g freshwater aquarium with him. I was fascinated with the aquarium right away and became a bit jealous. I asked my parents for an aquarium of my own. They bought me a 10g which I thought was too small, but was thrilled to have. I don't remember the fish I had in it, but there was a few. When I was 15 my parents bought a 55g and put me in charge of taking care of it. I had a blast! When I was 18 I bought my own 55g and put in a variety of community fish. After a few years I had a room full of aquariums ranging from 10g to 320g. After my son was born we needed the room so I sold all of my aquariums. Just recently I decided it was time to start a new and bought a 75g. One day I will have my fish room back to full again muwhahahahah. I have only ever had freshwater aquariums as I have always feared saltwater.

 

[ohbabyme]

Love the fishes!

Growing up we always had a fish tank in the house, and the fish were always rotating since my dad thought a fish of the month program was fun. I could spend hours watching the fish, mostly mollies, swim around.

Now I am the mom, and my kids love to catch crawdads in the creek behind my mom's house. For Christmas 2011, I teamed up with my dad and we bought them a 10 gallon kit and a friend gave each of my girls a crawdad. The tank was very tall, so it felt like wasted space not having any fish swimming around.

After much trial and error, and morons at the pet store looking to make a quick buck, I am hoping to really turn this into a hobby for myself and maybe my girls. We love to watch the fish and crawdads in our free time. We now have the 10 gallon tank as a fry tank since mollies breed like crazy, and a 20 gallon tank for the adult fish and crawdads.

 

[laoski]

when i was a child - 3 decades ago, i was so envious with our neighbor of their aquarium, i kept pestering my parents to buy me one and they would always say no. finally i convinced mym other to buy me a gourami but no aquarium tank so i kept it in a bottle and it died the next day lol. no amount of crying convinced them to buy me a tank set.

when i graduated from elementary school with good grades - after the ceremony my parents took me to the petshop that i always go just to see fishes swimming in the aquarium tanks and suprised me that theyre buying me an aquarium tank with fishes! i still remember the fishes - goldfishes, swordtails and black mollies - with an air bubble frog tha bobs its head when air comes out. i spent my vacation days just looking at the air bubble frog lol. the good old days.

after that it was history - my second tank when i was in college with angels, 3rd with an oscar and pacu, 4th with angels again as i moved to europe and 5th with discus.

 

[Gingimaru]

My girlfriend initially wanted just some goldfish in a bowl, but we got the bowl and 2 goldfish (and i realise NOW this was bad) also afterwards got some neon tetras and a molly.... yes i know terrible. after that we did some serious research and got a 19ltr tank (spent nearly £100 on it) and then after another 6 months we decided we wanted a bigger tank so we now have a 35ltr tank.... just wait in another 6 months we'll be after a 50+ltr tank haha its an addiction i tell ya! an addiction!!

 

[Matt_7689]

When I was in elementary school, my school would hold a "carnival" every year to fund raise. My sister and I would always go to the booth with the fish game. (you throw a ping pong ball into a cup with a goldfish in, you win one). We both would win one and we would each get a bowl and keep them in it. Mine never lasted more than a week or two. I also had a beta fish when I was little, I umm, wanted to play with it and it kind of killed it. I was only 4!!

Last December, one of my family friends decided that she no longer wanted to own her two fancy guppies anymore. She offered it to me and I took it with great excitement! I eventually added two tetras and a platty. The conditions got bad because it was a two gallon "tank" and I just got a ten gallon tank. Two of my fish died and I have learned that it was because I did not cycle the tank.

I really have enjoyed my fish, and I didn't really choose to have a freshwater aquarium, it was kind of given to me ;D.

 

[awilson133]

When I was in elementary school, my school would hold a "carnival" every year to fund raise. My sister and I would always go to the booth with the fish game. (you throw a ping pong ball into a cup with a goldfish in, you win one). We both would win one and we would each get a bowl and keep them in it. Mine never lasted more than a week or two. I also had a beta fish when I was little, I umm, wanted to play with it and it kind of killed it. I was only 4!!

Last December, one of my family friends decided that she no longer wanted to own her two fancy guppies anymore. She offered it to me and I took it with great excitement! I eventually added two tetras and a platty. The conditions got bad because it was a two gallon "tank" and I just got a ten gallon tank. Two of my fish died and I have learned that it was because I did not cycle the tank.

I really have enjoyed my fish, and I didn't really choose to have a freshwater aquarium, it was kind of given to me ;D.

you know I got into the hobby the same way lol I got mine at the state fair.

 

[Greater-Ajax]

I got my dads/family tank after my dad was posted and left.went from normal community to exotic single to cichlids.

then I bought number 2

 

[awilson133]

I got my dads/family tank after my dad was posted and left.went from normal community to exotic single to cichlids.

then I bought number 2

then number 3

 

[wawgt]

To be honest, I don't remember why I got started - but I was about 12 years old. My mother was apparently asking about what we wanted for dinner - I certainly wasn't listening to her. I said, "I want fish." She said, "You want fish for dinner????" (She knew I hated eating fish.) I said, "No, I want to HAVE fish." What a good Mom - we got a 10 gallon tank the next day....