How long have you been in the hobby for?

[TheSwissAquarist]

I got my first aquarium during the Christmas before COVID (10 gal with guppies neons and white clouds) and have never looked back since. I’d say that my favorite fish so far have been splash tetras.

How long have you been in the hobby for?

What have been your absolute favorite fish?       

(I think we all know that Murphy is @Corys favorite 😏)

[Odd Duck]

First started in the hobby in June of 1975.  Got badly burned out on a job and eased out of the hobby just from overall excess stress in life around 15 years ago.  Now back in the hobby for about 2.5 years and already back up to 24 tanks if you include a couple scud culture jars with snails.  Currently have fish in 20 tanks, snails of one sort or another in everything.  Plants in everything including the scud jars.

I’ve never been able to definitively point to a single fish or species and say it’s my all time favorite.  I like so many different kinds.  Right now, I’m on a guppy and pleco kick.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Odd Duck
Edit to add my non-answer to the favorite fish question.

[Atitagain]

Over the last 30-ish years I’ve had aquariums off and on. After about a 5 year off For Christmas 2019, my wife bought me a 60G. I started watching aquarium coop videos next thing I know I’ve got 20+ tanks.

my favorite fish is Oscar’s or rummynose tetra depending on mood. Kinda both ends of the spectrum I know but I appreciate smaller/ nano fish now, where as in the past I only had 1 or 2 tanks and always had an Oscar or larger type of fish.

[Andy's Fish Den]

Started in the hobby when I was 11 years old, and now I'm 47, and have had at least one tank going during that time except for about a year when I was going through a divorce and not really sure where I was going to end up. 

My favorite fish are angelfish and discus, angels were the first fish I kept and spawned. I always have at least a few in one tank in my fish room.

[Guppysnail]

I was 7 and mom got me a small tank from a yard sale with a pump, probably 10g I don’t recall if they made 5G tanks then. I caught all my own fish from the creek. Moms rule anything goes that I could catch with one exception….NO SNAKES. I collected rocks from the creek and built an erupting volcano and stuffed the air tube inside since I did not have an airstone.   After probably a week of catching nothing with my hands and coming home in tears my mom felt bad. I was persistent and the following morning my mom handed me her kitchen strainer to see if I could scoop up some fish. 
I came home that night with baby catfish and random minnows. They had spawned in the shallows and the babies were sort of schooling in the shallow rock work.  I lost most of them the first week of course. There was algae on the rocks and I collected an awesome array of bugs to feed. A few grew A BIT until I brought a baby turtle home. All my little fishes disappeared but no bodies. This was my lesson in if it fits in someone’s mouth it’s lunch. 
I kept so many cool critters from crayfish to frogs always releasing them when (if) I managed to grow them to big for the tiny tank. 
Due to work and travel demands there were intermittent times I had to take tanks down but I never left the hobby only paused anxiously waiting to be able to set my tanks back up.  
 

Catfish are still my favorite🥰
I am a vintage antique now 😉 so ……🤣

Edited October 20, 2022 by Guppysnail

[gardenman]

I'll be 64 in November and have had fish since I was at least six. So that would be around 58 years in the hobby. My grandfather was a fish keeper and handed stuff down to me. My first tanks were the stainless steel framed with a slate bottom. Filters were simple box filters. By my teens I was very active in keeping fish with multiple tanks including my first dive into marine fish. Nektonics was the big name in the marine hobby back then. I still have my old Nektonics hydrometer. My first HOB was a Dynaflow. I eventually had AquaKings and a SuperKing HOB. A diatom filter was my big investment in the hobby. A smaller one first, then a large one. A high school friend had bought a Pacu, thinking it would eat like a piranha, and couldn't get it to eat live food. He looked at me like I was insane when I suggested he try feeding it some fruit. He was amazed when it gulped the fruit down. 

I've kept just about everything at one time or another. I've used pretty much every type of filter ever made. I've read almost every fish book written in the 70s, 80s, and 90s and most of the fish magazines from that era. My favorite fish have been those with big personalities. Oscars and a Midas cichlid would top my list of favorite fish. 

[meadeam]

I had some tanks when I was in jr. high through college.  Nothing consistent.  I always enjoyed aquariums, but wasn't a real hobbyist at that point.  4 Years ago I bought my kids a 10 gallon and have had several tanks since then.  The most tanks I've had up at one time is four; 5.5, 10, 29, and 36.  The 5.5 was plants and snails only.  I consolidated down to my one heavily planted and stocked 36 bowfront, but I'm starting up a 20 Long blackwater tank right now.  Next on the list is a shell dweller biotope in something from a 20L to a 40B.   Following that, I will be putting a 120 in new construction happening at my house right now.  The 120 will likely be primarily angels.  I like biotope style tanks, but not in the strictest sense.  My favorite fish are all nanos.  Angels are as large as I would keep in any aquarium that I could have in my house.

 

 

[Tanked]

The first 10 gallon aquarium arrived around 1970, replacing the goldfish bowl. My first adult aquarium arrived 5-10 years later, MTS set in about 5 years ago.

My favorite fish remains the smaller variety of the Red Tailed Tinfoil Barb.  In the proper light their name is well deserved, and they are large enough to easily observe their behavior from the next room.

[JettsPapa]

I had my first tank when I was about 20.  I didn't have a clue what I was doing.  I thought all I needed to do was get a tank, add water and fish, and sit and watch them.  As you can imagine, that didn't go well.

I tried again about 20 years later we got a tank for our son's room.  I enjoyed sitting there beside it watching the fish, but didn't know any more than I did the first time.  I was so clueless I didn't know there was stuff I was supposed to know.

Almost another 20 years went by, and my daughter-in-law got interested in fish keeping (in 2019).  They live next door, so of course I watched her journey, and decided to get my own tank.  With her help getting me started, I've learned a tremendous amount in the last three years.  That one tank has turned into seven tanks (so far) in the house, several tubs outside for shrimp and guppies, and another tank on my desk at work.

Favorite fish is a tough question.  If I had to pick just one it would probably be pearl gouramis.

[SugarBassJoe]

Found my first 10G by a dumpster in the school parking lot behind my parents house when I was 7. My dad was reluctant to the idea at first but eventually he help me set it up in the enclosed patio in the back. I already had a betta in a 1G pitcher and in he went, needless to say he was happy. A few weeks went by and my dad came home with a bag of 4 or 5 "Ghost Mollies", and told me keep an eye on them. Not long after that, little white specks started swimming around. I was super excited to see this happen and was hooked since. There was periods of time where I wasn't active in the hobby, on and off again through middle school and high school, then a ten year long period when I started working and didn't seem to have time. Its been almost a year back in, and I cant see my self ever leaving again, not any time soon at least. Though my time hasn't been straight, collectively I would say anywhere from 5-7 years with aquariums.

Livebearers would be my top pick, though it would be difficult to pick one, I would say sailfin mollies, sword tails and guppies would be top three.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/20/2022 at 4:31 PM, Joey1991 said:

Livebearers would be my top pick, though it would be difficult to pick one, I would say sailfin mollies, sword tails and guppies would be top three.

Or maybe ghost mollies 😏 (what did they look like?)

[SugarBassJoe]

On 10/20/2022 at 7:35 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Or maybe ghost mollies 😏 (what did they look like?)

They where white mollies, I think the LFS had them listed as ghost mollies, don't think they were albinos either, I remember them having dark pupils.

[mynameisnobody]

I am 43 this November and My first tank was at around the age of 10. I’ve kept them throughout the years, only selling off my whole collection 3 times in order to simplify a move across the country. Unless something goes really wrong, I’d expect there to be an aquarium in viewing shot of my death bed. 

[lefty o]

my own tanks, as an adult , almost 30 years. thats if you dont count my dad's 20 i helped with and watched as a kid, that would add a bunch more years to the total.

[tolstoy21]

I've had all kinds of tanks on and off as a kid, and kept all kinds of things -- goldfish, snapping turtles, skinks, iguanas, salamanders. I wasn't into 'fish' exactly, but just enjoyed caring for things I could keep in a tank. Turtles and salamanders were wild caught by yours truly. I kept those most of my childhood.

My dad and grandfather owned a bait shop I helped out in, so technically, I took care of an old bathtub-pond filled with a jillion killifish (all doomed for the angler's hook!). I also helped my dad catch killies in the brackish marshes near our house. This was back in the 70s and 80s.

I had an aquarium briefly in the 90s that my mom took over and had for a bunch of years. I also had a few pythons during that time.

Had a betta or two or three in the span between then and now. 

I didn't get back into the fish-keeping hobby more seriously until maybe 9 years ago when I became a parent. I meant to get my kid into it, but seems it turned out to be my 'thing'. Maybe that was my intention all along?

Edited October 20, 2022 by tolstoy21

[Confetto]

On 10/20/2022 at 9:51 AM, JettsPapa said:

I didn't have a clue what I was doing.  I thought all I needed to do was get a tank, add water and fish, and sit and watch them.  As you can imagine, that didn't go well.

Tried again... but didn't know any more than I did the first time.  I was so clueless I didn't know there was stuff I was supposed to know.

 

That is the best description of my tank journey. 

Growing up, my father had multiple tanks & I watched those tanks like Saturday morning cartoons.  Fast forward to adulthood, I had a desktop tank that hosted cherry barbs from time to time, but mostly bettas.  My heart would go out to those unhappy fish in cups!  And I had good luck keeping them with the little knowledge that I had.

This summer, I tossed myself into the lion(fish) den and went head first into a small planted tank. It's been trial & error, with a lot of error, but my koi betta has been such a trooper with my crash course method of care. My betta has my heart, Miso brings me such joy! 

I'd like to get a much larger tank after the new year.  I have discovered panda corys, kuhli loaches, a blue lobster & rainbow sharks and though most of them may not be tank-mates, that's the dream! 

[TOtrees]

I had to check the 'way back' machine (my photo history on my phone 😛) to see when I started, but it was very recent compared to some. Got my first tank in 2017 or 2018, a 20 gallon high planted community. I had really wanted to do a small scale aquaponics thing, but I have a hard time getting complex projects off the ground (I want to see/understand/know/plan all steps before I start the first). My wife found a used 20 gallon with stand and cover/light for free, and so that became the first step. The aquaponics thing never happened, but I still think about it, and do builds in my mind. 

But the aquarium/fish thing took off! I have 2 racks in the basement, running about 15 tanks plus 3 vivariums now, down from a max of about 20 tanks. Central air, auto water change, its a wonderful disaster 😄

Hard to pick a favorite. Have loved having cories and red lizards, gold angels, gold ocellatus shellies, and candy cane plecos. 

[Patrick_G]

Round one:

I got started as a kid in the 70s because my mom was into pets of all sorts. I often had  tank or two in my bedroom and my mom had a 75 in the family room.

Round two:

After not having a tank for a while I got into cichlids because they were cool and a few of my friends kept them. I did some breeding and it was fun but eventually lost interest in my college years.

Round four:

kept a few tanks after my daughter was born, mostly for her benefit. Tried a few Amazon swords but didn’t really get into plants. I also had a nice little goldfish pond. 

Round five:

Covid came around,  my wife ordered a Betta from Thailand. Somehow that one fish in one little tank quickly became seven tanks filled with plants and fish. 

[jwcarlson]

My parents had a tank or two over the years before I started, but I don't remember too much about them.  They had bluegills and bass (native fish up here) from time-to-time.  For a number of years as a teenager up until about 2005 when I was 21 I had a number of tanks at home (my parents).  Nothing too exotic but had a 75 with an oscar and a 55 with an oscar.  Several smaller tanks with everything from guppies to yellow labs.  In 2005 I sold most everything off as I was going to college.  In the dorm I kept a 10 gallon with some neons and a dwarf gourami.  When I moved off campus the following year, I had a 29 with a bluegill.  

I graduated in 2008 and eventually moved "back home" (same city, not house) in 2012.  Those four years, I do not recall having any tanks.  But basically on/off for the past 10 years I've bought the cheap $8 10 gallon tank at Walmart and set something up for me or "for the kids".  Mollies, guppies, that kind of thing.  Well, when I bought that Walmart 10 gallon going on a year ago, it was $15.  I'd talked to a guy at work who has a koi pond and that got me thinking, stumbled onto Aquarium Co-Op after that... and...  

So over this roughly one calendar year I started with a 10 gallon community tank that is now in a 37.  About 20 years ago I really really wanted discus, but because of a bunch of reasons, decided not to go down that path.  But in February of this year, I finally did that (link below).  And a month or so ago we re-set up the 10 gallon for shrimp and snails because my daughter has been begging for "her own tank".  I've never had plants until recently and I would say that I am not great at planted tanks.  Not by a long shot.  But I'm enjoying trying to sort them out.

For favorite fish that I've kept all-time, I still must lean towards oscars.  They're big, they're messy, they do their own decorating... but I have never had another fish get so danged excited to see people, even if it's just a Pavlovian response.  Bettas are probably second in the interactive regard.  I'm enjoying my discus, but they're just the freaking jumpiest fish I have ever seen (like someone sneezes in another room and they'll spook).  

I'm a chronic hobby-er and I am realistic in my outlook.  I will eventually quit fishkeeping again.  I've also been a beekeeper for the last eight years and I am very seriously considering selling my bees this next spring or cutting back drastically from ~30 colonies to something like five.  As I get older (I'm 38 now), I do try to approach things from a more reasonable side.  When I started beekeeping I went WHOLE freaking hog and at one point had close to 100 colonies going.  I have that streak in me and if I didn't have what little self control I have, I'd have my 1200 square foot basement setup mostly as a fish room and would be spending every waking hour doing that until I burn out and wonder why I ever started.  It's fun to read everyone elses' paths to where they are today.  It's absolutely amazing how accessible information is now compared to even 10 or 20 years ago.  You old hats who have been doing it well before the internet age are incredible!  I started in roughly the mid-late-90s... I cannot imagine what it was like before that... how do you see the fish when your tank is made of stone? 🙃  

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by jwcarlson

[TheSwissAquarist]

Here’s my first tank:

Just guppies and stuff🙃

Does anyone else have some fun pictures of their first tank?

Edited October 20, 2022 by TheSwissAquarist

[jwcarlson]

I'd be really interested in seeing some way older aquarium hobby pics.  These are from the early 2000s era.  Taking pictures was such a pain back then. 🙂

Spike:

Squirt - purchased as a "blueberry" oscar at a local grocery store of all places (roughly a medium blue color).  I didn't know it at the time, but learned after that she was a dyed fish (some wild process where they inject dye and maybe strip the slime coat or something too?)  Sickly when young, but pulled through it and was a healthy and I thought pretty adult:

Man... looking at pictures of my oscars really makes me want one again. 🙂

 

Misc:

Edited October 20, 2022 by jwcarlson

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/20/2022 at 5:54 PM, jwcarlson said:

I'd be really interested in seeing some way older aquarium hobby pics.  These are from the early 2000s era.  Taking pictures was such a pain back then. 🙂

Spike:

Squirt - purchased as a "blueberry" oscar at a local grocery store of all places (roughly a medium blue color).  I didn't know it at the time, but learned after that she was a dyed fish (some wild process where they inject dye and maybe strip the slime coat or something too?)  Sickly when young, but pulled through it and was a healthy and I thought pretty adult:

Man... looking at pictures of my oscars really makes me want one again. 🙂

 

Misc:

Were live plants as big as they are these days?

[jwcarlson]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:09 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Were live plants as big as they are these days?

My only experience with live plants was buying bulbs at Walmart that you just chucked in and they'd sprout some measly little leaves and then some tank member would either destroy it because it was something movable (oscars) or eat it immediately because their diet probably wasn't particularly great (snails).  I wasn't aware of anyone keeping planted tanks at the time, though I am sure people did.  My limited exposure was probably to due to being mostly involved in the oscar 'community' and mine, at least, were not fans of letting anything be.  I had fake plants in my tanks, but all they were was a toy for my oscars.  And place to grow algae on in my smaller tanks.

[Gannon]

Getting close to 7 years in the aquarium hobby now. Started in 9th grade after a rough patch and needed a hobby! I never looked back and I appreciate it so much. 

Now my favorite fish? Thats hard. My favorite one to show people would be my clouded archerfish. They're a shock and awe fish for both hobbyists and non hobbyists alike. My favorite fish species to watch are my denison barbs for sure. They school better than any freshwater fish I believe, and have the most jaw dropping red coloration with hints of green. My favorite individual fish is my rescue electric blue acara, he's a big jerk but he's always interested in what I'm doing, he's definitely the character of the fish room. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Gannon

[Guppysnail]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:20 AM, jwcarlson said:

... I cannot imagine what it was like before that..

It wasn’t as hard as it is today. I imagine we had more losses though I don’t remember having more. I seldom seen anything outside of occasionally ich. Fish were hardier I think due to not being mass produced and inbred. I thought I was going high tech when I got my first box filter. 🤷‍♀️