What Got ya Started in the hobby?

[ThatFishGirl6231]

I was watching Youtube as one does and i came across a video of someone setting up a betta tank. I thought it was really cool and started watching more and more fish videos. Then I decided I wanted fish and begged my parents. Every night I did more research and finally after a year my parents caved in.

 

[Silvermist80]

My story began when I was very little. Maybe 2? My brother's Kindergarten class had a carnival type thing going at his school and he won some goldfish. They were like the feeder style and my parents thought they'd maybe live a few weeks. We purchased a bowl, cause that's what you did back then (1982 or 1983). No kidding, those.two goldfish were like the energizer bunny. They just kept going! Before long, they were 13 years old, they lived without a filter of any kind and sometimes their bowl got pretty dirty. Around then I wanted to be a Marine Biologist when I grew up and started reading about aquariums. The more I read, the more I realized how cruel our fish bowl was. So I begged and begged until I got a 20 gal for my birthday. So I was around 15 years old and got this tank going for those goldfish. Well, I was a kid without any help and I wound up with new tanks syndrome and it killed my really old goldfish. 13 years in a tiny bowl, but I put it in a 20 gal and it died, go figure. I was upset, but decided to keep trying. I got some more goldfish and finally got it cycled and was able to keep them alive. I was getting feeder goldfish though and of course they didn't last. I read more, got books on aquariums, and finally got some Ryukins and some others that would actually survive a bit. Thus my hobby was born. I went from goldfish, to livebearers, to tetras, and then rainbowfish. That's when I went to school at Bel-Rea to be a Vet Tech. My marine biologist never worked out, I live in Colorado after all. I picked up a 30 gal around then working at Petsmart thru school and a customer was trying to get rid of one with Silver Dollars in it. I kept both tanks going until I got into trucking and I just didn't have time anymore. Once my fish passed, I just let the tanks be empty for years until I picked it up again last year. I got a 55 gal from a guy that wanted $150 for it, so I took it off his hands. It was in bad shape, most his fish were dead or died soon after before I could turn it around. I still have one of his zebra Danis and one of his good sized Plecos. I turned it into a guppy tank. I still had my 20 gal, which turned into a Gold Barb tank after I tried to put them with guppies, at the advice of Petco, and they tried to eat my poor guppies. They are doing very well in my old 20 gal, my first ever tank. The 30 gal I set up, it has 3 gold/black/white Angels in it, with some lyretail swordfish and mollies. The zebra danio is also in it with its new buddies I bought to keep it company. Some Otocinclus and two Bristlenose Plecos. (I've had to combine up a lot of tanks since August because of tap water woes). I also have 3 10 gallons, for guppies. One is a pregnancy tank, or was... one for my babies to grow up in. Other was to house the females in separate from the males until I chose to breed them. I have two 2.5gal, one for hospital, one for breeding. One 3.5gal that is usually a quarantine tank, but it now houses my surviving baby guppies. I have a pretty extensive Betta setup. It consisted of short/long tanks that I inter-connected to make about a 10 gal setup. Had one exclusively for filtering, including some philodendron plants that cleaned my water and flowed over the top, hiding my connecting tube that are water bridges. It was an awesome setup until my water woes. Down to 2 Bettas now inside net enclosures in my 20 gal where the water quality is pretty stable. I also have a 20gal Glo-Fish tank. I was using my female guppies to cycle it when my water quality nightmare from the wildfires started. I was going to get 2 of each color of the Glo-Fish Tetras, although those have gotten expensive and I won't purchase any fish until my water woes are figured out. Last, but not least, I have a 100gal that is not set up. I have never been able to set it up due to weight concerns. I live in a mobile home and I'm not certain it could handle the weight. I intend it to be a Cichlid tank down the road. That's my history, thanks for reading

 

[Silvermist80]

1996, my then teenaged sons turned up from the fair with four goldfish they had won throwing darts. The poor fish spent their first night in a mixing bowl in non-dechlorinated water. One didn't make it. We got a 60 litre (16 gallon) tank - yes, I know - and the three of them, a common and two comets, thrived and grew and grew. Nine months later we gave them away to someone with a pond and I bought a heater and tropical fish.
Then I got a 125 litre; the 60 litre sprang a leak and was replaced with a 54 litre; the bracer bar on the 125 litre parted company with the back wall so I used the excuse to get a 180 litre; the 54 litre had to be closed as the kitchen was altered and there was no room for it. And somewhere along the line I got a 25 litre for a betta, which replaced with a different 25 litre, then my current 23 litre leaving me with a couple of spare, empty tanks to use as quarantine tanks.

I know this is off topic, but who else wishes the US would switch to metric. I never know how big these litre tanks are until I Google the conversion. Would be so much easier!

 

[Silvermist80]

Dear me I feel ancient ! I always thought you were middle aged because your comments always seem very knowledgeable and wise . Cool username too !

Same! Dont feel too ancient, there's quite a few of us mature folks here too. I think it's a nice mix. I'm 40 myself and so happy I got back into it. I was very sick for 3 years, trying to get Disability, which turned me down every time. So I went back to work and finally had money to really get into it with. I love love love coming home from a stressful or bad day to take care of my fish. Almost all of them give me fish kisses when I stick my hands in and they know a bright colored plastic spoon means brine shrimp/blood worms time! The Angelfish especially know me on sight. I love it!

 

[mcordelia]

@Silvermist80 loved your story. You also finally made me realize after all these years why I killed my friends goldfish that I adopted that had lived in a bowl for 5 years....

 

[mcordelia]

@Rodneyc that's amazing!!! I think those viewing tubes are so cool and unique! I think your concerns about floor rigidity with the 100gal are founded, I wonder if it would be possible to pour a bit of slab under part of the home (I assume it has a crawl space?) And put a couple 4x4's against your floor from underneath and have them supported against the slab? I saw a thing about a guy who used those house jack poles and used them to wedge two 4x4's against his joists in his basement for a 1st floor tank, similar idea but that was in a basement instead of a crawl space.

 

[Aquarist2020]

I got fish by getting goldfish from science class. Then research kicked in and I slowly made my 5 gallon aquarium better ( which turned into a 30 gallon ). I know thanks to fish, to research about keeping animals, because I didn't before.

 

[Sandy's fish and botia]

What a great forum, so much knowledge and help. But I'm curious as what got ya all into the hobby? And as a new member I'll start, just to get the discussion rolling?

4th grade at Cabrillo ES, my teacher, Ms Barnum had simple 20 gal saltwater tanks with a few anemones and crabs. Everyone in the class took turns taking care of it and a few lucky got to take a tank home for the holidays. That started my love of nature and my B.S. in Marine biology. In those early years I kept Sun Lee Aquarium store in business, and like everybody else life happens. But a few years ago I got the time and the $ to rtn top my childhood hobbies and to them up right, now including tropical fish. My start, initially began with a 40 bow, and then grew to a 55, 30 tall and 29...finally ending up with my recent 100g And now I'm reading this forum...jeeze I wish this forum was around back eons ago....well thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your stories.

,OK, I'll give this a try. My love of fish started about 37 yeas ago working at a LFS. I was pregnant at the time and on my feet all day I was exhausted when I got home. My ex-husband would wake me, on the couch, to go to bed. He used to say I'd 1/2 wake up talking about PH and ammonia. I really was not pleased with fish at that time. When the kids were little, I was too busy. Although we did still keep a 20 lb Oscar. But, funny sidebar, I also caught my daughter trying to feed her infant brother the green type of which they used to use to keep cut flowers standing in an arrangement. You know, the kind that turns kind of like powder when you pinch on a piece. She thought it was vegetables. I thought it was horrible. But I could only imagine what she would feed fish. Lol Fast forward to now, she is no longer feeding anything to her BIG younger brother. lol I have been having some horrible problem with anxiety and I remembered how I could relax so easily watching the fish so here I am with 4 tanks each with a different atmosphere and type of fish. My love of botia cAme in the very first time I saw them and my biggest tank is all botia. My first one was an Angelicus who lived a long happy life. I have looked and looked for Angelicus since my first one passed away but every one I see either the price of the botia is beyond my means or the shipping is crazy high. But maybe soon. For now I love to watch my 4 yoyos and 2 golden zebra botia. The largest one, June Cleaver, believes she is mother to them all. So, thats my story and I'm sticking to it.