What Got ya Started in the hobby?

[DAnCSF]

What a great forum, so much knowledge and help. But I'm curious as what got ya all into the hobby? And as a new member I'll start, just to get the discussion rolling?

4th grade at Cabrillo ES, my teacher, Ms Barnum had simple 20 gal saltwater tanks with a few anemones and crabs. Everyone in the class took turns taking care of it and a few lucky got to take a tank home for the holidays. That started my love of nature and my B.S. in Marine biology. In those early years I kept Sun Lee Aquarium store in business, and like everybody else life happens. But a few years ago I got the time and the $ to rtn top my childhood hobbies and to them up right, now including tropical fish. My start, initially began with a 40 bow, and then grew to a 55, 30 tall and 29...finally ending up with my recent 100g And now I'm reading this forum...jeeze I wish this forum was around back eons ago....well thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your stories.

 

[AilyNC]

I had a tank as a young teen & always wanted to get back into fish keeping. Finally own our own home & have a toddler so thought it would be nice to get fish. I was gonna get a fish in bowl until I read up a bit. Went to fish shop & got a 58litre instead. Terrible advice and stock and a nightmare later brought me to this site. Now I've the 58L full of fry & some endlers and a 127L community tank.

 

[DAnCSF]

I had a tank as a young teen & always wanted to get back into fish keeping. Finally own our own home & have a toddler so thought it would be nice to get fish. I was gonna get a fish in bowl until I read up a bit. Went to fish shop & got a 58litre instead. Terrible advice and stock and a nightmare later brought me to this site. Now I've the 58L full of fry & some endlers and a 127L community tank.

Yup ain't life great, it's that circle of life thing....looks like you got MTS disease, Multiple Tank Syndrome, especially after you start reading all the various forum topics...take care and thanks for sharing.
PS let me know when you get the 100 g LOL

 

[Essjay]

1996, my then teenaged sons turned up from the fair with four goldfish they had won throwing darts. The poor fish spent their first night in a mixing bowl in non-dechlorinated water. One didn't make it. We got a 60 litre (16 gallon) tank - yes, I know - and the three of them, a common and two comets, thrived and grew and grew. Nine months later we gave them away to someone with a pond and I bought a heater and tropical fish.
Then I got a 125 litre; the 60 litre sprang a leak and was replaced with a 54 litre; the bracer bar on the 125 litre parted company with the back wall so I used the excuse to get a 180 litre; the 54 litre had to be closed as the kitchen was altered and there was no room for it. And somewhere along the line I got a 25 litre for a betta, which replaced with a different 25 litre, then my current 23 litre leaving me with a couple of spare, empty tanks to use as quarantine tanks.

 

[Brendanpat]

I always liked fish ,going fishing (catch and release )in our local lake and sea fishing ,fishing programmes especially fascinated by sharks . But i probably wouldn't have an aquarium yet if the covid hadn't of struck and give me the time ..

 

[Gypsum]

OH and I wanted an animal, one to live in the flat because the horse doesn't. I wanted a snake, because I had snakes as a kid (and my parents still have said snakes... they live forever), and OH wanted a hamster. Fish were a compromise. Knowing nothing, we got an 80L tank and some cherry barbs. Tried to kill cherry barbs with uncycled tank but five out of six survived our ineptitude. Realized 80L was too small for pretty much everything, so we bought a 125L off Gumtree and got a free raphael catfish with it. Shortly thereafter, aquired a longfin bristlenose pleco. Cherry barbs started nipping pleco. OH was attached to barbs, so instead of rehoming, we got an additional 60L for them. Then we learned bigger tanks are always better, and upgraded the 125L to a 240L, the largest tank you could fit in the space, or get up the stairs without regretting all your life choices. Fish got good at moving. Byron at some point advised that raphaels are a pain, and I made the sensible choice and acquired a second one so freebie can have a friend. The 60L eventually turned into a 125, a 110L corner tank appeared in a corner, mainly because those cherry barbs were harassing pygmy corys, and then the 70L hospital tank we'd bought became a permanent apistogramma tank.

About 18 months after starting, we have four fish tanks in the living room and a cory fry tank in the bedroom.

 

[AilyNC]

Yup ain't life great, it's that circle of life thing....looks like you got MTS disease, Multiple Tank Syndrome, especially after you start reading all the various forum topics...take care and thanks for sharing.
PS let me know when you get the 100 g LOL

Yeah it's hard not to want more and more tanks.

 

[FishBR]

A nice local fish store (LFS) can trigger passion for this hobby. When I was growing up as a kid in Brasilia, Brazil, there was a beautiful LFS not far from home. They had a huge fish tank with wild angel fish. I had never seen wild angels as colorful and as big as those. They also had a mini pond inside the store full of colorful guppies. The kind and patient owners and the amazing setting of the store enchanted me and I got my first fish tank when I was about 11. Had many small tanks after that. I even had fish in the bathtub that nobody used at home After several periods with no tanks I got the $ and the space in 2012 to dive into my dream of keeping wild discus. I was able to breed them and grow a batch of 50 babies. That was a nice ride. God rid of the discus in 2017 and now I have a 55g rainbowfish tank. Enjoying the hobby like I am a child again.

 

[FishBearer9845]

My mum had a huge tank in our living room as a kid. She never did any testing, fortnightly water changes and I’m sure the completely wrong mix of fish but we never had losses, unless of ooolllllld age. Pure luck now I know different! Looking back we’re pretty sure she had a common plec, which got large, silver dollars and tin foil barbs amongst others.

I’d wanted my own tank for about a year before getting my first, lockdown came around first time round this year and although I was working from home I craved a long term project. Fishkeeping was it, that craving came back and I’m now trying to persuade my husband to let me have my fourth tank.

 

[mcordelia]

I was the kid who begged my parents for a pet foreeeeveeeerrrrrr, and always received "no" as an answer. Finally when I turned 15(!!!) they allowed me to keep fish lol. In their defense, they did get me a 55gal tank to start with, so it was a great sized tank to learn fishkeeping without making too many mistakes. That blossomed into a 10 gal hexagon tank for a betta and a 20long before I left for college, and I'm sad to say that my parents did not enjoy my fishkeeping hobby for long after I had vacated the premises...
Fast forward to now, and I had pretty much given up the idea of having fish again until hubby (thanks to covid like it seems to be the case for a lot of you) said "now that we're stuck at home home, we should get fish or something". Aaaaaand, so it begins. Hoping to finally score on a large used tank this weekend (journaling that in my thread here). As far as joining the forums, way back when, I used to be a moderator on a different fish forum which unfortunately has gone defunct in the interim, but I'm super happy to have joined this community and am perfectly happy being just a regular member, thankyouverymuch!

 

[DancingBetta]

I used to keep bettas in bowls(I know, please forgive me) I then learned about baby bettas. I was doing research and found out about five gallons or more. I had a betta and a snail in a five gallon. The snail loved carrying a betta moss ball around.

Sadly the snail tried to eat the filter one too many times... the betta passed away as well. Not sure why. I decided to get that baby betta I had been wanting. Of course, Petco was out of stock for a month... reading that bettas could have tank mates, I got three female guppies. The day after getting them, “Hey! Where’d all those babies come from?” I hurried and got a little one gallon to keep the babies in. Then ordered a forty gallon.

I was going to wait a bit longer than I did to put the fish in, but with the inadequate
lighting, the poor babies’ spines were starting to bend. The water levels were pretty much perfect. I put them in and their spines got better. Then Petco had the babies back in stock! I fell in love with a little dude who followed my finger back and forth. He now lives happily in a ten gallon with two cories.

 

[DAnCSF]

OH and I wanted an animal, one to live in the flat because the horse doesn't. I wanted a snake, because I had snakes as a kid (and my parents still have said snakes... they live forever), and OH wanted a hamster. Fish were a compromise. Knowing nothing, we got an 80L tank and some cherry barbs. Tried to kill cherry barbs with uncycled tank but five out of six survived our ineptitude. Realized 80L was too small for pretty much everything, so we bought a 125L off Gumtree and got a free raphael catfish with it. Shortly thereafter, aquired a longfin bristlenose pleco. Cherry barbs started nipping pleco. OH was attached to barbs, so instead of rehoming, we got an additional 60L for them. Then we learned bigger tanks are always better, and upgraded the 125L to a 240L, the largest tank you could fit in the space, or get up the stairs without regretting all your life choices. Fish get good at moving. Byron at some point advises that raphaels are a pain, and I make the sensible choice and acquire a second one so freebie can have a friend. The 60L eventually turned into a 125, a 110L corner tank appeared in a corner, mainly because those cherry barbs were harassing pygmy corys, and then the 70L hospital tank we'd bought became a permanent apistogramma tank.

About 18 months after starting, we have four fish tanks in the living room and a cory fry tank in the bedroom.

the sad part is it's our ineptitude that keeps the fish breeders and LFS in business...I know Sun Lee loved seeing me come into his store.

 

[DAnCSF]

A nice local fish store (LFS) can trigger passion for this hobby. When I was growing up as a kid in Brasilia, Brazil, there was a beautiful LFS not far from home. They had a huge fish tank with wild angel fish. I had never seen wild angels as colorful and as big as those. They also had a mini pond inside the store full of colorful guppies. The kind and patient owners and the amazing setting of the store enchanted me and I got my first fish tank when I was about 11. Had many small tanks after that. I even had fish in the bathtub that nobody used at home After several periods with no tanks I got the $ and the space in 2012 to dive into my dream of keeping wild discus. I was able to breed them and grow a batch of 50 babies. That was a nice ride. God rid of the discus in 2017 and now I have a 55g rainbowfish tank. Enjoying the hobby like I am a child again.

Bath tub? I too had a bathtub...at my parents house we had an unused cast iron tub in the back yard and it was something I always wanted to turn into a pond....alas it never happened probably cus there weren't enough neighborhood kids to move the darn thing.

 

[Stoopid_Fish]

I was one of those annoying as **** kids who would go into the pet shops and be like "OI MISTER, ONE OF YA FISH IS DED!" because for some reason I was fascinated with staring at the fish.
20+ years later, still fascinated with the wetpets, work in a pet store, and now understand why those kids are so bloody annoying, haha!

I do love being able to share it with the younger ones that come in and want to get into the hobby and need some solid advice.

 

[DAnCSF]

Thanks to all who took the time to share, as much as I love all the various hobby forums I'm a part of. I really like discussion like these cuz it's personal and by shariing it helps all of us as we are shut in during this CV time. Alas there's no pub time to saddle up and say "How ya doing" etc... thanks again all and keep it coming...;-)