Forestpisces
Fish Herder
I don't know if the same is true for anyone else but i know the fish that first got me wanting fish are blackmoors, i loved them from being about 3 years old because the wiggled when they swam. Just my story of the begginigs of my love for fish.
When i was about 5 i had my first goldfish he died in a week (he was in a bowl
)
At 6 my brother bought me 2 fancy's for my birthday, they were called crystal and porsha crystal died after 4 months and porsha lasted a year
Then aged 7 i got another goldfish i named Nelson, my grandpa let me win him on one of those hook a duck games back when it was legal for them to use fish as prizes, funnily enough he wasn't the one i wanted i wanted a blackmoor as i always had from being 3 years old but the man behind the stall just handed me a really tiny common goldie, i was upset but too shy to protest. So then off we went to purchase a bigger tank for him-grandpa Ken knew they got big- so we went into this tiny place that was clearly making a mint from the fair with people buying bowls to keep their fish in. I pointed at a smaller 10litre one because i didn't want him to spend alot of money the fish had only been a pound but i felt guilty for him spending alot of money on me on rides. But my dear grandpa strode further up the shelf reached up and pulled down one of those 21 litre plastic critter keepers with the blue hood and raised ends so you can pick it up easier down and marched to the till. Bear in mind this was back when they first came out so it was about £20, he told me to get a bag of gravel and any decoration i wanted, being seven i just picked up the first bag i saw i don't remember well as it was long ago but it was some coloured stuff maybe blue and a small plastic plant i think, we got de chlorinator too.
Then it was off home in the car (3hour drive as my grandpa lives in sunderland and i'm in halifax yorkshire) i was worried that mum wouldn't be happy but she just laughed and helped me set it all up on the kitchen window sill, we put him in the tank and he was tiny about an inch long including his tail, and there he resided for 3years. As we all went about our everyday life, he would sit on his window sill and watch, eventually i began to ignore him i lost interest i guess a goldfish didn't hold the same appeal to a girl who now had two dogs and had owned at one point 16 hampsters (we bought a pregnant one and didn't know). And so Nelson was forgotten, my mum changed his water every week 100% and boiled the gravel then swished the tank round with hot soapy water rinsed it then put him back in and fed him once a day. But soon enough even she left him, then one day i looked over to the small plastic tank on the window sill and saw the water was green, i moved to have a closer look and there was my dear little goldfish looking utterly miserable, he swam up to my face which was now pressed against the tank as i tryed to see him and he waggled his tail at me. I felt a pang of shame. My poor little goldfish, it wasn't fair to treat him that way.
So i marched the tank upstairs( quite a struggle for a ten year old) and set about cleaning it and as i cleaned i noticed how much bigger Nelson had gotten, he was about 4 inches now (nothing for a goldie i know but i was young). After a good cleaning i set his tank on my bedroom windowsill were my 35litre now sits. Over the next year i took much better care of him although i did some awful things too, i put 3 baby angel fish in the tank (i'm truely ashamed of that) even gin once by accident. He got some disease which made his scales fall off and we were told to dab salty water on his wounds with a cotton but (table salt
)
But he lived on to be a truely grumpy little man lol, but then after 4 years I woke up one morning to find Nelson floating at the top of the water, i looked down at the friend that had seen me grow and although i did not cry i felt sorry that i didn't give him a better life and that my old friend was gone after all the joy and excitement he brought me as a little girl, we buried him in the garden.
Then about 4 months ago i wanted another goldfish, my partner and i were going to a fair and it reminded me of Nelson so i went to a pet shop and my other half chose a £1 sarasa comet baby and a (wait for it i cringe at the thought) 1 gallon critter keeper. We called her twig she was our first joint pet, i immedietely began to research out of intrest and realised how big she would get, i purchased a 21litre critter keeper exactly like Nelsons had been the very next day. But she didn't make it through the week. THen determined to get a blackmoor once and for all i went to pets at home where i was advised to get a 35litre elite goldfish set-up with blue gravel andi did so then let it run for a week adding the utterly useless filter start stuff it came with and when to buy my fish. I purchased 1 very small and frankly ill looking (i didn't pick it i just let the attendant whip one out) oranda and one Fantail whom i named Latch and Damp with the intension of getting my blackmoor when they next got some in as they were sold out. Well of course i immediately ran into problems and the fish died of a combination of diseaseswithin two weeks. It was then whilst the fish were ill that i found this very forum.
I learnt alot and now have 3 tanks a job at my LFS and am having my room custom built to house more tanks. So today at work i was watching a fish i've nicknamed Harry, he's a comet that had his tail bitten off when he first got shipped but healed well and is very healthy but no one wants him as he looks deformed as he has to swim by wagging his tail like a dog. I thought of Nelson and how i loved him, we also have a blackmoor in with only one eye and no one wants that either, i thought of how i had always wanted one.I watched how beautiful their colours were as they swam. And thought what the heck, so now i'm planning to set-up a coldwater tank to house the two of them hopefully by Christmas if they havn't sold.
I plan on buying the biggest clear seal i can find, at least 120 litres and a good powerful external filter from work and set-it up for hopefully under £100 total with decore etc. All my clear seals will be having custom made lids made of perspex to let light in.
So i suppose i would just like to thank my grandpa and Nelson for starting my love of fish.
Sorry for this extreamly long and probably worthless and pointless post but i just wanted to honour the wonder that is the humble
Goldfish
When i was about 5 i had my first goldfish he died in a week (he was in a bowl
)At 6 my brother bought me 2 fancy's for my birthday, they were called crystal and porsha crystal died after 4 months and porsha lasted a year
Then aged 7 i got another goldfish i named Nelson, my grandpa let me win him on one of those hook a duck games back when it was legal for them to use fish as prizes, funnily enough he wasn't the one i wanted i wanted a blackmoor as i always had from being 3 years old but the man behind the stall just handed me a really tiny common goldie, i was upset but too shy to protest. So then off we went to purchase a bigger tank for him-grandpa Ken knew they got big- so we went into this tiny place that was clearly making a mint from the fair with people buying bowls to keep their fish in. I pointed at a smaller 10litre one because i didn't want him to spend alot of money the fish had only been a pound but i felt guilty for him spending alot of money on me on rides. But my dear grandpa strode further up the shelf reached up and pulled down one of those 21 litre plastic critter keepers with the blue hood and raised ends so you can pick it up easier down and marched to the till. Bear in mind this was back when they first came out so it was about £20, he told me to get a bag of gravel and any decoration i wanted, being seven i just picked up the first bag i saw i don't remember well as it was long ago but it was some coloured stuff maybe blue and a small plastic plant i think, we got de chlorinator too.
Then it was off home in the car (3hour drive as my grandpa lives in sunderland and i'm in halifax yorkshire) i was worried that mum wouldn't be happy but she just laughed and helped me set it all up on the kitchen window sill, we put him in the tank and he was tiny about an inch long including his tail, and there he resided for 3years. As we all went about our everyday life, he would sit on his window sill and watch, eventually i began to ignore him i lost interest i guess a goldfish didn't hold the same appeal to a girl who now had two dogs and had owned at one point 16 hampsters (we bought a pregnant one and didn't know). And so Nelson was forgotten, my mum changed his water every week 100% and boiled the gravel then swished the tank round with hot soapy water rinsed it then put him back in and fed him once a day. But soon enough even she left him, then one day i looked over to the small plastic tank on the window sill and saw the water was green, i moved to have a closer look and there was my dear little goldfish looking utterly miserable, he swam up to my face which was now pressed against the tank as i tryed to see him and he waggled his tail at me. I felt a pang of shame. My poor little goldfish, it wasn't fair to treat him that way.
So i marched the tank upstairs( quite a struggle for a ten year old) and set about cleaning it and as i cleaned i noticed how much bigger Nelson had gotten, he was about 4 inches now (nothing for a goldie i know but i was young). After a good cleaning i set his tank on my bedroom windowsill were my 35litre now sits. Over the next year i took much better care of him although i did some awful things too, i put 3 baby angel fish in the tank (i'm truely ashamed of that) even gin once by accident. He got some disease which made his scales fall off and we were told to dab salty water on his wounds with a cotton but (table salt
)But he lived on to be a truely grumpy little man lol, but then after 4 years I woke up one morning to find Nelson floating at the top of the water, i looked down at the friend that had seen me grow and although i did not cry i felt sorry that i didn't give him a better life and that my old friend was gone after all the joy and excitement he brought me as a little girl, we buried him in the garden.
Then about 4 months ago i wanted another goldfish, my partner and i were going to a fair and it reminded me of Nelson so i went to a pet shop and my other half chose a £1 sarasa comet baby and a (wait for it i cringe at the thought) 1 gallon critter keeper. We called her twig she was our first joint pet, i immedietely began to research out of intrest and realised how big she would get, i purchased a 21litre critter keeper exactly like Nelsons had been the very next day. But she didn't make it through the week. THen determined to get a blackmoor once and for all i went to pets at home where i was advised to get a 35litre elite goldfish set-up with blue gravel andi did so then let it run for a week adding the utterly useless filter start stuff it came with and when to buy my fish. I purchased 1 very small and frankly ill looking (i didn't pick it i just let the attendant whip one out) oranda and one Fantail whom i named Latch and Damp with the intension of getting my blackmoor when they next got some in as they were sold out. Well of course i immediately ran into problems and the fish died of a combination of diseaseswithin two weeks. It was then whilst the fish were ill that i found this very forum.
I learnt alot and now have 3 tanks a job at my LFS and am having my room custom built to house more tanks. So today at work i was watching a fish i've nicknamed Harry, he's a comet that had his tail bitten off when he first got shipped but healed well and is very healthy but no one wants him as he looks deformed as he has to swim by wagging his tail like a dog. I thought of Nelson and how i loved him, we also have a blackmoor in with only one eye and no one wants that either, i thought of how i had always wanted one.I watched how beautiful their colours were as they swam. And thought what the heck, so now i'm planning to set-up a coldwater tank to house the two of them hopefully by Christmas if they havn't sold.
I plan on buying the biggest clear seal i can find, at least 120 litres and a good powerful external filter from work and set-it up for hopefully under £100 total with decore etc. All my clear seals will be having custom made lids made of perspex to let light in.
So i suppose i would just like to thank my grandpa and Nelson for starting my love of fish.
Sorry for this extreamly long and probably worthless and pointless post but i just wanted to honour the wonder that is the humble
Goldfish
I make my kids laugh when I feed them. I tell the fish to "kiss my hand" and they do. 
Like I said, chow hounds.
