I got my first tank in 1971, when I was 8 years old. It was a 5 1/2 gallon Metaframe, overstocked with common wild type guppies and anacharis. The anacharis grew like crazy, and I used to harvest it from time to time and put it in the family goldfish tank. One day I took a couple snails from the goldfish tank, and soon had a booming snail population (seriously, I have never seen anything like it before or since --can we say "overfeeding"?)
I moved on to more and bigger tanks, but never knew why plants sometimes grew for me and sometimes didn't. (With what I know now, I don't know why plants ever grew for me then!)
I took a break from fishkeeping while I was in college, and later another longer break(about 10 years). I got back into it about 2 1/2 years ago, with no intentions of keeping a planted tank. But I kept seeing all these beautiful planted tanks in magazines and online, and before I knew it, I had to try and have one.
My first tank is long gone, but I do have the airpump that powered the filter --and it still works! (Anyone else have some ancient equipment still around?)
|