How Was Your Start To The Hobby?

[RedeyesUK]

After reading a few 'new tank, all my fish are dying' threads on here recently, it kind of took me back to my first days in the hobby.

Unfortunately I was one of those that just went out and bought a tank without doing any reading up, chucked some fish in, and thought I'd be fine. Boy, was that a disaster!

My then GF bought me a tank for Valentines Day (aah ), great, but TBH it was a pretty useless tank. Maybe 2 gallons tops, I wanted tropicals, so we went to the LFS, bought a heater - and some fish! Got home, filled the tank up with tap water (no dechlor), put the heater in, then bunged the fish in. Suffice to say, half of the poor guys were dead by that evening. I phoned a friend, got some basic advice, and learnt a few things about filters (I had none, not even an air pump) and dechlorinators. Nevertheless, a week or so later I'd lost the rest of my stock.
It got a bit better after that - bigger tank, cycled (more by luck than design) filter, and could actually make a fish live for more than a month. But I still struggled for a couple of years after that, cleaning my filter in tap water, water changes only when the tanked looked a bit scummy, and so on.

I've come a long way since!

 

[stang1]

I was lucky as my lfs gave me all the help I needed. They explained all about cycling the tank and convinced me to buy a water testing kit. I also took a water sample with me when I wanted to buy fish just to make sure everything was ok.
I did try a couple of other shops and got lousy advice and incompatible fish, so stuck with my lfs and things worked out well.

 

[Hawkins]

I got my first tank for my birthday unexpectedly, and went to the shop the next day to pick up 6 fish. all but one died and she lasted a few months. (RIP 4 harlequins and 2 cherry barb)

That was in April last year, and then in May had to go on holiday so left the poor little cherry barb on her own for a week.

if i had known i was getting a tank then i could have read about fish.. but then if i was asked if i wanted a fish tank before they bought it i would have said no. just because i didnt know anything, and didnt realise how many tropical fish there were.

 

[three-fingers]

Christmas 1999 I started with 3 fancy goldfish in a 15 litre tank .

I loved them, I had a beautiful red-capped oranda, black moor and calico oranda. I would love goldfish again if I had the space, but most of the one's I've seen just really weren't as pretty.

I never set the tank up properly, and ended up doing loads of tiny water changes to counter the cloudy water.

Two of them died, leaving me with the calico oranda (named Bilbo).

I then got a shubunkin and common goldfish to replace them .

Naturally they outgrew the tank, so I got an 80 litre tank Christmas 2000, which seemed huge. Then got more goldfish, and tried some sub tropical fish.

The shubunkin died of unknown causes then common grew to 8 inches and started bullying/eating everything.

So I rehomed him and stuck to tropical fish and apart from some bad fish choices, everything went great (I even got a betta tank) until 2005 when the water company changed the pipes and I lost lots of fish.

Everything was OK from then on until 2006 I started using Stress Zyme after the LFS insisted I needed it, and I think I had an ammonia spike or something.

Nothing major has gone wrong since, learnt loads from this forums and books, and I even hope to go on to do Marine and Freshwater Biology after my gap year .

If everything had gone perfect from day 1, I don't think I would be as interested in the hobby and the biology behind it as I am now.
I'm pretty glad I wasn't given all the right instructions at the start, then I would have had no motivation to learn or change anything.

 

[rdd1952]

I was very fortunate as my son was already into the hobby so he steered me in the right direction. I still made mistakes (that's how I ended up here) but it was a lot easier with the help he provided (mature filter media). He was able to answer most questions I had about compatibility and such.

 

[saltynay]

My first tank was 5 gallon and had a waterfall sponge filter built into the hood. I had a red cap orando and a black moor the black moor died toward the end of the first month. I was hooked and went out and bought a 60 gallon which was actually a perfect fit for my room and bookshelf. I had found a forum which helped to research a list of fish that were compatible and I was all setup to go. Dad wouldnt let me fill it as it was situated directly above a priceless antique table (spoil sport) and so it has lived in the basement ever since never filled never touched. Red capped survived for 6-8 months got to around 4-5" then died . About 2 months ago I was chatting with a friend who said he had found a goldfish in a bag (carnival one) on the back of a bus and had just put it in a fish bowl. I instantly remembered my tank and got the smaller 5 gallon from the basement and it is now setup behind with 2 endlers and some amano shrimp with a few live plants. I still have to convince my mum where to put the larger fish tank in the house as 1) I will be travelling on a gap year in 6 months 2) we are trying to sell the house so clutter and anything that looks like it shouldn't be there has been put away.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Some people may find this to be a little mean, so sorry in advance.

I actually bought a scope of fat head minnows, hence the name, for ice fishing. A scope was about 50 -70 minnows I would say. Well it made no sense for me to buy a new scope every time I go ice fishing since I only use a couple minnows each time. So I talked to a friend and he told me that if I wanted to keep them I would need an aerator. So I bought one, and since I did not have a tank I just put them in a tote. After a couple of days the water became really cloudy and so I bought a whisper 1-3 gallon filter. That did not clear it up, knowing absolutely nothing about cycling, I bout a bigger filter, Aqua Clear, thinking that would help. Well it was still cloudy, bacteria bloom, but I did not know that at the time. Well time passed and I started doing some research and found this forum.

In the meantime, while doing research and with each passing day, I grew closer and closer to the fish and I just could not bear the thought of using them for ice fishing anymore. From there on out I got a 10 gallon for them, and A LOT of other stuff too. Obviously, not knowing anything about stocking a tank, 50 minnows in a 10 gallon is not a good idea, and I lost a lot of them, so sad. But after learning everything there is to keeping fish and about 2 and a half months later everything is good now. Fully cycled tank! I have some minnows left, and I got a Cichlid, I love Cichlids, she is so cute! And now I am buying a 29 gallon this weekend, and in the near future a 55!

I wish I new a thing or two before hand, so I would not have put those minnows through all that.

I learned a lot about fish in the last couple of months, and still beat myself over the head for what I did to all those minnows.

I know I probably made a risk posting this info for what I did to the minnows, and I hope it wont jeopardize my reputation, but I hope people will forgive me for what I did, and realize that I know what I did was wrong.

-FHM

 

[foley69]

i started off with a 60-70 litre tank with 2 common goldfish and a couple of koi they were all living great until i never did water changes and they all died after about 3 years then i gave up for a couple of month then got a 10litre tank and got 2 tiny weather loach this all went succesfully until the loahc outgrew it in the space of 2 month then i got a 35 litre tank they outgrew that then i ended up getting a 100 litre tank with a community then i discovered cichlids and they are now my passion in fish keeping i now own a 55gal a 33gal and a 15gal tank i have learnt so much over the course of 5 years as a fish keeper all thanks to this forum and experience.

 

[RedeyesUK]

I know I probably made a risk posting this info for what I did to the minnows, but I hope people will forgive me for what I did, and realize that I know what I did was wrong.

I wouldn't beat yourself up too badly, it's just down to ignorance. I did pretty much the same when I started, the exception being that I only lost a dozen or so guppies!

You made mistakes and you learnt from them. That's the important thing to take away here!

 

[fatheadminnow]

I know I probably made a risk posting this info for what I did to the minnows, but I hope people will forgive me for what I did, and realize that I know what I did was wrong.

I wouldn't beat yourself up too badly, it's just down to ignorance. I did pretty much the same when I started, the exception being that I only lost a dozen or so guppies!

You made mistakes and you learnt from them. That's the important thing to take away here!

Thanks man!

-FHM

 

[weejen]

i started out wantin a marine tank bout 3 months b4 xmas so i read up and it seamed way to hard so i thought i would start with tropical fish. so i did some reaserch and at xmas my parents bought me a tank so i started to fishless cycle and then parents bought me 3 fish so ended up doin fish in cycle but with lots of work and water changes later now i have 2 fully cycled tanks. and have had 2 batches of fry. and i am hooked on keeping fish always looking at new and biggar tanks and spending all my money on my fish and loving it

 

[dcarmor927]

there should be a choice for "this forum saved my fish's lives" lol...i came to this forum asking for stocking ideas and haddnt even cycled my tank, but i only lost one fish during the cycle, and he is still the only fish that has died in my hands (so to speak (and excluding fry)) i learned almost everything i know from reading topics on this forum!! Thanks to every one whose helped me along!!

 

[UBigBobby]

My start went well. Everyone loses fish. EVERYONE. Even public aquariums. It happens. Fish die in the wild and they will die in your tank. Sometimes of natural causes, sometimes from disease, sometimes from accidents. But it will happen. Sometimes it is avoidable, but sometimes it isn't.

I started about 4 years ago with a 10G and 3 Tiger Barbs. I knew nothing about fishkeeping. Eventually this forum taught me that I needed a bigger tank for them, so I got a 40G Tall. The 40G tall housed 7 Tiger Barbs, and a few other fish. Honestly can't remember what. The 10G ended up housing a few Rummynose Tetras.

Well about 3 years ago there was a big story in Buffalo in october. Terrible winds, freezing rain, and 6 feet of snow. Power was out for a few days and both tanks died due to no heat. My tanks are in my room, which is upstairs where there is no central heat, only baseboard electric heaters. No electric = no heat.

I quickly rebounded. I took the 10G down, and used only the 40G. For the last 2 years the 40G has been a SE Asia tank with Giant Danios and Harlequin Rasboras, and a few Clown loaches which unfortunately succumbed to ich.

Last year I reopened the 10G, and made a Tanganyika shell dweller tank. Unfortunately while out of town a couple weeks ago the filter failed, and the tank died. I've taken the tank down and put it in storage.

This past summer I expanded my horizons and tried my hand at Saltwater. All in all it has been a very rewarding choice. I still have the 40G tall with Giant Danios and Harlequin Rasboras, but I now have a 30G Nano Reef and a 10G FOWLR tank. The 10G just has the normal cleanup crew of some snails, and its lone fish is a Firefish. The 30G is a reef tank. I have Hammer corals, Frogspawn, Green Star polyps, some zoanthids, and pocillipora. The fish are a Percula Clownfish, Yellow Tailed Blue Damsel, Coral Beauty Angel, and a Chainlink Moray Eel. Also have the normal snail crew, plus a pincushion urchin.

The SW tank has been a lot of fun, and has been an adventure. Some things are more difficult than FW, other are eaisier.

All in all, you are going to make mistakes. Your mistakes may even kill a fish or two. It happens to almost everyone. You just have to keep you head up, eye on the prize, and keep on truckin'. Don't get too discouraged over mistakes or deaths. They're a part of the hobby unfortunately. Just try and be careful, always double check on here or another forum or site before you try somethiing new, or add new fish. Keep up on maintainence (coming from the guy who considers water changes topping off from evaporation), and keep the tank clean and you'll have healthy fish.

 

[snowflake311]

I stared with bettas. Then when I was 16 I got a 5gal tank at a yard sale. I put some guppies in it they all died I had not idea why. maybe because it was over stocks and not cycled. Then I tried again with male and female mollies 2 pepper corys. Everything was fine that time and my mollies started breeding like crazy. I had some major inbred babies. I remember testing the tank for ammonia trying everything to keep it down learned about the molly shimmy. I finally got the tank under control and I wanted to move the fry to a larger tank. They all would start to acted funny and shimmy in the new tank I put them back in the 5 gal and they were happy. OH man it was crazy. My 5 gal tank was over stocked but the fish where happy in it.

I have kept bettas for 12 years. I just got back into the hobby last year. My husband said hey this would be a good spot for a fish tank. I turn to him and say you don't want to get me started. He said do it. I warned him. I got a 36 Gal tank to fit perfectly in this little wall cut out. Now I want the 55 - 120 gal tank I am having a hard time convince him that I need it. I found a 120gal with EVERYTHING even fish for $175 that's a steal but I am having a hard time talking him into it.

 

[Just_Another_One]

I got started by a 33 Gallon I bought to "save" my uncles 2 sharks 3 years ago. He was dieing of Lung Cancer and his Bala Shark and Red Tail Black Shark were living in a DISCUSTING tank which looked to be 29G that hadn't been cleaned in 2 years.

I bought the tank then 6 Black Skirt Tetras on the advice of the pet store to get started. Then of course I started researching and relizing all about the cycle and the fact that 33G is no where near big enough for a Bala Shark. My uncle had passed away shortly after so when his house sold instead of putting the sharks in my tank we gave them to the LFS.

The tank cycled fine with the Black Skirts with water changes every 3 or 4 days. All six of the Black Skirts survived and lived for almost 3 years untill a nasty diesese took them away Since then I've gotten rid of the 33 Gallon and upgraded to a 65 Gallon which I recently sold after Columinaris killed all my fish and now I only have two 10 Gallon communities and a 6 Gallon betta tank. In April/May I will be getting a 30-40G I just needed a break from such a large tank for a bit.