When you were younger!!!

[BOD]

Theres probably been tonnes of threads like this but its always great to hear new storys.....

How did you treat your fish when younger....or when you had no experience so ever....i feel so sorry for my fish now...

my parents used to keep goldfish and shubunkins but i wanted my own, so i had some danios in not even a gallon bowl and no lid, i used to clean them out every week by picking them up in my hands putting them in a small cup tipping all the water out washing the bowl and putting in nice fresh TAP water unconditioned, no heater no filter not even a pump..no wonder they never lasted very long poor things....but being so young i was trying my best...at least i botherd to clean them out every week! )

 

[Ethos]

I had a betta that lived in pea-green water, thik like soup. He actully never died. My mom got tired of telling me to clean my betta bowl and me not doing it. So.........She.......she....she flushed him!

 

[BOD]

awww nooo how sad!!!

 

[Ethos]

Yeah.....I wish I had kept him.....he was the first fish I ever had. I wounder what he'd look like.....

Also, I came home from walmart w/ my friend and I bought 2 goldfish (We were both about 9). They were in this bag, and I was afraid the water would get to hot. So I put him in the freezer to get them to cool down fast. Then I forgot about them.....and my mom found them 3 hours later...

Edit: Spelling

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

I had a 10 gallon tank full of guppies. I knew nothing about cycling, water testing, regular water changes or really anything!

Interestingly enough they lived a long time and had LOTS of babies. The only ones that died were the ones that jumped out of the tank when I was at school. (I didn't have a cover or a light for my tank.)

Then I had two goldfish in a bowl. I ended up giving them to my friend's parents who had a goldfish pond.

All in all, a happy experience as a child. I'm not sure why I waited 25 years before keeping fish again! I think now (in comparison) the fishies I have today are spoiled little brats!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I had a goldfish when i was about 14 given to me by a friend who got bored of it way before i knew anything about fish...I didn't treat it that badly considering my knolege, i cleaned its 5gal bowl out once a week or so in undechlorinated tap water and fed it way too many fish flakes though...Eventually after about 4months it died from dropsy....But yes i too was also thinking the other day about the fish and feel realy bad for putting it though all that due to my lack of knolege...

 

[cheekeyarab]

I had two goldfish in a 5gal tank for several years. My cleaning routine was to scoop them into a jug with some tank water and then clean the tank. I would swirl the gravel around and empty it 'til it was all lovely and clean!! I would then refill it straight from then tap and put my goldfish back in it.
When I was about 11 my auntie bought me around a dozen neons for my tank and I remember being so excited. I had never seen them before and was mesmerised. I came flying down the stairs to see them the next morning and found about 5 dead ones and the rest were missing. My goldfish didn't eat as greedily as usual that morning............

Oh the shame!

Needless to say my kids will receive plenty of lectures on fish care!

 

[Elisabeth83]

When I was about 16-17 I kept lots of fancy goldfish in a 4 foot tank (too many I now know ) ) Anyways I never did partial water changes I just topped the water up or I did complete 100% water changes every couple of months I never did gravel vacs as I had a UGF but I must say when I did those 100% water changes my gosh the stuff that was under the UGF I had a bio wheel that when the filter pads were dirty either I would rinse them in straight tap water or I would just put a new one in

The goldfish were actually fine in these conditions it was when I tried tropical fish when all hell broke loose 1) I tried keeping tropicals with goldfish 2) with the 100% water changes and changings of the filter pads the tank wasn't really cycled 3) I was buying fish (every type) like there was no tomorrow so my tank was completly overstocked. And 4) I bought fish from dodgy places and never quarentined them.

So what do you guess happened? yep, within a week I had every disease you could think of. I spent about $150 dollars on tropical fish and I lost every single one of them. Needless to say the goldfish made it... of course those hardy little things would For a couple of years I swore never to get tropicals again because I thought it was the stores fault that they died that I brought something in. Then the pearly gates opened and I found this place and realized everything was my fault and I've now learned how to keep fish alive lol

Since I found this site last year I am glad to say I've got 6 tanks up and running and I've got healthy happy fish

edit: After all the tropicals died I just kept goldfish in the tank actually up until I moved here which was 2 years ago. Before I moved here I sold about 14 fancy goldfish to one of the local stores and got about $70 AU dollars. Some of they were really huge and very pretty

 

[50000_tears]

im 14 but i have kept bettas since i was in 4-5th grade. my first betta Zack ,i had him in a hex i feed him one pellet ever since i had him ,needless to say i only had him for a week. so then i got a red guy named Aaron,i keept him in a dual hex w/ no devider since he was a half moon.he lasted 12 months w/ me ,he died of something im not even sure of now. so then i kinda gave up on bettas for a year. then my mom got the oh so famous Gus ,he was in a duel hex w/ no devider first,then he got a one gallon bowl . he was the best betta i ever had he lived w/ me for 2 years. just started using fourms before he died(not this one) and am now very knowledgeable and im planing a dwarf puffer tank.

 

[MegTheFish]

My first ever fish was a betta in a 1.2 gallon tank (still have the tank!) and got a 100% water change every week or so, which wasn't so bad! I went through about 3 though, I have no clue why they didn't last that long Then my family got a 5.5 gallon, and had multiple feeder goldfish in it for a couple of years. Cleaned the whole thing out every 3 months, thats what the fish lady at the pet strore told us to do. Oh wait, we started out with one calico fantail and one feeder goldfish in the beggining, and after the fantail died (only lasted 2 weeks) we kept only feeders in there. Goldy (the first feeder) lived the longest, just over a year We also followed the directions on the back of the goldfish flake container, fed them 3 times a day Then when we were done with the goldfish we got 2 tiger barbs, 1 checkered barb (?) and 3 zebra danios. 2 of the those danios are still alive today, too! Now happily living in a 50 gallon. Oh, and the most fish we had in there was 9 danios, 1 bronze cory, and 1 otto Yikes.
Started researching...and I'm up to 6 tanks now.

 

[LifeBear]

My first betta was Feathers. He lived in a bettahex. If any of you don't know what that is, think medium-sized drinking glass. I changed his water when it turned green, or at least I always waited until it was green. SOmetimes the water was green for a couple of weeks brfore I would change it.

He lived three years, never got sick or even had finrot. Luckily, I did not take that to mean that everything I read on the furims, when I got here, was wrong. I just realize he was some kind of mutant disease-resistant fish

Now, I make sure that my bettas get better care and MUCH bigger homes.

I also keep a lot of other fish now. What I learned when trying to figure bettas out gave me the confidence to try other species. (Can you believe that anything that required a filter made me nervous?)

 

[swampcat]

My first tank was a 20 high, had a stainless steel frame and lid and light strip were stainless too. had a dynaflow filter with slide on motor with the magnets that had to line up, had a little teflon ball that needed to be replaced every so often. Was lit with srew in tube bulbs 25 watts or so. Had one of thoughs plen plax heaters that if you didn't set right would fry your fish! Kept live bearers mostly, use to be able to get them 2 for a dollar,sometimes three for a dollar. Started 7-8 years old. Now have a 100 gal, 55 gal, and two 20's running, Had a couple other tanks running through the years but have cut down a bit.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I had an assortment of tropicals 30 years ago, when fishkeeping was very different. Cycling was poorly understood, a 60 ltrs was considered a BIG tank, lfs knew very little (well, perhaps some things don't change), books were difficult to get hold of and not very informative, and of course there was no internet where you could pool your information.
Fortunately my brother's mate kept fish and knew a bit more, but even so I am aghast at some of the combinations I kept because I didn't know better. Angelfish and CAE's together in a 13 gallon....
I did have lights and a heater but certainly don't remember weekly water changes as being part of the routine. And I have a horrible suspicion that I used to rinse out the filter in tap water.
Strangely enough we didn't have any mass deaths, just a general trickle of ill health. In the end we gave the surviving fish away.
I don't think my youth had much to do with it by the way, it was the general state of accessible knowledge that was a problem, grownups were no better off. I was conscientious enough in doing what I knew I had to do, it just wasn't enough.
What strikes me now is how much enjoyment I missed out on because I didn't understand the behaviour and needs of different type of fish. Now I have the same sized tank with a much less heavy load, with plants and hiding places and a varied diet - and am getting a lot more pleasure out of the hobby.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

I remember my very first fishes when I was around five. It was the cliche 2 gallong hex with an ugf filter. Did my parents ahve any clue how to keep fish? None at all. Now I know that my dad wanted to get pets for me and my brother, but my mom not liking anyone making decisions without her say so, especially with animals did not allow him to so he finally talked her into fish. The three feeder golds were named moe, larry and curly. I can't remember anything about them, no hilarious hijinks, no eye gouges or head slaps, all I remember is them dying. Come to think of it, my parents probably pulled the old, run to the lfs and get new fish before the kids notice they're dead. That was the end of my ifhs days until about a year ago when I rediscovered fish. I was kind of forced to be the caretaker of the fish in my store, but I ended up loving them.