Somethings Fishy Here
Fish Fanatic
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The ripe old age of 7 with a 10 gallon 
How Old Were You When You Got Your First Fish And Fish Tank?
- Thread starter Durbkat
- Start date
I think I am about to win the prize for being the oldest to start. I got my first tank at the young age of 52 (earlier this year). I actually bought my wife a tank for Christmas last year (and she is so nice to let me do all the water changes and maintanence on it). The first fish in it were 3 red-eye tetras and 3 serpae tetras. She then went and bought a 2.5 gallon for a betta before she ever had fish in the 29 gallon.
Officially, I didn't get my first tank until January of this year when I rescued 2 bettas from WM and bought 2 small tanks (at a LFS nearby since I refused to buy the hard goods from WM because of their deplorable conditions) for them. Then came the 75 gallon in February. MTS sure sets in fast. Started at Christmas with the first one and had 5 by February. But we are in therapy now and haven't bought a tank since then (no more room but have almost rationalized that we don't REALLY need a sofa and that a nice 180 gallon marine tank would look much better against that wall).
Officially, I didn't get my first tank until January of this year when I rescued 2 bettas from WM and bought 2 small tanks (at a LFS nearby since I refused to buy the hard goods from WM because of their deplorable conditions) for them. Then came the 75 gallon in February. MTS sure sets in fast. Started at Christmas with the first one and had 5 by February. But we are in therapy now and haven't bought a tank since then (no more room but have almost rationalized that we don't REALLY need a sofa and that a nice 180 gallon marine tank would look much better against that wall).
I was 12 when I got my first tank. It was a 10g with an UGF. I cycled it with 3 harlequin rasboras. I eventually had 3 rasboras (before I knew about schools), 3 platies, and a pair of angelfish (before I knew that angelfish would grow to be huge! They were nickel sized little golden angels, so cute). Well, later that year I got another tank because the angelfish started breeding on the uptake tube, and moved the harlequins and platies to the new 10g. Never got angel fry, but it was fun to watch them breed; once they were separated and had the tank to themselves, with electric blue gravel no less. They died after about two years, they were stunted. I didn't know at the time. I also didn't have to use dechlorinator. We lived in the Pacific Northwest and the water company used so little chlorine that it evaporated in a day, so I just let the water stand. Eventually, I got dechlorinator when I found out about metals and such.
The second 10g, cycled with the seed gravel from the other tank in a bag, had it's own share of adventures. My platies dropped fry in that tank and there was a fry I grew really attached to. He was the first. Lucky was his name. A little wagtail platy male (eventually anyway). We saw him hiding in some fake plants, so tiny, so cute, with only one eye! He made it to adulthood. It was fun explaining a gonopodium to my mom. She flipped out. That second 10g, also housed the suicidal rasbora. Jumped 4 times from the tank, and lived to tell the tale. He survived until we gave him to a LFS when I moved. Eventually, that tank also had some corydoras, one of which, a peppered cory, managed to live in the UGF for quite some time. He emerged when I was stripping the tank when I was moving to FL. I can't imagine living in that yuckyness for so long.
I can't believe that was over 17 years ago! That is my beginnings with conscious fish-keeping. I don't really count the time when I was five and we had two goldfish in a bowl. They were my sister's, who begged for them. I don't remember them much, but I was a 5-year-old who was precocious (sp) enough to say "put a plant in with the fishies, mommy, fish need oxygen and plants need carbon dioxide, so they can help each other cause they make what the other needs." Even at that age
complete Watched a lot of Nature episodes in that time. Of course didn't know about dechlorinator, but hey I was 5, and Nature never talked about dechlorinator!
I will shut up now. But thank you for making take a stroll down memory lane. That was pretty fun.
The second 10g, cycled with the seed gravel from the other tank in a bag, had it's own share of adventures. My platies dropped fry in that tank and there was a fry I grew really attached to. He was the first. Lucky was his name. A little wagtail platy male (eventually anyway). We saw him hiding in some fake plants, so tiny, so cute, with only one eye! He made it to adulthood. It was fun explaining a gonopodium to my mom. She flipped out. That second 10g, also housed the suicidal rasbora. Jumped 4 times from the tank, and lived to tell the tale. He survived until we gave him to a LFS when I moved. Eventually, that tank also had some corydoras, one of which, a peppered cory, managed to live in the UGF for quite some time. He emerged when I was stripping the tank when I was moving to FL. I can't imagine living in that yuckyness for so long.
I can't believe that was over 17 years ago! That is my beginnings with conscious fish-keeping. I don't really count the time when I was five and we had two goldfish in a bowl. They were my sister's, who begged for them. I don't remember them much, but I was a 5-year-old who was precocious (sp) enough to say "put a plant in with the fishies, mommy, fish need oxygen and plants need carbon dioxide, so they can help each other cause they make what the other needs." Even at that age
complete Watched a lot of Nature episodes in that time. Of course didn't know about dechlorinator, but hey I was 5, and Nature never talked about dechlorinator!I will shut up now. But thank you for making take a stroll down memory lane. That was pretty fun.
dwarfgourami
Fish Connoisseur
I'd have been about 9 or 10, I reckon, but I did have a long break from my early teens to the age of 41.
Saedcantas
Fishaholic
Sadly like far too many others, my first fish was a goldfish I won at the fair at the age of 9 (I actually won something much more valuble (in money!) but only wanted the beautiful fishy)
Poor Quicksilver lived in a 1 gallon bowl for two years before being moved into a 20gallon tank with filtration and all the rest. Sadly although he'd made it that far, I went on holiday at 14 and left my older sister to feed them... "they looked hungry all the time so I just fed them lots"
That was the end of me keeping fish at home until recently 
Poor Quicksilver lived in a 1 gallon bowl for two years before being moved into a 20gallon tank with filtration and all the rest. Sadly although he'd made it that far, I went on holiday at 14 and left my older sister to feed them... "they looked hungry all the time so I just fed them lots"
That was the end of me keeping fish at home until recently 
Valmyre
Fish Fanatic
12
About two and half years ago when i was 14, i had a 20 odd litre, i cycled the tank for a week and put all the fish in at once. only a couple died 
. i've got two albino corys that used to breed in there all the time, i've still got them now along with about 100 of their babies
. i've got two albino corys that used to breed in there all the time, i've still got them now along with about 100 of their babies To tell yall the truth, I've never once seen a goldfihs at the fair.
Of course, my parents never let me go to those move-a-fair fairs...my mom and her best friend had a very bad experince when they were my age.
I did go to a couple without he knowing, but I didn't go on any of the rides.
I did win a picture though..
Of course, my parents never let me go to those move-a-fair fairs...my mom and her best friend had a very bad experince when they were my age.
I did go to a couple without he knowing, but I didn't go on any of the rides.
I did win a picture though..
Callum
Fishaholic
um noow so 13 i have a 20 gallon with harlequins, zebra danios and albino corys
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