Tell me what got you into the hobby

[Intuos]

For me it was my dad's Oscar called Oscar (not a very original name I know 😂🤣😂) he would take food out of my hand as a kid. Have been hooked ever since that was 30 years ago am now 35 and can't imagine a time I wouldn't have a tank.

[Littlefish]

Catching saltwater fish as a boy with dad.

[Guppysnail]

One of my first memories is the gigantic tank(everything is gigantic to a 4 year old)  my parents had a brick island built for between the living room and dining room and a fish that swam in the top of the water column long almost looked like it had legs instead of fins to a small child. Then mom and I found a small tank and air pump at a yard sale. I was allowed to keep anything I could catch (accept snakes) with a small kitchen strainer she gave me and little bucket to take to the creek.  I still use a small strainer to catch fish in my aquariums 🤣

[Kathy F]

When I was 7 I wanted fish, I don't know why but I did.   My Dad got me a 10 gallon bought everything for it but a heater.   The fish died overnight when it got too cold.   Tried again with a heater and this time they survived (tank, decor & all fish came from Walmart this was several decades ago when they had a sizeable small pet section).   

I kept fish  until my early 20's when I stopped going to Uni and working full time was just too much.  Got back into it briefly once but quit because my marriage was falling apart and I had a 4 year old that needed me.  Then got back into it again 3 years ago and have stuck with it. 

I started fish keeping again for my teenager but he showed no interest so then it became my tank.   After 18 months he did start showing interest so now we have my tanks and his one tank which he watches from his bed.   

[KaitieG]

For me, I'd always wanted an aquarium.  Started out as an adult getting a betta in a bad setup for my son then started to learn about all the mistakes I'd made and just grew from there doing better.

[Patrick_G]

My mom has had many tanks and is the kind of person who can’t leave a pet shop empty handed. She made sure  I always had a room full of fish and critters. 
My current round of tank mania was sparked off by my wife ordering a Koi Betta from Thailand during the early 2020 lockdown. 

[Tihshho]

I was somewhat force into it as a kid. My Dad was also forced into it as a kid, haha. 

When my Dad would go through and clean out his tanks it was part of my chores to help with 'fish duty' and that meant cleaning sponge filters, dechloring water, and getting rearing tanks ready. Mind you, the first things he had me do was go with him to the LFS and feed the fish so it wasn't on him when things happened to come home, I was the scapegoat.

[Patrick_G]

On 9/1/2021 at 3:27 PM, Tihshho said:

When my Dad would go through and clean out his tanks it was part of my chores to help with 'fish duty' and that meant cleaning sponge filters,

We were a UGF family so I never had to clean sponges! 😀

[mommygourami]

Covid and impulse buying.  I saw a 20 gallon long at petsmart for like 35 bucks and I thought, wow, that's cheap!  Lol, little did I know at the time I would catch multiple tank syndrome and collectoritis.  Also I became very OCD in watching "fish nerd" videos on YouTube. 

It's really been a great thing to keep my mind occupied.  I'm not sure where I would be now without this hobby, especially being stuck at home for so long.  I would much rather watch my aquariums or people talk about fish, rather than watch the news or dwell on all the negativity in the world.

Plus there are great people in this hobby! 😀

[Atitagain]

My friend had a party and was feeding his Oscar by holding food above the water. It seemed like it jumped 2 feet lol of course it was actually about half his body. I was hooked on aquariums and oscars. Took me about a year to get my own tank a impulse buy as I walked by a Oscar at w-mart he was the craziest fish in the tank. Bought him and a 55G went home and set it up and dropped him in.😬😳don’t know how he survived.

I’ve had an Oscar every time I’ve had a tank since. 

[Intuos]

On 9/1/2021 at 11:45 PM, mommygourami said:

Covid and impulse buying.  I saw a 20 gallon long at petsmart for like 35 bucks and I thought, wow, that's cheap!  Lol, little did I know at the time I would catch multiple tank syndrome and collectoritis.  Also I became very OCD in watching "fish nerd" videos on YouTube. 

It's really been a great thing to keep my mind occupied.  I'm not sure where I would be now without this hobby, especially being stuck at home for so long.  I would much rather watch my aquariums or people talk about fish, rather than watch the news or dwell on all the negativity in the world.

Plus there are great people in this hobby! 😀

Welcome to the nerm squad. Couldn't agree with you more after a long day nothing beats spending time watching your fish. 

[Atitagain]

On 9/1/2021 at 6:18 PM, Patrick_G said:

My mom has had many tanks and is the kind of person who can’t leave a pet shop empty handed. She made sure  I always had a room full of fish and critters. 
My current round of tank mania was sparked off by my wife ordering a Koi Betta from Thailand during the early 2020 lockdown. 

I had my 1st tank already this round before the lockdown. MTS is real especially when nothing else to do and they have curb side pick up 🤪

[GameCzar]

My uncles had fish, one had an Oscar, and the other had a pair of Discus.  

 

[mommygourami]

On 9/1/2021 at 3:52 PM, Atitagain said:

I had my 1st tank already this round before the lockdown. MTS is real especially when nothing else to do and they have curb side pick up 🤪

AND you can have anything, including fish, delivered right to your door.  So dangerous! 

[Intuos]

I'm from the UK so lfs was classed as an essential business so stayed open, good news for my mental health bad news for my bank balance 😂🤣😂. 

[aquariumcam]

I became hooked during quarantine. I was bored and had nothing but time and I started watching animal/pet youtube channels and I became hooked on watching how people set up tanks and backyard ponds and just how much people cared about their fish. so much that I started loving how different breeds of fish act differently and learning how to care for them

[laritheloud]

I love animals and wanted to get some small pets that I could safely keep with three cats in the house. I also used the excuse "I want to try and get some fish for my son to enjoy!" ... Right, it was definitely more about me than my son, but luckily it's a hobby my entirely family is enjoying with me.

I'm so glad I decided to try it out, and that my husband enabled me to give it a go. I found a brand-new love this past year because of it.

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

My dad.  maintence, behavioral studies of the fish, and golf were our things on weekends especially.  

Edited September 2, 2021 by mountaintoppufferkeeper

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

I got a pair of feeder comits as a white elephant gift. I kept them in a vase of water on top my toilet with no filter, air, heat, substrate, decorations, etc nor did I ever do water changes. One died right away but the other lived like that for about three months. Then my wife had a miscarriage with our first pregnancy. I’m the kind of person who obsesses over one thing and likes to do lots of research in the subject. It was on having children until the miscarriage, but after losing the pregnancy I decided to put all that focus on that neglected fish. I upgraded him to a proper 10g with filter, substrate, decorations, some live plants that I didn’t realize he was going to eat, and a few tank mates. Sadly Goldie jumped out of the tank after about a year but by then I was hooked in the hobby. Now I have a 90g CA Cichlid tank and a few 10g

[Intuos]

On 9/2/2021 at 12:38 AM, BlueLineAquaticsSC said:

I got a pair of feeder comits as a white elephant gift. I kept them in a vase of water on top my toilet with no filter, air, heat, substrate, decorations, etc nor did I ever do water changes. One died right away but the other lived like that for about three months. Then my wife had a miscarriage with our first pregnancy. I’m the kind of person who obsesses over one thing and likes to do lots of research in the subject. It was on having children until the miscarriage, but after losing the pregnancy I decided to put all that focus on that neglected fish. I upgraded him to a proper 10g with filter, substrate, decorations, some live plants that I didn’t realize he was going to eat, and a few tank mates. Sadly Goldie jumped out of the tank after about a year but by then I was hooked in the hobby. Now I have a 90g CA Cichlid tank and a few 10g

So sorry to hear about your loss having been through the same pain. So glad that you found a way to help you through. 

[PineSong]

We had a tank from the time I was six. It was a 10g with "tropical fish" which I remember as an angel fish, a "kissing fish," a silver dollar and whatever we brought in from the ditches in our neighborhood (South Florida)--tadpoles included. Sounds like a tank of death to my adult self, but I guess that's what happens when eight year olds pick fish.

Later we had the same tank with fantail goldfish, which I thought of as being super fancy, lol.

Then came a few years of no fish (college) and many years of bettas and veiltail goldfish, a couple of years of a Walstad tank with platies, and then only bettas.

I downsized and moved last year, which created space for a tank and I thought at least one of my bettas would enjoy a community tank, so why not set one up? Spending time on youtube learning about that, I caught MTS because I started thinking about wouldn't it be nice to have platy fry again? What about raising mutt guppies, wouldn't that be fun? And now that one betta loves his community 20g, shouldn't the other betta have one, too? It's important to be fair, you know...

 

[PineSong]

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Edited September 2, 2021 by PineSong
Removing double post, sorry!

[CalmedByFish]

I clearly remember the first time I felt excited about fish. I'm guessing I was 4-6. One of my parents came home with an old-school fish bowl and a bag of male guppies. The rapidly moving bright colors thrilled me. The guppies didn't last long of course, but my love of fishies did. 

[Jeff]

Just always in awe of aquariums. Once I bought my first house, it was my first opportunity at starting one on my own. 

[lefty o]

my dad had a 20 when i was a kid. he had guppies, black mollies, a red tail shark and some neon tetra's in it.