How did you get into this hobby?
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137 Posts
I came to this site 3 months & $3k ago... :laugh2:
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572 Posts
Had a roomate with a 10 gallon with 2 goldfish a fantail and a comet. The tank started to stink so i started to take care of those little fish after about 2 months of upgrading her filter and doing 50% water changes every week i decided to get my own tank it was a 75 1/1/12 now i have 9 planted tanks. The roomate left her tank with me when she moved back to China, I ended up putting the goldfish in a 55 with a Eheim g160 and lots of anubius, Java fern, and African Bolbitis, spoiled little fishies they are. Getting ready to set up a 90 gallon show tank with a Eheim 2080, going to try my hand at a planted Discus tank.
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135 Posts
I've always been fascinated with the cycles of the natural world, been keeping things in clear containers for as long as I can remember. Can't really remember an "event" that led to this hobby. I'm sure there was a lightbulb moment but it had to of been before I was even five.
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19 Posts
Growing up always wanted to have an fish aquarium, but couldn't afford to have one. At the age of 21, in the USAF stationed at Vandenberg AFB, when to the local Kmart and got my first tank. It was an ten gallon tank, got some fish, went home and set the tank up. Well within an hour all were floating on top of the water dead. Got mad and trashed the tank. Well a few weeks later went to the local fish store in Lompoc, Ca., and got some info on the proper way to set up the aquarium. This time I got an 29G high tank and went home to set it up. Waited an week before i got a few fish for the tank, this time no deaths and been keeping fresh water tanks ever since.
By the that LFS was the best store ever I've been to. It had black lights, fish nets hanging from the ceiling, and some very helpful staff working there. That place was the bomb (1970 era).
By the that LFS was the best store ever I've been to. It had black lights, fish nets hanging from the ceiling, and some very helpful staff working there. That place was the bomb (1970 era).
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1 Posts
When I was about 5 or 6 someone from my church gave me a 20 gallon with a lot of oriental fish. It was extremely overstocked with a betta fish, 2 kois, a goldfish and a pleco lol. Eventually the stress became too much and the koi won the tank. I then raised turtles when I was 12 but then stopped for a few years. Now I'm nineteen and started up last summer. I'm fully in now and I love it! I'm planning to upgrade the two tanks that I have right now once I get into my new apartment. 
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2,971 Posts
I wanted glowfish, rainbow substrate and black lights. I wanted a dozen fish in a 5 gallon tank at my desk, just like the picture on the box.
I did some searching, like I always do before I start a project. Turns out that my idea was a terrible one and probably would have ended in a dozen dead glowfish and an empty tank in the garage. I ended up on this site and now I have a 75g planted community tank and a 20g planted shrimp tank. They have made our living room a bit more lively and beautiful.
I did some searching, like I always do before I start a project. Turns out that my idea was a terrible one and probably would have ended in a dozen dead glowfish and an empty tank in the garage. I ended up on this site and now I have a 75g planted community tank and a 20g planted shrimp tank. They have made our living room a bit more lively and beautiful.
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138 Posts
I was born with gills...
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424 Posts
When my dad was in the army (Korea) he was stationed for a bit in Kansas City. Whilst there he worked in a LFS. This LFS built tanks to spec. (I am guessing 1955-56). By the time I came along (1961) we always had a tank. It became my job to take care of the fish. He loved angel fish and we hatched out brineshrimp and I got to use the little screen dipper to catch the shrimp and feed to the angels.
Sometime in the late 70's that tank broke in cleaning.
After the flood of 1997 in North Dakota I had to rebuild my basement. I built a darkroom, as I was a photographer and did a lot of B &W developing....that sort of panned out in the early 2000's and I bought a 75 gallon. I bounced back and forth between fresh and salt for about 6 years...collecting more and more tanks along the way.
This fall I decided to create a legit fishroom and am currently in the process of making that happen. I am up to 10 tanks...I have 2 sons in college. It will be interesting to see if "fish" become a part of their lives after they get settled.
Sometime in the late 70's that tank broke in cleaning.
After the flood of 1997 in North Dakota I had to rebuild my basement. I built a darkroom, as I was a photographer and did a lot of B &W developing....that sort of panned out in the early 2000's and I bought a 75 gallon. I bounced back and forth between fresh and salt for about 6 years...collecting more and more tanks along the way.
This fall I decided to create a legit fishroom and am currently in the process of making that happen. I am up to 10 tanks...I have 2 sons in college. It will be interesting to see if "fish" become a part of their lives after they get settled.
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1,012 Posts
On my 10th birthday my parents gave me 2 X 1 X 1 feet tank built with galvanized-iron sheet frame which had a canopy with a light socket for an incandescent bulb. I knew nothing about fish-keeping but had gardening and fishing as a hobbies. There were no LFS in the sleepy little town we lived in - nor were there any other house with an aquarium.
So with a few pages of encyclopedia knowledge, I set up my tank with river-sand, plants from edges of the lakes and dams, rosy-barbs, flying-barbs, leopard-loaches and zebra-danios caught with mosquito net from lakes and streams. The year was 1960 and I am still there, plodding along never far from a tank.
So with a few pages of encyclopedia knowledge, I set up my tank with river-sand, plants from edges of the lakes and dams, rosy-barbs, flying-barbs, leopard-loaches and zebra-danios caught with mosquito net from lakes and streams. The year was 1960 and I am still there, plodding along never far from a tank.
When I was 14 my dad got a 40L tank from some friend of his and just showed up to the house with it. Needless to say my mom was not too happy with the sudden acquisition. The guy gave it to my dad with a bowl full of endler fish. Me and my dad set it up, neither of us knowing a thing about aquariums. Some fish died but eventually there were just too many little endlers in there. It was then that I decided to leanr more about this thing and try to make it better. Now 10 years later that tank is still at my parents house and it is known as my tank to everyone. They do little work on it and I come by every now and then and upgrade it little by little. A happy home to some big colorful angelfish now. While that is at my parent's house I have my 5gallon betta tank, 10 gallon puffer,
20 gallon fairy cichlid, and 29 gallon community. Can't wait to move out of my apartment and try transporting all these fish somehow.. haha. Likewise be able to get that upgrade to a 55 gallon for my community and give a salt water tank a shot in that 29. Much money I have spent ( smartly of course via sales and craigslist) but don't regret a penny. Now a days i go out of myway to go check out any fish store anywhere I am at in the country. I hope to have a big wall aquarium one day.
20 gallon fairy cichlid, and 29 gallon community. Can't wait to move out of my apartment and try transporting all these fish somehow.. haha. Likewise be able to get that upgrade to a 55 gallon for my community and give a salt water tank a shot in that 29. Much money I have spent ( smartly of course via sales and craigslist) but don't regret a penny. Now a days i go out of myway to go check out any fish store anywhere I am at in the country. I hope to have a big wall aquarium one day.
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3 Posts
When I was a little kid, my family had a basic 10 gallon aquarium, with a couple Danios, and some other fish I don't recall, with plastic plants and a "no fishing" sign. Fast forward to a year and a half ago, my wife and I living in our new place. We walk into a pet supply store looking for something to get our dog, and a Fluval tank catches my eye... "Hey honey, we always said we wanted to get a couple fish, wanna try it out?" Long story short, that quickly morphed (after more than a few deceased tetras R.I.P) into a fully planted 10 gallon then and even more planted 45 gallon, more Platies than you can count, a whole herd of Cories, and a DIY paintball CO2 system! Oh, and a fully planted 3 gal. in the corner for our favorite Betta "Vlad" Yeah, Admin has it right. Somehow more money (and time) than you realize is budgeted towards "fish stuff", but I love it! I find it hard to imagine a more fulfilling and rewarding hobby, not to mention all the awesome fish nerds I have been able to meet along the way!
Yeah, Admin has it right. Somehow more money (and time) than you realize is budgeted towards "fish stuff", but I love it! I find it hard to imagine a more fulfilling and rewarding hobby, not to mention all the awesome fish nerds I have been able to meet along the way!
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131 Posts
Bump.
When I was about 2, my parents brought a comet goldfish home from a boat show. Mom, who had previously had a planted angelfish and tinfoil barb display tank, stated that "fish need plants" and anacharis went into the hastily acquired goldfish bowl. The rest, as the saying goes, is history...
When I was about 2, my parents brought a comet goldfish home from a boat show. Mom, who had previously had a planted angelfish and tinfoil barb display tank, stated that "fish need plants" and anacharis went into the hastily acquired goldfish bowl. The rest, as the saying goes, is history...
As a youngin', less than age 8, I'd go collecting outdoors.
Whether it be praying mantis, tadpoles, crayfish and river plants, it just kind of stuck. The idea of creating a world, a habitable and sustainable eco-system, has been my drive for every tank and project since childhood.
Whether it be praying mantis, tadpoles, crayfish and river plants, it just kind of stuck. The idea of creating a world, a habitable and sustainable eco-system, has been my drive for every tank and project since childhood.
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6 Posts
Old thread, but a good place as any to start. When I was a kid i had all kinds of animals, snakes, birds, several other reptiles, a dog, a hedgehog briefly, an ant farm, anybody remember those? You ordered them in the mail form the back of a magazine and you got the ants in a little tube next to ice pack that kept them cold.... And of course aquariums, this one kept my interest throughout high school and around 18 I had a nano saltwater tank with a maroon clownfish and some companions, a freshwater community tank with my favorite honey gouramis. Once had a tank with banana plants and whatever else that incandescent light managed to keep alive (not much I don't think). I know I made a lot of mistakes back then... Fast forward a little over ten years and I'm just getting back into the hobby. Set up a new 10gal about two months ago and I wish I had found this forum before I did. I guess I missed A LOT in that time, went through a rough patch in my life (about the whole ten years...) and I only knew what I remembered from my past. But its cool to have found a bunch of people here with the same interests as me.
I was presented with a 24" x 12" x 12" cast iron framed tank on March 11th 1968 (11th birthday), two Indian Ferns and four cryptocoryne wendtii red (I believe the wendtii had a different name back then) a few guppies, 3 sword tails, one male two females and an albino corydoras. After about 6 months I was trading crypts for daphnia and bloodworm at the lfs.
As the years went by the number of tanks varied, I maxed out at 54 five years ago, now down to two. A 135 and a 48, the 48 is my first attempt at a planted tank.
The obsession is as strong as ever, MTS never leaves us.
Loving the camaraderie on here.
As the years went by the number of tanks varied, I maxed out at 54 five years ago, now down to two. A 135 and a 48, the 48 is my first attempt at a planted tank.
The obsession is as strong as ever, MTS never leaves us.
Loving the camaraderie on here.
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