How long have you been part the hobby and what is the scale of your involvement in it?

[Essjay]

Wow. I was so proud of my little ”2 years in the hobby”, then I see the other responses...

You are probably the same age as many of those who have been keeping fish for many years were when they first had fish. I was in my 40s when the fairground goldfish appeared one evening. So when someone asks the same question in 30 years time, look how long you'll be able to say that you've been keeping fish

 

[GaryE]

Either we start and quit, or start and continue. If we continue, the number of years is just a function of staying alive (sorry if the song got into your head from that). If you've done this for 2 years, it's how interested you are that matters. It's what you'll try, not what you've tried.
I've bred a few hundred species, which gives me a perspective/overview a newcomer may not have. But you may get into a species 3 months after you start, and teach all of us experienced people a thing or two about it. As long as people share info and experiences, we're all in it together.
I have a bunch of killie species I enjoy keeping. About a year ago, a hobbyist contacted me, saying he had kept killies in the 1980s, and stopped when his kids were born. He wanted to restart now that he was retiring. I gave him a few pairs, and he bred them. I gave him a few more, more difficult ones, and he bred those too. When I planned my move, he got pairs of every killie I've been breeding. In the move period, I lost some fish, and in 2 weeks, I'll visit him and replace all my losses from fish he's raised. He really only had a few years experience, with a 40 year gap, but he has serious skills, and can breed stuff I'd consider really hard. It's not how long you've done this, but how open you are to setting and solving fishkeeping puzzles.

 

[steveb87]

Hi, I started off with stickle backs from a local pond and gone on from there. Had 36x12x12 planted tank with mixed fish but then got into Killies and bred a good few of them. Then I got the bug for Discus ££££ had a few good breeding pairs and brought them on. Now I breed Chiclids South American in my fish cellar. I can't keep a mixed aquarium or plants but have to try to breed and raise the fish, more work I know but love it. My eye is on the L046 to breed but the cost of a group is a bit high more than the Discus I started with, we shall see.

 

[OliveFish05]

I have been in the hobby for 2 years. I started with a female betta and 3 pygmy Cories in a 2 gallon bowl. I knew nothing. I didn’t do the proper research beforehand. I quickly learned, I started researching. When I joined the forum last year I had a planted 55 gallon (with those original three Cories) and a planted 10 gallon. I currently have a 40 gallon densely planted axolotl tank, 20 gallon planted community, and a 5 gallon betta tank. I also have a 1,500 gallon koi pond... I am getting more involved this summer as I am hoping to set up grow tubs outdoors to focus on propagating more plants and maybe raise some fish!

 

[Dan Knowlton]

As near as as I can remember - 42 years now, not counting goldfish bowls when I was a kid!

Right now, I have a 20 and a 55 gallon tank and will be setting up a 30 gallon with a sump and will be adding a Coralife 32 tank for shrimp soon. All freshwater with plants.

My high (or low) point was when I had 6-55 gallon saltwater tanks (Caribbean, Indo-pacific (2), Red Sea, Hawaiian, and a mix) - I was spending WAY too much time on the tanks and soon got out of saltwater.

 

[Waterbabe]

I was given my Dads Oscar's when he couldn't rehome them at the tender age of 9. They were like the dogs I was never allowed to have and I loved them dearly. Big fish for a beginner! But bless them they had a great life and I enjoyed learning about them and we had a bond lol. Since then my home has never been tankless so 44 years.
So.... I walked in to an abandoned house today to clean an oven that a family had been evicted from, cut a very long story short I heard birds twittering and asked the landlord who had to meet me there to let me, where the noise was coming from? He said in there..... so instead of cleaning the oven I inquisitavly dropped tools and found them. Alongside them was a green nasty 4 foot tank which I thought was empty. I looked closer and after 5 minutes saw things moving. Inside was a large goldfish and 4 weatherloach. I was horrified. Think I done the right thing by giving him an ultimatum. I told him I would take them away tomorrow or I am reporting to RSPCA if they are not collected by the owner by the morning.
So the scale of my involvement as you asked, turned a very strange way today.... I wont let it go untill I'm absolutely sure they are all safe.

 

[Alice B]

I got an aquarium when my twin daughters were 1. They will soon be 39. I guess that dates me. Still like undergravel filtration. I'm not one of the cool kids, lol

 

[Alice B]

Wow. I was so proud of my little ”2 years in the hobby”, then I see the other responses...

at 2 years I didn't have time for a forum and the internet hadn't been invented yet. I think I was working in an office on an IBM computer that took up a whole room, and a 1200 baud modem was really cool! You are way ahead

 

[FoxChase]

I too started my fish keeping adventure as a young child with goldfish in bowls, won at our school's Fun Fair.
When I was 7 yrs my parents surprised me with a 20 gal long for Xmas. It had the aluminum striping on the edges of tank - anybody remember those?
It was a community tank with 2 of each fish to start. My 2 favorite fish - a female Pearl Gourami named Babe and a large striking black Angelfish I called Smokey. Along the way, we kept a couple of dwarf frogs and 2 newts also. I remember we were once able to buy 7 Marble Angels for a dollar! Heck of a sale that day!
In my teens and early 20's, was very interested in riding, training and showing horses. I started a business teaching lessons, training/sales and boarding horses so I could fund my horse showing habit every weekend.
I later worked part time at a pet store with fresh and salt, exotic birds and a great employee discount on tanks My friend's sister owned the shop and let me order two tanks for her cost - a 20 gal Hex that I stocked with Angels, Gouramis and Neons. And a 58 gal with fancy Goldfish, each a different type. Loved those Goldfish! They would eat peas from my hand and dance for me when I wiggled my finger by the glass.
After about 8 yrs, all my beautiful Goldfish died from a parasite from hell - it really broke my heart and I sold all my tanks.
A back injury stopped me from riding horses and I got into dogs - bred, raised, showed and hunted Jack Russell Terriers for over 30 yrs. I had always loved them since first seeing them at the horse shows where they were very popular.
My little 5 gal is my first tank in a very long time. And it's my first planted tank. It's kinda hard to work on, being so narrow. I find myself inventing new words as I try to get the damn plants to stay put in the substrate!! I keep fussing with the arrangement and am still not seeing my "vision"
I bought my first fish today! He's a multicolor galaxy koi Plakit betta. Saw him online and decided to go for it. The breeder is less than 300 miles away and gave all the right answers to the questions I asked.
Can't wait till the little guy gets here! Wahoo!!
Now to think of a good name for him!!

 

[lottabubbles]

i got started in 1958 with a 12 gallon steel framed aquarium. my mother bought it for all three of us kids. we all took care of what we thought was a lot of it but in reality, my mother did the most. we had the usual back then black molly's, red and green sward tails and a few guppies. a lot of the big pet stores back then had a show aquarium with a floating piece of drift-wood in it and had little turtles that would hang all over the drift-wood and dive down and back up regularly. mom bought that for our little aquarium, but it wasn't long before the turtle had one of the fish by the tail and although the fish took it for a ride it took a chunk out of the sward tail. we never had a turtle in that tank after that.
i had a 15gallon when we first got married in 68 and at that time the solid glass aquariums were becoming available. a local pet shop owner started making his own in the 39-gallon size. i bought one of those and purchased 2 red Oscars for the tank. they were probably 1.5 inches long. the first year for those i fed them shrimp. they loved those and started to grow fast. it was costing an arm and leg to feed these so i tried some blue-gill fish and they loved those too. it wasn't long before they were very large. one night they pilled up all the gravel into something that looked like a volcano with a dished out area on the top. while we were dining out the next day one laid eggs and the filter scattered those all over the tank. they ate all the eggs and a few days later built a new volcano but just swam around uninterested in it. we went back out that next night and when we got home there was water all over the floor and both fish were dead on the bottom with a large spoon size chunk gone out of both their heads. i measured them and one was 10 3/4th and one was 11inch.
that was the end of my raising Oscars.
i sold that 39-gallon tank and bought a 50 gallon all glass one in late 70. had that one till i bought the 125 gallon one i have now. had this large tank for the last 22 years. got the cabinet and lid from a company in California. i decided that since it was a tropical aquarium i would put tropical masks on the wall over it.
i don't do the live plants just plastic. i have good luck with longevity in fish lives. have some going on 14years now. i keep a variety of fish in the tank and total now is 26 fish. have 4 Fetherfin cats that are growing faster than i thought they would and are starting to be aggressive. i may have to find a pet store to give them to at the end of this year.
been running a Rena 3 filter on this tank for the duration. i am more than satisfied with the performance and the propeller is the only thing that has been replaced on it.

 

[FranciscoB]

My mother was a freshwater fish afficionada, keeper, breeder, aquariums, cement ponds, aquarium plants. I grew up in it. 60+ yeas later I have always had fish, with some interruptions, the last one ended in 2015.

 

[Trop65]

I've been keeping fish for 50 + years now. My sister bought me my first tank, a little 10-gallon and that was it, I was hooked.
I went to a 20 gallon to my current 65 gallon which I've had for 20 years.
Strictly freshwater with many types of Tetras. I absolutely love this hobby!











































stop at that!



































I'll

 

[Colin_T]

Wow. I was so proud of my little ”2 years in the hobby”, then I see the other responses...

Yeah but you have done a lot and learnt a lot during those 2 years

 

[lottabubbles]

I bought my first fish today! He's a multicolor galaxy koi Plakit betta. Saw him online and decided to go for it. The breeder is less than 300 miles away and gave all the right answers to the questions I asked.
Can't wait till the little guy gets here! Wahoo!!
Now to think of a good name for him!!

i would name it SwimSwim