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why did you start a tank

8K views 41 replies 34 participants last post by  Tomsk 
#1 ·
just wondering what got everyone into fish. i like them so much because i grew up with them and they aways gave me peace of mind and relaxed me. besides that i'm fascinated by the ocean and all those things we know are there but know so little about. thats why i keep my tanks.
 
#2 ·
I started fish since I was 5 years old.:mrgreen: I was mostly fascinated by fish because my father used to have fish himself in a large tank which I now owned after he quitted on fish several years ago.
 
#3 ·
When I was little, my brother had a tank with neons, an angelfish and a pleco (as far as I recall) and I just loved watching them. I think its just finding them so interesting -- their various sizes, shapes and personalities --- and how they move and interact with their surroundings and other fish that make them so entrancing!

The ability to maintain a little piece of their world is very rewarding.
 
#4 ·
I started mine because we had oscars as a kid. My Dad didn't have the tank setup for years and going through the basement I found his old tank and grabbed it. It's in my living room now, I'm currently awaiting an upgrade. It's great seeing it up and running, I've always loved having fish (oscars particularly).
 
#8 ·
long time cory fan here.
then i got into plecos and then the big dollars came out LOL :lol:
i do like the corys though.
i started fish keeping about 2 years ago. ( kind of a beginner ) Then i started to get other tanks and i could get better and more interesting fish.
i still have zoidburg ( my albino cory ) from my very first days.
he was 8cm when we bought him. 2 years later, he is now around 10cm.
i also love the light colour too LOL i dunno why, :lol: no jks.
 
#9 ·
had fish all my life my dads influence rubbed off on me!
he used to have marine when i was small, he had 2 lionfish inbetween dividers, then decided to go tropical he has always had peaceful community tanks

so as the reble i am as soon as i had upgraded my goldfish bowl to tropical i had seperate breeding tanks with guppys(food) and another with siamease fighters, whilst also having a large shoal of angels, red bellied pirana, oscars, anything bigger the better.

i have now only got one tank but it is just a pure catfish sanctuary i have rescued 5 of the 9 i own, so i am trying to learn abit about plecs now.
sarah
 
#10 ·
mostly the same as the other posts, had fish when i was a kid, loved the colors and variety. then i didnt have fish for a couple of years. once my husband and i started living together we got a fish tank and so keeping fish kind of became something that we both enjoyed and did together. We're more educated and better equipeed now and our tank collection is only growing (some of our family think we're crazy to have so many) but really i can only see it getting bigger as the years go by! Plus they must not realize that alot of people that get into fish keeping for more then just a passing interest go a little crazy! :lol: my husband likes the whole contained enviroment idea. it's like a whole little chunk of the ocean or river. definitly a cool thing to have. :D
 
G
#12 ·
Well my husband and I grew up with fish tanks in our homes and as our children grew we decided to start off with a small tropical tank and its exploded from there. We currently have 5 tanks running now and are planning a 55 gallon saltwater reef come march 2007. :D
 
#13 ·
well i have had a goldfish growing up. then after me and my husband got married we dicided to start a small tank. then one day we saw our neighbors 75 gallon reef tank. so we got a 46 gallon, but had freshwater. then one day we dicided to do saltwater. so from that 46 we wnt to 72 now to our 120. we also have 2 20 gallons one fresh and one salt. what i a say its an addicting hobby.
 
#14 ·
As kids we use to bring gold fish home when the fair ground
was about in our local park,
then progressed to a larger goldfish tank,
which one night for no apparent reason split on the bottom.
left the hobby,the fish went in the pond (thankfully it was summer)
so there has always been fish about at some time or another.
then around three years ago decided to come back to the hobby,
but try my hand at tropical fish instead of cold.
so here i am. :)
 
#15 ·
i started because i watched my mother struggle to keep her angels alive in a 10 gallon (a no-no, i know...) and i thought, "i will start keeping fish the right way, and then i will help her get on her feet". so i started with a 10 gallon in august, and i now have the original 10, and a 46 column tank with angels.

and we both have healthy tanks now. =)
 
#16 ·
When I was around 10 years old I visited my dad's friend house one day, he had a 500+ gallon tank full of cichlids and 4+ giant plecs.
He helped me set up a 10 gallon tank and even baught my first fish (guppies.)

The family hard a ruff time shortly after getting my tank, we spent some time in a shelter, I kept my fish tank running the entire time, I doub't I'd of kept my sanity without that small refuge from the struggle I was in.

13 years later I have 7 tanks running and two in storage and am addicted to plecos, go figure.
 
#17 ·
I've always had pets of some sort, and got a 10 when I was a kid that I had a bunch of guppies and neon tetras in. I brought a catfish fry home from the lake one day, and pretty soon I had a catfish that was too big for the tank and no guppies or tetras. The cat went back into the lake, and I had firebelly newts and fiddler crabs for a while. I went to college and had to get rid of everything, then when I got my own place I started another tank, with more guppies and an african ropefish. He escaped and turned into a fishy dust bunny. I kept just guppies for several years, and then recently got my 55 gal. I got rid of all the guppies too, and put the figure 8 into their tank. Right now in addition to the tanks, my wife and I have two dogs, two cats, and a beehive :D
 
#19 ·
my mom owned a fish store when i was a kid... i just remember sitting in the room surrounded by big fish tanks of all types of fish.... and at home we always had at least one fish tank in every room in the kitchen some goldfish in the bathroom a betta... she took in all the unwanted impulse buys that people dropped off at the store.
then when i moved away from home i got turtles.. messy buggers... and realized i love crabs and crayfish... they were so interesting in their tanks... they just seemed like the cranky old neighbor..
then i got a 55 gallon tank at a second hand store 85 bucks for the stand lights and tank.. and i got a few koi.. then i found a 46 bow front for 15 bucks and got a few more koi.. i just felt so at peace watching them swim and eat and up root all my plants... and when they got too big i gave the koi to my mom for her out door ponds and started over with babies...
then i got pregnant with my own babies and moved across the country gave away all my fish and the tanks and now i am beginning again....
 
#20 ·
Brother in laws fault!!!! I used to watch his all the time. They had to move. Not room for multi tanks.... I inherited 5 of his 29 gallons complete!!! And even the fish from two tanks!!!!! He kept his larger salt water tank for the apartment. I got all the freshwaters!!

Ran those for 27 years until divorced and moved here. Only one tank made the move intact through winterizing and finishing the studwall cabin. Got eggs from neighbors pond and hatched 5 goldfish. Then had to get started again.

Thanks to Buckman, Fishjoey and Calmwaters I started tropical again. Now am trading fry to the ONLY fish store within 2 hours of here!!!! Well not counting Meijer or Walmart (but they don't count as fish stores) and just as far as the LFS anyway.
 
#21 ·
When I was a kid my brother was allergic to all things fuzzy! Bummer! So baby turtles it was but they were hard to keep in those tiny little turtle pans with the fake palm tree and diving board. OMG!! So the only thing we could have was fish. We got over run with snails and mom axed that too. After that there was nothing in the house pet wise until I had my own place and we had ALL things fuzzy! Hamsters, Guinnea Pigs, Rabbit, Cats, then when we got our first home we got dogs and the 90 Gallon with 3 Oscars, 2 Balla Sharks. We also had a tank of Pirrana as well at one point but the babies kept eating each other till we had one left. Funny how that is!! Many years later we sold the tank completely. Now I am re-married and it's taken many years to slowly upgrade to my 75Gal.
I am so ready for my pond!!
 
#22 ·
My girlfriend was moving to Ohio and didn't want to take her little 6gl with her so she gave it to me. In it was one serpae tetra and an upside down catfish. I went out the next day (okay, this next part is embarassing :oops:) and purchased a tiny pleco, a tiny pictus and three zebra danios and added them to the 6gl. After realizing that I had caught the "fever" I picked up a 100gl shortly thereafter. The pleco, danios and serpae tetra went back to the LFs in exchange for more appropiate fish.
Fast forward to now what is five tanks and some amazing fish. I'm also proud to say that my pictus is alive and well and doing fantastic.
 
#24 ·
I always loved fish since a kid i had my own tanks when i was 13 along with leopard geckos , chameleons , chinchillas anything I could find to love really that was exotic, an last year my fiance and me went fishing and he wanted to bring a fish home from the lake which was a tiny fishy and i remembered i had a 10 gallon with filter rocks and everything that i let my mom use which was downstairs and she killed all of my fish :( after i had them for so very very long and then let the tank go to crap after i sepnt so much money on it so we used that tank and after that it was all down hill we returned sammy [the lake fish] back to his home once he healed from being caught, cleaned the tank out really well got some mollies , cat fish platties , pleco , algae eater, then a week later upgraded to a 30gal mollies were breeding like crazy then I moved in to my own home saw some great deals on craigslist got 2 75 gallon tanks 2 ten gallons and my 30 gallon now there used to let my angels spawn and grow out with 1 being a community tank that i cant stop adding fish to :x so Ill be getting a 240 gallon tank soon enough and yea every pay check at-least 200 goes to my fish and I will love fish keeping forever its a great CLEAN healthy hobby Its helped keep me clean from anything.
 
#28 ·
i also have a tank at my moms house lol because i ran out of room here :X i need help O_O:lol:
 
#26 ·
When I was about four or five, my grandfather took me to collect, (seine)bait from a creek to use while fishing.( Crayfish,bluegill,chub minnows). He placed them in a horse trough under a willow tree to keep them cool and I spent hours bent over the tank watching the fishes,crayfish.
Got my first aquarium around the age of sixteen and little has changed it seems. I still spend hours sitting in front of the tanks observing the fishes. :lol:
 
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