What Got You Into Fish Keeping?

[mike_nofx]

The reason i got into fishkeeping was when me and my girlfriend went to buy her mum a fishtank as a present. Anyway, after looking at a few tanks i decided i would like one. I ended up buying a small 28 Litre beginner tank, mainly because it was cheap (and i was a beginner!). $59.

Who would have thought that the actual TANK is the cheapest part of the whole equation! All up i have probably spent about $2000, thats for about 8-9 months (Not just on the 28L, other tanks too).

Ever since, fishkeeping has been the best thing for me ever! I have bought 2 more tanks since, a 100gal and a 10gal. My 100gal is my pride n joy!

As a kid, maybe 4 yrs old, i remember mum buying me some goldfish, a black and a gold one. We only had them maybe 3-4 weeks. They were kept in a bowl, and had no water changes which definately caused their early deaths. I dont blame my mum one bit though, i blame the pet shop that explained NOTHING to her. Anyway, i havent had fish since, up until 8 months ago. Im 20 now.

Anyone wanna share their first tank story?

 

[guppler]

My sister got a gold fish as a present 1 day when she was out with some friends who had about a dollar each for a sort of gift exchange activity. He lived in the candy bowl that the hermit crabs used to live in. I don't remember how long he lived, but he seemed to be growing pretty big for a while. I know we still had him after she went off to college, and I thought I remembered traveling to a new house with him under my feet in the van, probably from Albuquerqe NM. I know the guppies were under my feet on the trip from Austin TX, but it seems like on at least 1 trip there was more than 1 container of pets under my feet, and I know Shelly died before we left TX. Anyway, I'm pretty sure she had the guppies before the goldfish, who I don't think she ever decided on a name for. Her first male guppy was Bow, short for Rainbow. I don't remember if she got him more than 1 female, but I remember most of the originals were feeder guppies. I don't remember how many there were all together either, but they lived in a 1 gallon pickle jar that had fomerly housed minnows from the river, and I don't know what else besides pickles, but I think the jar is in the garage now. I remember her putting in a slightly different temperature of water to encourage them to have babies, and I remember baby guppies that seemed to appear 1 at a time because they were not all the same size. Some were called Blip, Bitty, and Little Guy Gup.
When I decided I wanted fish of my own (years after all of hers were gone), I wanted guppies partly because they breed pretty easily and have so much variety. i also liked the idea of cheep feeder goldfish. Oh, I forgot to mention, in between my sister's fishies and my own, I had a friend who ran off to Canada to live with some old man she met on the internet, and we couldn't convince her not to go, but she asked me to take care of her 2 bettas. They were also gone by the time I got my own, but I still had the tiny tanks that came with them. 1 of those was about 2 1/2 gallons, and it got to be where Jack and Jill O' Lantern lived at first. they were my first pair of guppies. I also had an otto named Nunu who lived with them for a little while, and a female betta named Opal. She was really pretty, and I don't remember if I got her after Speckle, or at the same time. Speckle was a male betta, who always lived by himself. At some point i convinced my parents to get me a 29 gallon tank for Christmas, but for some reason when I bought my first fish I decided to start smaller and actually went out and got a 10 gallon, which had about 200 guppy fry in it by the time I actually had the 29g ready. I think I already had 1 10g set up before I got the 29g, because I don't think I had it sitting for almost a year before i got it started and I had at leat 6 fish by December. I always kept cold and tropical fish separate, even though none of the tanks were heated except the 29g, and I used filters for almost everything but they bettas, which my sister had not done. I don't rember when I bought my fish books, but I must have done some research at least.
Well, going back to when I was using the little 2 1/2 g, which sat in the corner of a little indoor greenhouse for a while, I do remember having my goldies in a little plastic critter keeper of about the same size, if not smaller at about the same time.
The story of how I got my first 2 goldfish was kind of fun. I was at a concert where my uncle was playing his clarinet along with the rest of the "Siera Nevada Winds", and it happened to be my birthday, (which happened 2 years in a row, and the second time I happened to win a little raffle for the oportunity to lead the band and keep a baton as a souvenir). Any way, the first time I was at this anual concert on my birthday, I happened to see some of my cousins. (The cousins are my mom's brother's kids and the uncle is my dad's brother, so they're not related, but the kids were in their school band and probably got extra credit for being there. Besides, what else is there to do in Yuba City?) So i reminded the kids that it was my birtday and asked where my presents were. One of them made up some story about a box of twinkies that should have arrived at my doorstep, and the other reached in his pocket and pulled out a quarter. I acted pretty happy and told him it was just enough to buy a couple of feeder goldfish, So pretty soon i did. (I guess I got them about a month after Jack and Jill, because their names were inspired partly by Halloween, which was the day before I got them.) At first the goldfish were spotty and stripey, or something like that, but pretty soon the black stripes started to fade, and I thought about calllling them Ernie and Bert, based partly on color and partly on behavior, because the one with reddish orange spots was a greedy little trickster and the smaller yellowish one was more calm and plain, but he was looking more and more like a goldfish cracker, especially as the other 1 grew out his nice long comet fins, so eventually, they became Cracker and Creamscicle. I still have them, but they are much bigger. I wouldn't put them in a 1 gallon critter keeper now unless I was doing something major with their tank and could't find something bigger to hold them for a few minutes. It's funny to think of how Cracker used to actually swim inside the little treasure chest that my yoyo loach now claims.
I reckon land hermit crabs really don't count as fish, but she did require some water, and I had Shelly for about 5 years starting when i was about 9 yeras old. I used to take her for walks with a shoestring tied to her Murex, and my mom carried her into Michaels in her Purse so she could choose her own clothes, partly because it's hard to judge what size shell to get if you don't have the crab with you. We got Shelly at Aquarina Springs, and she was the healthiest crab I ever had, which often makes me want more, but they don't last as long. Maybe it's not humid enough here. I am thinking about ways i might get a crab to share a tank with fish.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Sheltering from the rain in the pet shop one day got me back into fishkeeping after a 30 years break. Much more fun these days, when the coming of the Internet has turned it into a social activity.

 

[madmom]

When I was 10 my dad got me a 10 gal and some guppiis and I had the tank for 10 years just selling off my extras. Then I started moving around the state working and it was not possible to keep them so I gave the whole thing to the little girl down the street. now my 8 year old girl wanted fish and saved to get a small 10 gal setup and is learning to care for them. She's already planning on a big tank and has a fish wish list and is saving to get them all herself tank fish and all. I think I've created a mini monster LOL.

 

[Bex]

I don't really know what got me into it. I am new to this - only had my tank for about 6 weeks. My hubby asked what I wanted for my birthday this year and I wanted a fish tank. I think because my work colleague had just inherited one from a friend and he'd been talking about it.

Anyway, my hubby laughed at me and after asking if I was sure for the millionth time he got me a 30 gall! He really wasn't too sure about it but now we are both hopelessly addicted! We are already planning an upgrade, very soon, to a 125 gall LMAO!

I convinced him to get me one by saying "fish are quite cheap" How wrong I was!

 

[@ombomb]

i like fish

 

[RANDYS]

As a 12 yr. old my dad bought me a 30 gallon setup--this was back in 1975 and at that time they only had undergravel filters I think anyway. After that I bought 2 ten gallons and started off having fish. At the time I had 2 albino channel catfish that were about 10-12" long, 2 large sailfin mollies, 2 3 spotted gauramis, and a algae eater + a coolie loach. I know it was way over crowded but I new no better. Since then I started back with a 10 gallon last year, which was way to small after 30 yrs. My desire is to start out with at least a 29 gallon, and hopefully get at least a 90 gallon to house some clown loaches in, they are my favorites. Last year I raised 9 bettas and did wonderful until the Winter hit, had all things right--food, water and temp not sure what happened it was weird a few started dying and after that it rolled down hill, hoping to start out once again this year with at least one betta.

 

[SamUK]

i actually cant remember.


jus went out one day and got a 14 (ish) gallon starter kit and now about 9 months later i have about 370 gallons in my bedroom


only stopped buying tanks cos i ran out of space.

nxt step. move out, buy more tanks! lol

 

[sheree]

I'm relevatively new to it but hubby bought me a 10 gal for xmas last year. I've since bought a 40 gal tank. I find it so relaxing after having a pretty stressful job.

 

[McMurray]

I remember my dad had one when i was a child so this has stayed with me until i got older

 

[Spader]

Well 1 year ago this summer, my sister and I were at a fair. We won some feeder goldfish, and my sister wanted to keep them in a 5.5 gallon US tank ecause the college she was going to only let u have fish as a pet. so of course we kept them and eventually it died so she got mollies. fast forward to december, and oh look, shes overstocked! so she gives me 2 female bettas, and a 5.5 gallon, no heater or filter, and i put it in my room. then i bought a heater because they were kinda cold lol, tjen i got a molly. the next day i got a filter and it eventually had fry. today i have a 10 galloon turning into a 25 gallon on thursday, a stand, a 5 gallon fry tank, and a 5.5 gallon betta tank (yes same bettas +1)

 

[ajbettle]

my mum has been keeping fish for nearly 2 years and i hadnt payed attention to them mch till the last 5 months when i started to but in and trying to organise and choose things for it..mum didnt want me interfeering due to my first time i cleaned the tank (alot of water on the floor!!) and just looking at them andi think its amazing the way u can re-create a flooded amazon or a chineses stream is just sooo coool! so i thought why not get my own tank!

 

[guppler]

Oh, here's a relatively short story of my fishkeeping beginnings. I was online looking for scholarship info, and there was this form that asked about hobbies and stuff. One of the options was tropical fishkeeping. I didn't have any fish at the time, but I thought it would be fun, so I went ahead and clicked it. Then I had to get some fish.

 

[anvil63]

My father always kept fish. At one point we had five tanks including his 150gal that I have now inherited since his passing. Through my entire life it was the one thing we always had in common, even during those rocky teenage years. We could sit and talk about fish for hours even when we couldn't be civil to each other when talking about any other topic. I still have the 29gal he started me on when I was 5 (20 years ago) as well as the 150 gallon that he loving labored over for twenty years. I don't have as much time for the hobby as I would like (medical school) , but I will always keep these two tanks running.

Carl

 

[starrynightxxi]

i wasn't allowed to have a lot of pets when i was younger because of my dad's allergies, but I was able to get fish (to whom very few people are allergic, i believe, unless they eat them -lol-) so I had a ten gallon tank and some very unforunate fish. I had no idea mollies and barbs got so big or that tetras live as long as they do. My fish never made it that long, but I learned a lot anyway. (sort of a what NOT to do experience, i guess). At one point I bought a cichlid of some variety, being completely unaware that they were malevolent little devils. Actually, i bought two, but one killed the other, and then went on to kill a lot of other fish. He was named Bluebell, and i think was a powder blue. Anyhow I almost flushed him down the toilet because i was so distraught, and i remember being in tears both because my fish were being killed and because i knew fluching him wasn't the right thing to do, but my sister caught me and stopped me. We ended up buying a divider and Bluebell had five gallons to himself (except for one danio that jumped over the wall, but they didn't seem to mind one another, one being a surface dweller and the other more of a lurker. Bluebell eventually got his own tank and lived to be about five years old. I can still picture that grumpy face glaring at me from his rock -lol-

Anyway I was out of the hobby after that for a long time but got back in with some bettas my freshman year of college. When i got my own apartment i decided to start anew and bought a ten gallon tank and some tetras. When I went home in May I brought back my three old ten gallon tanks, gave one to a friend, and stocked the other two. I am officially an addict