Why Did You Want To Keep Fish.

[WILDER]

Didn't start the hobby till I was 40, was stressed due to the death of my mum and thought having a hobby would help.
I was scared of fish but overcome and fear and now I love it.
What got you into the hobby, do you have regrets.

 

[GoldfishAttentionSpan]

I have always had an aquarium for as long as I can remember (ever since I was little, though then I guess my parents probably took care of it for me, of course) and I always found fish interesting to watch, and now I like the challege of trying to set up and maintain a successful aquarium. I find it fascinating to learn about the different species, and how to take care of them, and the other challeges that come with keeping aquariums (well, some of them I could do without!).

My main regret is mostly my early days of fish keeping. Most of what I knew (or, thought I knew) about fishkeeping was told to me by my parents, who gave very bad advice. I lived by the one-inch rule, and by the idea that fish grew to the size of thier aquarium. I never really thought about fish growing- I assumed that the size they were in the store was as big as they would get. I also thought that every fishtank was supposed to have an algae eater in it, which was either a common plec or a sailfin plec. I had a ten gallon, and always had a pleco in it. When one died, I replaced it with another. I also didn't know much about fish compatibility. I followed the advice of the person selling me the fish, which, more often than not, I was buying the fish from Wal-Mart. At one point I had a pleco, a honey gourami, a 3 spot gourami, 2 guppies, and 2 female bettas in my 10 gallon. At another point I had 3 angelfish in it, probably with a pleco, some liverbearers, and some danios, but the angelfish died shortly after I got them. Thats how I set up my tank- trial and error. If one fish lived a long time (which meant a few months or so), I would replace it when it died becasue I figured it was a success. If it died shortly after I got it, I would get something else.

I feel terrible for the fish that I killed, but at the time I thought I was doing it right- I was following the advice of the people who sold the fish, because I thought they would know better than anyone. I am very glad that I found this forum and now know better.

 

[WILDER]

It has opened my eyes to the neglect and ignorance of fish especially by some lfs.

 

[stang1]

Similar reasons to yourself Wilder.
I went to the local garden centre to get some bits and came across the aquatic shop. I thought I'd take a peek and ended up falling in love!

 

[MikeD67]

I got into fish at a young age I grew up in Florida and me and My dad use to have a big salt water tank that we took care of very pretty. When we moved to washington we gave the tank and fish to a friend.I got back into having fish for a hobby 3 years ago when i decided to spawn bettas. Did for fun watching the grow and then seeing them go to people that will care for them is great ( My LFS helped me get rid of them thru donations I never sold my fish like i said was hobby). But now due to lack opf space due to my daughter coming into my life I cant Spawn anymore and decided to just have 2 tanks one 55 gal that i will have in about 2 months for african cichlids and the 30 gal i got now ( that is housing some Cichlids till i get my 55 gal) After I get my 55 gal looks like I will be turning my 30 gal into a saltwater tank (If i can convince the wife).

 

[PRW1988]

I got in to this hobby as an escape... from what? I'm not exactly sure, theres just something relaxing, after a stressfull day, about coming home, pulling up a recliner by my tank, and watchin' the little guys swim back and forth... They really seem to know who you are after a while, in a way they're like children to me silly sounding, I know...

 

[rdd1952]

I learned to fish when I was very young and always loved it. It was the same with places like Marineland in Florida when I was a kid. We went there when I was about 10 or 12 and I though that was the most wonderful place in the world. Being able to look through the little windows at the fish (this was a looooooong time ago). I'm still that way. In the last 2 years we have been to the aquariums in Charleston, SC, New Orleans (3 months befoe Katrina), Chattanooga, TN and Atlanta, GA.

Anyway, my wife had always wanted a betta in a vase so for Christmas of 2004 I bought her a 29 gallon starter set instead of the betta vase. We set it up to start "cycling" (the old add water and let it run for a week "cycling" that the instructions said) for a week to get ready. She went to look at fish during that week and promptly brought home a 2.5 minibow and a betta. Those 2 tanks quickly became 4 when I rescued 2 bettas from the local Walmart slaughter house and bought another mini bow and a 5 gallon (was supposed to be a q-tank) from a local fish store (not from the Walmart even though they were cheaper there). Another couple months brought the 75 gallon. Anyway, we stopped there and now only have 1 betta tank going as we lost the original betta and one of the rescue bettas earlier this year, I assume to age (over 2 years old). The other rescue one jumped through a hole in the tank lid and died on the carpet.

I admit that I got very lazy last January when I lost my job and started to slack on water changes and left the forum for over a year. Fortunately my tanks were very lightly stocked and over filtered so I didn't have any problems with going 3 or 4 weeks between water changes. And getting back to the forum has renewed my enthusiasm as I am wanting to get more fish.

To make a long story short, I got into in by buying my wife a tank and got hooked (payback for all the fish I hooked I guess). We love the tanks and watching the fish. It's so relaxing to watch them swim silently and watch the plants sway in the current. And my wife has been so kind as to allow me to do all the maintenance and cleaning on them (been married almost 30 years and I'm "trained"). As someone said, the fish kind of get to know you (or at least that you are the person that puts food in). I love my angel fish and wish I had room for more.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Well when I was about 5-6 years old I recieved a 10 gallon tank for my birthday. The tank came with a heater,filter,hood,light,gravel and background. I picked out ugly bright pink gravel and a pink background. I also had a rainbow cave thing for the fish to swim through. My first fish were various gouramies,platties,neon tetras and barbs(which I named all of them bob). I really enjoyed the tank and got more and more into the hobby. By the time I was 7, each week I would stare at the fish in Walmart while my mom was shopping and read the tags on the tanks and match them to the fish in the pictures and learn facts about each fish from reading the tags. I would also cut a coupon out of the newspaper each week for 2 free zebra danios with a purchase of $3 and would have all of them jammed into my tank. By the time I was 8 I was able to know the proper ph and temperature etc. that my zebra danios prefered, however I never used a test kit or water changes,which I greatly regret. When I turned 9 I got really into the hobby and started reading all different kinds of fish books and bought a test kit and gravel vacuum. Every other week I would test the water and do a 25% water change. I then tried breeding my zebra danios and for Christmas my parents got me a (I'm gonna say 2 gallon?) tank to raise the fry in only to find that I was unsuccessful. The 2 gallon tank later got missplaced. When I was 10 my parents surprised me with a 20 gallon long tank,with filters,blue gravel,heater,hood,light and everything. I moved my zebra danios into the 20 gallon and had tetras in the 10 gallon. I then decided that I liked my tanks more natural, so I got them both blue backgrounds and would collect interesting rocks everytime my family went hiking. Then when I was 10 I got a 55 tank that I filled with goldfish that were caught from a friends koi pond. I also got another 55 gallon tank with catfish, and another for african cichlids. I then got a 72 gallon bow front and now a 180 gallon that I'm gonna breed stingrays in.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

I wanted a pet so bad when we moved into our new house... we found a betta in a vase at Wal-Mart and bought him but he died I started doing research on fish to figure out what killed him and started to get even more interested in fish- my mom gave me another betta in a bowl, and I got even more addicted, now I have 2 bettas and 10 gallon tank (and more coming soon!) and am addicted to my hobby!!

 

[Sysiphus]

Well I actually "want" to keep plants and the fish provide support for my plant tank. Have kept fishies for more than 20 years ever since a little boy, but after going from breeding fish in half a dozen tanks to salt water tanks about 10 years ago, I took a ""fishless" / "tankless" break for about 5 years. I came back to it when my daughter was 7 and she and I got a 50 gallon tank together. Did the tank up more for plants than fish, but really enjoyed the "easy" fish - zebras - cherry barbs and some hardy tetras. Now have a 90 gallon (and a 10 gallon for emergencies and treatments) and keep it for the value of learning about interactions between plants, water, fish and even us. Oh yeah, like to hear occasional "WOW, that looks great" from my daughters friends or someone stopping by. Maintenance is some of my best moments with the tank.

 

[FBTgirl]

I got into the hobby after I was little we had tons of goldfish and I took care of them with my mom.(when I was like five).lol but then we got bass and they ate all the goldfish. And then one bass ate the other so we moved and the bass died after we gave him to a friend. Then we got 2 hermit crabs. My brothers was young healthy. But mine had a cracked shell and was old. So when it died I really wanted another pet. So I went to petsmart and saw some fish. That were cool and black but they only lived like 2 months. I new nothing about fish then and I saw a few bettas that were pretty and stuff so I got them. They were bettas and from the moment I got them I started research. So then when my first ever betta died R.I.P Fight-O I got another. named Fight-O the 2nd. I had him for about 2 years and then I got like 8 more off ebay. lol I was stupid then but when I got them I gave most of them to friends and family. One got pop eye. But only 2 survive today. Very old fish. But anyway I really wanted another fish for about 6 months after everyone died. I was looking at the bettas in the wal*mart and I found little Carmel. I started up my research again and thats when I got Penny. Then I went to a petstore and I got 3 more. Now I consider it a nice hobby.

 

[Yazan]

I got into the hobby when I was 10 now I'm 11. I started to like keeping fish becuse the game 'fish tycoon' was so cool!

 

[FBTgirl]

thats a weird reason. But understandable.

 

[Yazan]

I understand.

 

[Jozlyn]

My addiction started when my husband got me a Betta for my birthday. I didn't like the vase he was in, it looked too small. So we went and got a 10lt tank for him and a "few" other fish at the same time on the same day! Needless to say within a week or so the whole lot were dead, I was devestated that my Birthday Betta had died and I wanted to know why, after a lot of searching I found this site and "lurked" in the background devouring information for a long time, found out where I went wrong and started again!

I now have Laurence, I rescued him from torment at a garden centre, in the 10lt. He has a lot of health problems still but he's happier and always swims over to say hello when I go near his tank and I love him.

Then I got a 90lt tank which I currently have guppies, neons (which all appear to have neon tetra disease), mollies, a dwarf gourami (with dwarf neon gourami iridovirus), a couple of BN Cats, a pair of Kribs and an Angel.

Then one of the mollies had fry and multiple tank syndrome started! I got a 22 lt for the fry and that was good for a few weeks, then I got another 90lt and transfered the fry and their heavily pregnant mother into there, this tank is supposed to be "temporary" but it's fully planted now and looks gorgeous so it'll stay!

I am throughly hooked on fish, I love them, wish I'd know how great they are earlier! I love learning things and this is a huge area to learn things about. I love it when I come home from work and just plonk down in front of one of the tanks and relax, there's nothing more peacful than watching the fish swimming around, and knowing that they're all happy.

My husband wants to get a marine tank, but after what I've read I've decided that it's going to be too difficult, but it has given me a new appreciation of how vulnerable the fish in our oceans are. I'm hoping that I'm going to get a BIG tank for Mother's Day, it's not too far off. I had my husband do some fish supply shopping for me the other day and he mentioned that he was quite surprised at how cheap a 4ft tank is! A 6ft would be nice and would look lovely in the lounge room. So I'll keep my fingers crossed.