What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[Plecosterone]

When I was in my teens, my friends and I never had much money to buy tanks and fish so we made our own. My father was a contractor and we always had glass around the shop. His big mistake was showing me how to cut glass...lol. We made tanks to fit in any available space around our houses. I will never, ever forget my first whiff of silicone inside a tank. Man that stuff cleans the sinuses...lol. In my early twenties all the tanks slowly disappeared and for almost 30 years I didn't have a tank or fish anywhere except to eat. Two years ago I bought myself a 75 gallon and decided to get into plants. I now have two 75 gallons ( one planted community and one for a convict cichlid cell) and lots of smaller tanks in the basement (lack of room to set them up). One day I am going to put an addition on the house and build an inwall 180 gallon min. For 30 years I forgot how addicting this hobby is, and maybe should have kept forgetting....lol

 

[gwenavir]

i wanted one because i absolutly love to wacth water move and it gets even cooler when you put things of amazing color and motion in it. i started with just a betta and now i have what i consider a very awesome but small collection of fish.......and my collection will continue to grow.

 

[Spanishearl]

I started out as a kid with guppies about 20 years ago. My family alway's had freshwater tanks, then due to my job, and the constant moving (3 times a year.... Thoroughbred Racehorses) I stopped for about 8 or 9 years. Moved into IT, and eventually, (on advise of a doctor) needed to find ways to relieve the stress I was under.

I rescued two Betta's from an old roommate who couldn't take care of himself let alone fish. They were in a 1/4 gallon tank with a divider. I went out and got two 2.5 gallon tanks and substrate (gravel). They lived for about a year and a half. Went to that big rice patty in the sky before the 10 gallon was cycled for one.

Now, I have one 10 gallon with a "petstore special" Betta (Purchased because my gf was upset that her other passed on), and 3 Peppered Corydora's. I am cycleing another 10 gallon with divider for two more Betta's coming soon, along with a 10 galon breeder tank; purchased two 20 gallon's as grow out tanks. Yet to start cycle. Two 25 gallon rubbermaid container's for water for the several hundred jar's for Betta fry. And I am in the work's of picking up a 55 gallon tank as a community tank.

But strangely, it's far more relaxing than anything I've tried to date....

Eventually, I'll actually purchase a camera... one that works that is....

 

[spyyro]

I actually got my first tank in early December of 2005 from a friend of mine's dad who was just going to throw it away. He was using it for frogs of some sort but he hadn't had any in it for quite some time and he just wanted it gone. I offered to take it since I figured it would be a great "free" Christmas gift for my then 4 and 9 year old daughters. I had no idea what I was in store for! The tank was a 29 gal tall and little did I know... the tank is the cheapest part of an aquarium setup! Once gravel, decorations, plants, filter, thermometer, fish net, air pump, air hose, airstones & bubble walls, gravel vac, water conditioner, tank stand, marine light bulb, fish and fish food are purchased... you've spent an absolute fortune! I was beginning to think it was a horrible idea for me to even offer to have taken that tank. I'm happy now that I did. Anyway, my girls loved it.... for a while. I was the one that took care of it and I ended up really getting interested in it. I recently got the itch to go bigger so I started browsing Craigslist for a tank. I was looking in the 55-65 gal range and ended up finding a 75 gal with a custom made solid teak wood stand for a decent price so I jumped on it. Even though I knew the measurements beforehand, the tank was amazingly HUGE to me when I first saw it. I just got it home around a month ago and moved it in and have just recently moved my fish over from their 29 gal. They seem to love all the extra space and I can't wait to complete it. I used PFS instead of gravel this time and have added a piece of Malaysian driftwood. I'm also adding an underwater volcano that I plan to place an airstone underneath and have a red LED light inside to give the eruption effect. I will be sure to post pics once it is complete. I wouldn't mind keeping the other 29 gal for something else but the wife says no way... it's gotta go. She's probably right... Craigslist, here I come!

 

[papa_bear_21]

I remember being a kid watching the fish swim around in the tank, and always wanted one of my own. In high school, I took a class where we setup and kept an aquarium for the year, learning how to care for them and the ins and outs of an aquarium and eco system...We bought a betta fish a few months ago, and started out with a 2 gallon aquarium for him, which eventually turned into a 29 gallon tank with 4 platys in it (the betta died a few weeks ago, not sure why). Treated the tank, and everything is good to go.

 

[black hills tj]

Well my uncle and grandfather both had larger tanks when I was younger, and my uncle still has his tank. Then my dad got into it and well...I became interested

I now help out my dad with his 29g tank, and I'm looking to setup a tank of my own

 

[helicopter]

Well, it all started when I was at the boardwalk with my friend and our girlfriends. They wanted us to win them a Betta, so we did. Then I got a cheap bowl and accesories. This was fine until one week when my girlfriend needed me to fish sit. I was taking care of the fish and one day when I was cleaning his bowl (back then I would take the fish out and do a 100% water change, tsk tsk) in the bathroom and some how the thing shattered in my hand. So there I was with a Betta in a styrofoam cup and me panicking needing another bowl. So I quickly went out to get a new one but I was temped to upgrade. Well upgrade I did (not much but at least to a 2.5 bowfront with filter) and got two tetra neons. I then proceeded to become more interested and get my own tank. And the rest is history. History which I have recently documented in the "How much did your FW tanks cost" which totaled to $1500 worth of history in 2007 alone.

 

[usmcmarc]

Well, I started out with a 2.5 gallon tank with a betta. It became like an addiction. Next it was a 10 gal, 20 gal, 30 gal....prob soon to be 55. I love the colors, how some like to group together and some like to be alone. It's like you create your own little microcosm and hold it's fate in your hands. I can sit and stare at the tank for hours just watching how they interact. I have been disturbed as of late since my favorite Blue Zebra Lobster seems to be killing everything else in the tank. So I now have to setup a new tank. I cant get rid of it since it's just doing what it's supposed to do, and it cost me $50 to top it off.

 

[zombie2k]

I didn't have enough cash for saltwater! and im a noob and any salt water foray would end up in a complete mass death disaster.

Freshwater is easier for me I think--good place to learn the basics about fish and their system before getting into more complex things. Before I had the idea of starting a tank I just thought you bought some fish, and a rock, throw them in a tank and viola! A lot more interesting, and now I know exactly why people take it up as a full time hobby!

 

[Phoenixphire55]

I started about a year ago with two ACFs. I wanted their home to mimic their natural environment as much as possible, and eventually that led me to getting two more ACFs. After going to the petstore for supplies a couple times I started noticing all the different kinds of fish / amphibians / inverts that I could potentially own. I started spending a lot of time researching animals online and I got hooked. Now I have more than 20 aquaria pets

 

[kribbman]

I remember my dad having an aquarium when i was a kid, and I used to love going to the petshop and seeing all the different fish they kept there.
When I was about seven we moved overseas, and we didnt keep anymore fish for a while, then I remember keeping a betta every once in a while, as kids we used to fight them and try to get them to breed. On one ocasion my mother bought me and my brother a 5 galon tank, colored gravel, fake plants and a flourescent hood. The tank lasted about as long as the bulb did.
Fast foward a couple of years and I was finishing college, this one day i go over to a classmates appartment and i see he has two bettas one his and one was his girlfriends. So i had a flashback of when I was a kid and used to make them fight. I was surprised to know my friend didnt know about this so i said you want to see something cool ....And I put the two fish close together and they started flairing and trying to intimidate each other..This turned out to be very fun especialy when a few beers are involved. ..Anyway we had our fun and the next day we were telling some people in our class about it and my girlfriend overheard...She surprised me the next day with just about the biggest betta Id ever seen in my life. I loved it but just kept it in its bowl for the time being...Then one day Im at my girls house and shes all excited and giddy and tells me to go to her room.................She bought me a ten galon kit..
I of course was thrilled as soon as i got home I got started..of course i was a total noob and made just about every mistake in the book...I bought two of each fish..added water straight from the tap etc..around the same time my best friend got himself a kit too and set up... After killing just about every fish that went into the tank I decided to get some books and slowly worked my way from there...The last (mistake) I made with that tank was when one day i went to the petshop and i saw these little blueish purple fish with dark vertical stripes across their bodies....I thought cool these look just like saltwater fish..sic....sicllids...ohh Chiclids..ok ill take 4 of those...And just like that I was introduced to the African Chiclids ....Kenyi or psudotropheus lombardoi..to be exact..I was instantly addicted...About a month later i took two of them back to the store and just kept the other two which later turned out to be a pair. I kept reading, used the internet, and eventualy learned how to properly care for them (not that I was doing too much in a 10 gal with two cichlids in it) long story short..they didnt kill each other but all **** would break loose if one crossed into the others territory. Despite knowing better I decided to keep my fish as i liked them very much and even got to the point where they would let me touch them when i fed them..Ive had them for about 1 year and a half by then...One day im staring at my tank and i notice a little purple thingy in one of the tiny holes in a rock i had in the tank...I take a closer look and ..........................................WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOt.....
It was a tiny little baby ..yeaaahhhhhhhhhh ...I was so excited.....I kept on looking and found 3 more...Inmediately i took out the two parents and kept them in a small 2 gal plastic aquarium i had purchased earlier for some reason... after a few week the fry had grown significantly and reluctantly i took them back to the petshop....The clerks looked at me amazed and asked me what I did and how i accomplished this...I said i didnt i found them in there by accident.... a few months later I decided to move back to the states and so I did...
A few months of being here made me a little homesick an i missed looking at my tank..So i was with a friend one day and he said he needed to stop for dog food. so we walked into a pet supermarket and there it was a 20 gal kit for about 100 dolars..I couldnt resist...I bought it ..set it up
cycled it this time and a few days later went to get some fish...thats where i saw kribs for the fist time...and instantly fell in love with them....
Ive had my tank for about 2 months now and ive learned alot...Especialy the fact that im still a noob.....
My goal is to one day keep a huge reef tank ...Ill get there eventualy.

 

[Crittercrazy]

We used to have a tank when I was little, and I remember my mom telling me about how when I was a baby I used to just stare at it for hours. Shortly after my son was born, he was given a gold fish at our local fair, they said he was too cute not to have one! so after having the gold fish in a bowl,a nd doing research and finding out how bad that was I went and bought a 10 gallon tank. After a few more years I finally broke down and bought a 75 gallon tank, and it was all history after that! LOL!! I have a 55 gallon, 75 gallon, and now two 2.65 gallon betta tanks!

 

[marchmaxima]

My parents own a 10 meter fish tank. (Yes, that's 10 meters/33 ft). It used to be filled with tropicals when I was little and looking at it was one of my first memories as a child. The only room it fit was the hallway. Unfortuately we weren't flush with funds back then and it was just far too expensive to maintain, so it was pulled apart and moved outside where it sits today. For many years, it held plants. Now it houses some beautiful large goldfish we rescued from a pond during a flood.

Around 4-5 years ago a friend moved interstate and asked me to store some stuff. We lost contact and she never came to collect it. Included in that array of stuff was the 2ft tank. I hadn't even thought about seriously owning a tank until the day I finally decided that I could claim it as my own and set it up.

Now I'm totally addicted all over again.

 

[p3purr]

When I was a yougster in the late 60's, early 70's my aunt raised angelfish. She had a long narrow room with several Metaframe (or similar) aquariums. I didn't visit her often but I remember her showing me the fish room and telling me all about the fish and fish keeping. I don't remember much of what she said but I was hooked. I got my first tank when I was about 16 and have kept tanks whenever my living situation would allow. I've continuously had tanks for about 10 years and moved some from FL to NC.

 

[meegosh]

My story isn't about GOOD childhood memories, quite the opposite actually. My brother which is three years older than me got a 10gal tank when he was 16, I was probably 13. He took care of it for the first week, completely overstocked it (didn't cycle it either). Needless to say, everything died within the first month, or so we thought.

The tank sat and sat in his bedroom and became an algae cesspool. You couldn't even see through the tank. My mom finally made him dump it in the woods and sure enough, both of his Kuhlii Loaches were still alive under his UGF. My mom was not pleased and banished fish tanks from her house!

Now that I grew older and moved out, one of the first purchases was a 10gallon tank and I've been hooked ever since. I've had it running for over a year and a half and am thinking of upgrading to a 30gal long this spring/summer. Many thanks to this forum for getting me to where I am now, with a successful tank and happy fish!

 

[Karackle]

Well...When I was probably 5 or 6 I went to a birthday party where the "main event" was one of those guys who usually comes into school to show you all sorts of local and exotic creatures. Well, to go with the animal theme of the party, the goody back each child got sent home with was a GOLDFISH (there must've been some SUPER happy parents...hahahah.....) Anyway, I'd always been an animal lover so my Dad went to the pet store and bought a basic 10 gallon setup with a HOB filter and multicolored gravel, and a second goldfish because my brother (who is 5 years older than me) complained he wanted a fish too. Well.....I was hooked. My brother doesnt even like animals so within days both goldfish were mine. I don't think either of them last too long though, and when they did die Dad and I (mom and brother are not big animal lovers) went to the pet store and got some fake plants, and some other decorations (i vividly remember they were a skull and a little sign that said "no fishing") We kept neons, and guppies and Bettas. The second Betta got picked on and my dad rigged up a separate little area in the tank for him. Anyway, that tank was my project with my dad for YEARS, probably through middle school. But then I switched to private school and had more work to do, and also had hamsters and a rabbit to care for, so the fish tank got broken down and put in the basement. So for about 5 years (end of middle school and through HS) i had no fish, but then I went to college and hated not having any pets anymore (my rabbit and dog had to be left at home in the care of my parents) So i got a Betta and I had Bettas through college.

Upon graduating college I worked in a pet store for a little while and got the fish tank bug again. My friend (and the store assistant manager) bought me a 5 gallon tank/canopy and HUGELY discounted me on the rest of the stuff needed for it. I set that up and it was on my desk in that apartment until I moved to the apt i currently live in, I transported it with me and only lost 1 or two fish. I set it up as it was until the last 2 fish died a month or so ago. I also moved into my new apartment with a brand new 20 gallon setup which has been in my apartment for 2 years now. I only recently decided it was time to up the ante and have been renovating the 20 gallon slowly, and completely tore down and re-set the five gallon. So that's my long-winded history of how i got into fish tanks. My roommate laughs at me a lot because she'll walk around the corner and I'll literally be sitting on the floor staring at the 20 gallon. I love watching fish. When I have the $$ and the space I want to try a SW and a larger FW, but living in a second floor apt it's not feasible to have anything larger than a 20 at the moment maybe another 5 or a 10 in my room though.....(sshh don't tell my roommate! )

 

[horse_lover1991]

Well, it started back when my brother had a big tank of bass and I just wanted one too.

Now I have two ten gallons with frogs and a few tads (African Clawed Frogs-aquatic frogs that I really wanted to try to raise- my little one gets along well with the two bullfrog tads except for the fact that it tried eat more than it could fit in its mouth the first day the tads were in the tank-it hung on for quite a ride). I love frogs and toads a little too much, and I have two other terrariums of toads. I love going down to farm ponds nearby and hear and see the bullfrogs the size of dinner plates and I even torture them with a bobber. I have hooked a few on a fish lure before and it wasn't the small ones that I hooked.

 

[Paty]

As a kid growing up I owned a few goldfish, being a noob and a kid I didn't really know how to take care of them so they eventually all died. After being responsible for the deaths of three goldfish (couldn't handle that as a kid) haha I decided owning fish wasn't for me at the time.


This Christmas my boyfriend's aunt and uncle were going to give their daughter a couple of goldfish for Christmas, but they had to hide them at his house so their daughter wouldn't find them before Christmas. The day they dropped the fish off at his house I jokingly told them they couldn't come back to pick up the goldfish unless they came back with some for me, as my Christmas gift.

On Christmas day, I was the proud owner of Captain and Tennille. Correction my boyfriend and I were the proud owners of Captain and Tennille. My boyfriend took care of them for me most of Christmas break and then they came with me to my dorm at Southern Illinois University. They were very happy for about 2 and half months and then we lost Tennille. : ( My boyfriend blames it on the "dirty St. Louis water, but I'm sure there were multiple reasons) We really didn't know how to properly care for them at the time. After that we decided to become as informed as we could so we could keep Captain healthy and happy.

We are now planning to get a 29gal tank over summer break after we move into our new place.

It all started with our two (sadly now one) great goldfish! : )

 

[wiredpsyche]

For me it was the concept of submerged plants. I've been an avid gardener for years, from my food garden to my houseplant collection and it was only a matter of time before I needed some new plants.

Due to the popularity of a thread started like this in the saltwater general discussion I am starting the same thing here. Its always fun to read these kinds of things.

Please share your story with the rest of the world by just replying to this thread.

 

[n3wt]

I picked freshwater because I grew up diving in the Caribbean plus my dad had a saltwater tank so I was around saltwater a lot when I was growing up. Even though saltwater tanks are cool I personally think freshwater fish are cooler and have more personality than saltwater. Also it is too expensive to maintain for my budget.