the addiction....

[gi4get]

it starts with something simple. something small. just one betta...or maybe a goldfish...or better yet, something for the kids....yes...something they'll enjoy. it's fed by a previously unknown passion and it turns into a ten gallon. then a fifteen or maybe a twenty. before you can turn around you have over a hundred gallons worth of finnage...entire rooms devoted to the care and well being of something that never hugs back, never thanks you for endless hours of attention, and perhaps never realizes it was just saved from a potentially deadly attack by Spaz the household cat. ah, an addiction indeed. with the help of the web you realize you are not alone. in fact, there is a whole fish culture that lives between the daily hussle and bussle of lattés, traffic cops, and house chores. the only addiction i know of that prevents insanity rather than promotes it. the only addiction that doesn't require group therapy or intervention to quit. an addiction to be proud of. how deep are you in?

 

[Lithril]

Don't ask started with a 10 gal tank about 2 months ago, already got a 30 gal tank now haven't even finished setting that one up and I'm planning the next couple (really want a 2' tank to keep a betta in, also want another with some needle nose, and would love a 6' to keep some more cichlids).....

 

[philja]

i'm feeling the same way. i started with a betta, added a ghost shrimp and dwarf frog, got a bigger tank. i think i'm heading to the fish shop tonight to get another tank. It's GREAT!!!

 

[smb]

LOL!!!

Yep, I agree gi4get.

I started out 27 years ago with a 29g and a redtail shark and some tiger barbs. I killed them all within a week because I was clueless and my lfs was no help. I was mad about it it and eventually grew to 344 tanks of cichlids and piranhas but I always had a tank of rtbs's and tb's. Maybe it's to make up for my stupid mistake but I only keep cichlids and rtbs's and tb's so who knows.

It's so addictive tho!

 

[cassandra]

i started a about 13 years ago with a goldfish ( sabashin) in my little mermaid fish tank( Disney ) 5 gal when i was a child, then it went to 10 gal then 20 gal now 40 gal and with all kinds of fish i love this hobby but my husband thinks im wasting money but i don't care. i want a 100 gal or more but won't be for a while, im addict of loving fish

 

[guppymonkey]

i started out when I was probably ten or twelve. I got a ten gallon tank because my older brother got a 20 for christmas. We both had fish for a few years, mostly guppies. Then I stopped having an aquarium until the end of this september. Now I finally know a little bit about keeping fish (unlike when I was a kid and never changed the water!). When I started up again I started with a 30 gallon that was my girlfriend's little brother's tank. Then I went home and got my old 10 gallon tank. I have to stop myself before my room is taken over!

 

[juanveldez]

started out when I was 12 with a 10 gallon and some guppies a few swordtails, and a dwarf puffer. killed them all ( was totally clueless). just decided that I didn't want to do it anymore. got engaged to my now wife where she had a 5 gallon with a few goldfish. then one day we were talking about getting a bigger tank and she told me that her parents had a huge one in the basement. little did I know that it was a 55 gallon tank. still didn't know any thing about keeping fish still very ignorant killed 5 seperate oscars due to the tank being uncycled. finally got a clue and got online and started my research and got 2 redbelly pirhanas. we then got a 10 gallon tank and a 29 gallon tank and a 2 gallon tank then we got my 75 gallon tank and that will probably be my last for along time.

 

[wuvmybetta]

I've kept bettas and goldfish as far back as I can remember, oddball critters such as crabs and turtles in 10 gallons since I was about 10. I was bit by the aquarium bug about 8 years ago when I set up a 7 gallon for my cat , I bartended at nights and figured she'd appreciate a fish to watch, it turned out to be the most awesome goldfish on the planet and quickly became a member of the family. That tank was up and running for about 5 years, my addiction never lost control until my mother bought the 29 for my daughter's birthday. Since then I've just wanted more tanks and more tanks (and more fish!!!)

 

[Eelzor]

A yes, the killing spree past, It actually started when I was about 10 at a showground. I had won a comet goldfish and it grew very large in my 5 gallon. After I traded it in for about 10 danios. When they died because of me not having a heater i simply bought different coldwater fish (about 10) at different times in that year. At the end I just gave up and quit. 7 years later im 17 years old and slowly getting the hang of it again. I use my previous 5 gallon to hold some kuhlii loaches. They die off and the nightmare attacks me again. I am anxious to do it right so I go online and find this forum! After some great cycling advice from AA, I buy my 45 gallon and a ton of plants, ornaments, 2 heaters, 2 pumps, 2 filters, bubblers etc, and am currently letting it cycle with 2 convicts inside and future black ghosts knives or spiny eels will be in! My interest in fish has lead my sis to go into fish too. She now has my 5 gallon with shubunkin goldfish and its doing well too!

 

[CFC]

Hello my name is CFC and im a fishaholic

My front room is starting to look like a fish store and the mrs threatens to either leave me or throw the tanks out the window at least once a week
What was the first thing i thought of when we recently were given the idea to move house, not the usual things like how will i find work and how will it be moving 200 miles to a new area, no it was "wow now i can set a fish house up"

 

[suemack]

a 5 gallon tank 3 years ago where I killed off all the fish except Blossum (the cory who I still have) - got some more guppies, 5 months later another 5 gallon tank - wanted to keep some of the babies they were very pretty.....then another tank (10 gallon this time) .......then another 10 gallon. I'd have more but would have to move or get rid of the furniture .......that's not addiction is it

sue

 

[zull]

my husband and started off with a 60g. three months ago, and just recently added 110g. for our 20 anniversary, and we have plans for more.

addicted i think so, but what fun.

 

[Jo]

hmmm, well some of you have been addicted for longer, but I'm still feeling a bit addicted...

Having lived in a house with fish that, although they weren't mine, I did my fair share of the cleaning, I decided that now I'm settled into my house and not planning to move in a long time, that it was time for me to get a tank of my own

A friend mentioned to me a few months ago that her dad had an old fish tank in the garage that he didn't want, so I quickly snapped her hand off and she arrived with tank, complete with hood, light, heater, filter, gravel, decorations and 3D background and come chemicals for de-chlorinating water...(WOW I thought!)

When asked, she said that she didn't want any money for it, as she had missed my birthday, so her, her brother and her fiancee were giving it all to me (I have since looked in the shops and realised that the contents of the tank alone were worth about £100, so I was VERY greatful!!)

So I set my tank up that very night (after I got in from the pub and carrying jugs full of water to fill up a 20g took until about 3am!) I didn't mind though, because it was all sorted...

NOw comes the hard long wait....it was the longest time of my life, watching the tank sitting there with no fish in it, waiting for it to "settle in"

eventually the time came for me to go to the fish shop to get my first fish...I had been reccomended to a fish shop that was not the closest. but apparently the best, so off I went all excited.

I chose 3 mollies, 2 black, which I liked and 1 white which my housemate liked. I also got 3 platties, having been told by my lfs not to overstock, or start off with too many, I decided that 6 was more than enough for a newbie in a (fairly) newbie tank...!

I got them home and got them introduced...all was well untill the white one turned out to be a bully and slowly killed off the first of the back mollies. ON the same day as I discovered bob floating, 6 molly fry appeared in the tank, this being only two weeks after I got my tank I was naturally excited, but had NO idea what to do with them!

In my desire not to kill off my new babies I went in search on the internet of fish information and stumbled across this forum....I looked on here and found the answer that I needed and went off happily to pummel fish flakes for my fishies!

Sadly, the white one also stressed my remaining black molly till he was developing a lot of illness, so after consulting the advice of the forum once again, I had to do the horrible job of euthenasing him to put him out of his misery!

After a thorough cleaning of the tank and letting it settle down once again, to make myself feel better I got some more platties and three swordtails, the latest addition to my fishy family is a baby swordtail..!

and I'm just off to the fish shop to buy three female platties to even out the balance, then this tank is full, so what to do next..?!

THe answer (I hope) is that I'm buying a couple of tanks from gazat, so that I can branch out into different fish. I really fancy some tiger babrs and after seeing the bala sharks in pets at home last night i realise that they too are very beautiful, but won't mix with my current selection. It also gives me space to move my fish around when they grow and outgrow their current home.

So I suppose that you can say that I too have become addicted in an incredibly short time....I am currently trying to persuade my housemate to buy a tank so that she can get suitably hooked and not look at me strange when I get excited about them....

Phew, that was a long one....sorry, my addiction manifests itself in me wanting to talk about my fish! )

 

[EMdina]

It's so great to know that I'm not alone....
We, too, started with a betta (a bday gift for my son that we quickly adopted)...then it was a 5 gallon for my daughter...Her tank was stocked and done, but I wanted MORE... so, I had to get a 10G for myself...it was a beautiful 10G set up, but I couldn't help thinking how much more beautiful it could be if it was in a BIGGER tank with more plants and more fish...more more more! So, now I'm up to a 30G...and it IS beautiful....not only do I sit and stare at the tank for hours at a time- once the kids are put to bed, it is so peaceful and relaxing to watch the fishies swim- I go to the fish stores once, twice, sometimes three times a week...I feel like I need to start going in a disguise- they're starting to look at me funny...
Yes, it is an addiction and one that seems to be contagious- my sister got me hooked, then I got my husband hooked...who'll be next?
thank you for letting me share...there should be a forum- "Fishaholics Anonymous"...E

 

[Moe]

Hi CFC
When I first found this fish forum I thought "those people" are insane. Who would ever need more than one tank? Who could ever be bothered with live plants? Why would you want to breed fish when you can just buy them? RO what?
Well I have had to raise the crazy bar several times. Most recently I just began using co2 in my planted tank. I have caught myself looking longingly at a 75G. So as it stands now the line in the sand is fishrooms. That is it, that is the line I will not cross it. That is final. (Wait, the basement does look kind of bare hmm)
My name is Moe and I am also a fishaholic.