What was in your first tank

[Chiclid addict]

Hi I am asking this just for fun so don’t take it to seriously but what was your first tank and how bad or how good of a job did you do stocking and taking care of it. I’ll start I’m sure I’ll get roasted in the reply’s for it, it was a 10 gallon with a cheap petco filter meant for a 5 gallon and there was no plants and the stocking was 2 gourami 4-5glow fish I had a couple baby angelfish in there also but when they got biger I Surrendered them after they got like 4 inches and to replace them I a pleco all of these fish lasted no longer than 2 months. I have come a long way from this and would never do this again 

[Nancy K]

It was a 20 tall with Jack Dempsey cichlids in 1998. 🤦‍♀️

[Colu]

15 gallon with a goldfish I won at a fair in1980s

[Biotope Biologist]

I think we should be immune from roasts in this topic seeing as everyone starts somewhere. As far as fish go I inherited my parents 20 tall hexagon tank and stocked it with neon tetra and dwarf gouramis. No heater, not sure how they survived for as long as they did to be honest. I probably had a heavy hand feeding as well seeing as I was 8.

[FrozenFins]

These were my first aquariums:

The first aquarium that got me serious into fish keeping and what caused MTS was a 10 gallon aquarium stocked with...

• Sparkiling Gourami
• Angelfish 
• Female Swordtail
• Electric Blue Ram
• Threafin Rainbow

The only problem in this tank was the gourami. For the first 6 months it was fine but then the gourami started bullying the swordtail. I took the gourami out and gave it to my lfs. The angelfish wasn't fully grown yet, but was around the 4 inch tall mark. I later upgraded to a 40 breeder and transferd the angelfish into the 40 breeder. I gave away the swordtail as well. And the EBR and Rainbowfish had died. The 40 Breeder I tried live plants for the first time, it was a complete fail. I found out what I did wrong (no fertilizer, no root tabs, the green hedge i bought  apperiantly wasn't an aquatic plant either) Heres what it looked like:

 

There was a corydora in there at one point but it died because my aquarium exploded, every other fish survived though 🙂 

I still have this angelfish, its almost full grown

For the first few months I waterchanged every wednesday. The parameters were fine.

Heres a picture of my old betta who lived in a 0.5gallon container advertisted for bettas. I didn't know any better, all though a few months later I did upgrade him to a 3 gallon. And then I re-homed him to my LFS.

Looking back at all my old photos gave me good memories. I actually kind of miss my first setup, maybe because everything was exciting!

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by James Black

[GameCzar]

I wish I could remember the hodge podge of stuff I had in my 10 gallon tank as a kid, needless to say it was a "oooh one of those and one of those and one of those" aquariums.

Getting back into the hobby our Betta has been our gateway drug to more tanks.

[JakeH]

The first tank I can remember was for a firebelly newt. I remember having it in a 30ish gallon hex aquarium. I just pulled some information and it turns out that was not ideal. My cat was able to fish him out and that was the end of that.

Fish came later once I was in high school. I had a Walmart goldfish in a 10 gallon kit.

Today my hobby has matured a bit and am running 5 tanks in the basement with much more success.

[Biotope Biologist]

On 6/22/2021 at 11:21 AM, JakeH said:

The first tank I can remember was for a firebelly newt. I remember having it in a 30ish gallon hex aquarium. I just pulled some information and it turns out that was not ideal. My cat was able to fish him out and that was the end of that.

Neat! I too had a Firebelly Newt pair. Mine lived in a 20 long most of their life with a DEEP sloping gravel into water. One hated the water and the other never left. I somehow had them for 9 years before I put them with fish (major no-no) and they developed a bacterial infection in their tail and perished. 

[Cyndi]

This is a fun topic! My first tank was a huge (or so we thought) 30 gallon affair we purchased at the mall with an UnderGravel filter. My mom and I kept fancy goldfish. To this day my mom says "I love goldfish but they always get body sores". I've tried and tried to explain that the cause of that was most likely MY lax (read non-existent) Water change schedule. But she won't listen - she still blames the fish! Incidentally, today she has a 5 gallon Betta fish that she LOVES. She's always updating me on his antics - yet water changes are still up to me. Whenever I go and visit, she has the hoses all ready for me 🙂 . It makes for really sweet memories actually!

[laritheloud]

As a kid, my parents let me keep African Dwarf Frogs in a 10 gallon. No heater, don't remember checking water parameters, water changed only once a month.

Or... we thought they were African Dwarf Frogs....

It turned out the albino was actually an African Clawed Frog, grew to a monstrous size, and ended up eating the dwarf frog. 😬 This I all found out recently when I researched why our one frog got so huge. My parents ended up getting rid of it very, very dubiously. I'm glad I know better now that I'm starting over with my aquatic pet keeping as an adult.

Edited June 22, 2021 by laritheloud

[Daniel]

The first thing I kept were guppies in quart jars when I was 9. I got the idea from reading the story Gallons of Guppies with Henry Huggins. I was fascinated by watching gravid female guppies give birth. Some of the babies were Golden, and at that point I was hooked.

My first proper fish tank, a 10 gallon aquarium with a box filter and a heater didn't go well. I stocked it with a dozen neon tetras. Later when fishing with my dad, I netted a baby sunfish. I asked my dad if I could take it home and put it at my new aquarium. He said he didn't think it was a good idea and predicted a little sunfish would eat my neon tetras. I wasn't deterred and blurted "don't worry dad, neon tetras are the fastest fish in the world!" He shrugged and we took the sunfish home and put it in my aquarium and all seemed well. The next morning when I turned on the lights the only fish I could find in the tank was that baby sunfish. The neons had all disappeared. At that point I realized where the neons might be and burst into tears. Dad help me take the sunfish back to the lake. I miss my Dad.

[Griznatch]

Wow,  talk about nostalgia...

My first tank was a mason jar full of what would be considered wild guppy fry. Got them at end of year, early grade school, early 70s they got upgraded from the mason jar to a glass fish bowl. don't think they ever got bigger than todays endlers if that big.
 

Now hold on while I get my walker and shake my cane at you young whipper snappers and your fancy filters and lights 🙂

[binkysmom]

 5.5 gallon planted betta tank. one betta and a couple of ghost shrimp.

it quickly turned into a 10 gallon upgrade with some pygmy cories.

[CalmedByFish]

Well, 9 years old, pre-internet. What I remember as my favorites from then through about age 13 were guppies, a red and blue striped gourami, and a baby pleco - the kind that get huge. 

[Alexa]

When I was 4, I won a goldfish at my church’s carnival and kept it in a fish bowl with an air stone. Maintenance consisted of me and my mom doing 100% water changes and scrubbing the bowl clean. Regardless of the lack of proper care, that fish lasted for a year, just in time to get a replacement at the next carnival 🤦‍♀️

[Cherie]

OMG I love this and was just trying to remember. I had a 10gallon with an UGF. I’m pretty sure over time I had cardinal tetras, baby angelfish, and red eyes tetras in there. Moved on to livebearers. 

[BaRanchik]

It was a 3 gallon with 2 young goldfish ☹️

[MAC]

We always had at least one aquarium growing up but the first one that was all mine was a nice little 10 gallon kit. I stocked it with white clouds and even had live plants. Not too bad I don't think for a first tank. 

My second one, a 20 long with ufg and a single pictus cat was much less successful. 

Edited June 22, 2021 by MAC
I can't spell

[Perry]

I actually set up my first tank to re-home a pair of African Dwarf Frogs that my grandmother had been keeping in an ornamental 8" x 8" cube. It had always horrified me so when she died I said I would take them. I was very excited to give them a better life and set up a 10 gal tank with driftwood and live plants. Unfortunately they didn't survive the journey to me and never got to try out their new home. 

So, I let the tank sit while I tried to figure out if I wanted to get something to put in or not. One day, several weeks later, I noticed a couple little snails crawling around and was totally shocked. I was so excited by the idea that my tank could support life, and in fact seemed to have miraculously generated it, that I started more seriously looking into options and discovered dwarf shrimp. I ended up ordering 12 fire red cherry shrimp which rapidly populated the tank. I was hooked.

I still feel badly about those little frogs but I'm happy it all turned out the way it did. It never would have occurred to me to have an aquarium and 7 years later I can't imagine our house without one.  

[The Goatee]

My dad setup my first tank when I was 7 in the early 90s. It was a 10 gallon kit tank. It had colorful gravel mix, a small fake plant, a small fake rock with hole, a little sign. I think the fish consisted of a swordtail, a platy, a painted glass fish, and a fiddler crab. The crab escaped one night and dad found it on the kitchen floor. The crab liked to get into the crack of the hang on back filter between the glass and filter in tank. The tank was incredibly barren looking. I don’t recall how long we kept it. I think everything eventually died within a few months.

[sudofish]

First tank was around 1989-90ish. No clue on the size but probably between 5 and 10 gallons. Bright blue gravel with a bunch of what I think were just feeder guppies and a single betta fish. Everything was dead in less than a week. Nothing was done prior to introducing fish other than letting water sit out in jugs for 24 hours before putting it in to eliminate chlorine. Just as the fish store instructed.

[lefty o]

my dad had a tank when i was a kid in the 70's with common community fish. my first tank was my 120 which i still have, and at its beginning was N. American game fish.

[CosmicAshhole]

Am I the only one who remembers Walgreens selling those square little "tanks" that had a betta, a snail, and a African Dwarf Frog? 

 

It was that. That was my first tank.  

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

After my mother took back my “stinky 🐢 “ we went to a Japanese goldfish and koi farm and picked out some black moors, shubunkins, and lion heads in a 55 g. Awesome tank with UGF, colored gravel, and the background was a Japanese tea garden. 

[Patrick_G]

My mom who was a fish keeper bought me a 10 gallon with the obligatory at the time under gravel filter with plastic hood and incandescent light. I remember guppies, a betta, an angelfish, two Cories, a pleco and some neons. 

Edited June 22, 2021 by Patrick_G