How Did You Get Into Fish Keeping ?

[Scott MacAdam]

well I have always loved animals of all sorts but one day i was in the mall and i decided to get a lizzard! so i bought myself a 10 gallon tank hoping to get a small gecko or something but instead, when i got to the LPS there were no lizzards or a good size for my tank left!!!! so my cousin suggested, why don't you get fish? and we took off to the local walmart (I KNOW, FRIGING WALMART!, hahahaha) and we went to get some fish! BUT THEN!!!!!! a nice young lady who worked there, told me that in order for her to sell me fish i would have to go home first, set-up and cycle my tank and come back later (yes these people do exisit on the walmart staff! lol!) she explained and I was off, after byuing more tanks stuff such as a heater and gravel and so on.

that was 1 year and 3 tanks ago! and i'm still hopelessly devoted to fishkeeping!!!

what's your story?

 

[Ethos]

I got my first tank from Wal*Mart (yes, I know) and for some reason I got my fish at petco(I don't remember how I knew not to buy from walmart). Some lady who worked there had me buy Aquariums For Dummies and that helped me learn the basics. Then I came on here right when I was a newbie and learned everything I need to know. I've never really had an accedent... my fishkeeping career has gone very smoothly.

 

[QuotheRaven]

I had a strange urge one day and said....can I get tropical fish bought a ten gallon tank an angelfish 2 platies and a bristlenose catfish...that was 2 months ago now I have a 32 gallon tank with 14 fish...sadly no bristlenose...(DARN MFD)

 

[oneponygirl]

I had a friend who was in the US on a work visa and when she had to go back to France she gave me the betta from her desk. I kept it at work until I had too many problems with housekeeping messing with his tank so I brought him home. He got VERY depressed wihout any visitors throughout the day so I upgraded my tank and got him friends. He thrived for years more after that. But I became strangely obsessed. My boss then gave me his daughter's small tank, then I got another one smallish tank. Then I had to take a break whilst moving around with dh wherever the Navy sent us but as soon as we got settled after leaving the Navy I unpacked my old couple of tanks and now I have like 8 - which is actually less than recently but when we moved in April I gave two away just to make it a smidge easier on us.

 

[Quadlex]

I used to work with a very very cute guy. He was funny, and warmhearted, and overall a fantastic person. Too bad he was taken, and worse, had a girlfriend

Nevertheless, I was talking to him one day and he mentioned he had fish. He got all excited about his tanks and was talking to me for quite some time, then he asked if I'd like to come have a look at the fish shop with him.

So, letting my biology override my brain (Did I mention he was extremely cute, head to tail?) I followed him to the fish shop, and though some of the fish looked neat. And, my (home) office is a converted garage, and looks kinda dark and depressing, so I figured a fishtank might brighten things up.

I was all set to save my cash up, but then caved and put a tank on my VISA card within a week. Along with $500 worth of other gear.

Went back to the shop with the insanely cute gentleman when my tank was cycled, bought 2 bristlenosed cats and 6 Neon Tetra's. He came over a few weeks after that with 30 more tetras, an albino Catfish, some Apple Snails, and 3 Australian River Fish! He decided 6 tetras and 2 Bristlenosed Cats in a 80L tank was an outrage, so had gone and bought $90 worth of fish for my tank. Such a nice guy.

...ahem, so yeah, that's my story.

(There may soon be an afternote. My Boyfriend is saw my tanks and mentioned he always wanted a Marine tank in his home. He's also got a better job then me, and is willing to pay for it... Heh heh heh)

 

[sussexgirl]

what's your story?

I kept two goldfish when I was 11 called Abraham and Moses. Not a particularly religious person, just thought nobody else would have goldfish with those names. Moses died at 2 years but Abraham eventually went into my friends parents pool and lived for another 10 years.

In my mid 20s I moved to Chicago and whilst out there bought my small tank from Walmart and a beautiful goldfish from Petsmart. Roger lived in the tank for 5 years. I kept him for 2 of those and when I moved back to England our friends were more than happy to take him on.

Now I'm 32 and after 5 years of being 'fish free' I decided enough was enough and that I would go for tropicals this time. I bought my 620T Aqua one tank which holds 130 litres and 3 months later I have another tank for my platy fry and I'm quite obsessed with the hobby. I'd really recommend it, infact my mum is setting up her brand new 90 litre tank today!

 

[kimmers318]

My 4 yr old decided she wanted to buy a fish tank with her Christmas $$$....not surprising, my 10 yr old went thru the same stage, but I didn't want to drag out and use the crappy tank she had had which had been stored for so long didn't even know if it was still there. Riley started with a stupid glo in the dark tank which was returned within 2 days for a 5 gal eclipse. We went thru a few fish that didn't do well in such a small tank so I ended up getting out the old 10 gal anyway and replacing the ugf filter to rehome her fish. Not long after my girlfriends father was diagnosed with cancer and he had been breeding angel fish so he had several tanks for sale once he got rid of his breeders, and we agreed to buy them. Hubby had had oscars in the past and wanted another large tank for them. We ended up with a 90 gal, a 64 gal and a 20 gal long. Riley's fish kept ending up in my large tank and I got started researching (finally) after purchasing a dwarfpuffer for snail problems and was told it was a community fish! Another 10 gal quickly popped up for her. Riley's 5 gal now happily houses a betta she has named Rainbow. My 64 is still a lot of misfits from previously purchased fish that we shouldn't have purchased, but the learning experience has been great and my misfit tank is unusual to say the least! We have also added a 75 gal mbuna tank, a 29 eclipse for my bday and the 20 gal serves as a Q tank/breeding tank, the old 10 gal from way back holds platy fry! All this because my little one wanted a fish tank!

 

[babybell911]

My mum used to have a fish tank when I was younger which was 4 or 5ft long then I wanted one for my birthday so got a bigish one when i was about 8. Then everything startedgetting diseases and stuff so wegave up and gave everything away. Then about 8 months ago my best mate decided he wanted a fish tank so we went shopping for one at pets at home (crap for fish) but brilliant for good priced fish tanks. Anyway he didnt end up getting one but i did got a 56 litres all included for £70 then i needed bigger! Now i have 120 litre but dream of bigger but need my own house for that. We now have 5 fish tanks in our house because mine persuaded my mum to get another one! We have an 8 gal for the three dwarf puffers we also bought as community fish, a 8 gal for fry and a 7 gal for Hades my betta.

 

[Qays]

my friend told me to get some goldfish. Then i got bored of them and put them in the next doors pond. Forgot about fish keeping for 2/3yrs (the tank still had water in it all that time! lol) Then used the tank to make an even better tropical setup.

 

[Kame-San]

When I was five my step-dad decided to make a tank (he did some stuff with glass...yeah.). It was probably around 35-40 gallons. It started out with a ton of fish in it, only a few of which I remember. I remember it had some neons, and a catfish. I only remember those because I loved the neons and my mom cried when the catfish died...

We got rid of the fish when they either died of we moved (can't remember which came first. I WAS 5...). The tank sat in storage for about two years, and when I was 7 I decided I wanted some fish. I'm not sure exactly what kind of fish they were, but they were goldfish-ish. I had three, but they were tiny. I also had a very small pleco.

Eventually, my fish died and that tank got a leak. That ended the fish hobby for a while.

About 7 months ago I got my first betta from Wal Mart ?(yep, that's right. Wal Mart.) After about 4 months of him living happily, I decided he needed a friend. I went to the petstore looking for something that would eat the small amount of algae that had formed. Knowing nothing about them, the person at the petstore gave me an oto.

The betta didn't like him at all, so I said "okay, we can't keep this with the betta. but he can't be alone." With the little money I had, I went back to the petstore and bought a 2 gallon and 3 male guppies.

Now, those guppies have moved to a 10 gallon with some girls. The oto didn't last very long since I didn't even know what he was called so I could do research. But, that is my story. (And those guppies will be getting a much bigger tank this weekend )

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I've always just generally admired the beauty of fish tanks and fish in general, i always deeply wanted my own tropical fish tank when i was a kid, but i was not allowed to own one. So when i moved out of home, buying a fish tank was one of the first things i did after i had settled down- i remember it was a puny 5-10gal tank with 3 mollies and 3 chinese algae eaters.
The tank ended up cracking and i lost the CAE's, so when i bought a new tank and moved into a new appartment, i upgraded to a 20gal. Which was then upgraded to a 30gal. Then a 50gal. Then a 125gal- and well, you know the rest !

 

[Arfie]

I won a couple of fish at a fair when I was a kid and (I suspect Mum or Dad replaced them at some point) they lived to something like 18 years old. and I never replaced them.

About 3 or 4 years ago I was diving in the red sea and saw loads of pretty and brightly coloured fish and thought right there, I'm gettin a fishtank. It was about 8 months later when a friend annonced he knew a guy getting rid of a tank, so I had it. I now just have the 5 tanks running and 1 waiting to be setup. I still don't have the fish I saw when diving as I'm sticking with Freshwater

Arfie

 

[geo7x]

mines a pretty boring story, me, my mum and my dad went to the garden centre to get some stuff for the garden (believe it or not) and while they were waiting in the que to pay, i said, "im just goin to look at the fish for a minute" and then i really wanted a tropical fish tank in my bedroom, so it kind of started from there.

 

[saboy]

I think I actually started way back when I was in south africa, I proly was about 7, I didnt keep the fish, my dad did, he only had goldfish.

Then also we had guppies, I kept these in my room, i was told they can have babies, I cant remember anything more about them.


Then didnt have any for a couple more years, then we imigrated to Ireland, did nuthing there, then came to england after 2 years,

Then i went to a pet shop on the corner just before the turning to go to crews hill in enfield, north london. anyways, we went to look at the hamsters, and stuff, we were still getting to know the area and stuff,I then saw the fish section, and instantly wanted to keep some


So....

I got a small 28 litre hexagon tank, crappy plastic one, was ripped off, paied 49 pounds for it ! rip off, only had undergravel filtration, i left with 6 guppies as well, I filled the tank up(this water was not dechlorinated) waited for the temp to get right, then put the fish in.

BTW I was only going on the knowledge that my dad has(not very good)he doesnt keep fish anymore

Then the poor guppies started dieing. 1 day and there was only 1 left!

RIP guppies !

Thats when I went back to the store I got the tank from and complained, they then gave me some stress coat. Put that in, then the last fish died ! this was the last one that was alive, proly poisoned from the tap water.

But this is when i learnt that tap water was not safe
oh in south africa the water was fine for them, didnt need to be made safe

Then one day my dad came home with a rekord 96, i still didnt know about water chagnes, the lfs told my dad only every six weeks !
and only add fish after 1 week !

I didnt know anything about ammonia and cycling at this time.

So alot of poor fishies lost their lives.
and also saw lots of babies from mollys and guppies, but they died as well

i then found forums,not this one, then learnt more and more from then on.


I then saw about the cool fish called cichlids, and wanted ones that I could breed , found out about convict cichlids ! I got a rekord 96 for them .THey had babies, and it was cool, was the first ever egg fry I had
I then sold the tank.after that


Then I found this one and been here ever since, and know all the basics(and maybe a little more) to keeping a aquarium safe, and healthy for fishies !

 

[SamUK]

i started with a 2ft tank about 10 months ago and it went from there!