As Far back as I can remember, I always had two feeder goldfish in a 3 gallon fishbowl. The bowl with the two flat sides. There was blue gravel, a couple of happy meal toys, and a fake plant. No matter how many times the fish may have been replaced... they were always called Larry and Balki after some TV sitcom my mom liked. When, I was around 10, I was gifted a used 29 gallon. I started with Tetras, and the basics, and as the years went by, I got into Cichlids. I would ride my bike to the nearest pet shop, buy what I could afford, and ride them back home hooked on the handle bars! LoL In high school, I found this guy on the internet called Uaru Joey, and his website was the best! (no Youtube yet.) I would spend hours studying different kinds of fish. I remember my Mom telling me "If you'd spend half the effort on your school work as you do looking at fish stuff..............." Anyway, the rest was history. Great question!! It was really enjoyable to look back and remember all of these things. Haven't though about it in years. 🙂