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How did you get started fish-keeping, anyway? ​🐟​


DaveSamsell
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My Dad had an aquarium, when I was very young.  He mostly had a collection of live-bearers.  I remember being fascinated at an early age with the fish.  Admittedly, that same fascination is still with me, today.  It's such a wonderful hobby to have a small piece of nature indoors.  Additionally, it's wonderful to be able to share and exchange ideas with a caring online community, such as this.

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14 minutes ago, DaveSamsell said:

My Dad had an aquarium, when I was very young.  He mostly had a collection of live-bearers.  I remember being fascinated at an early age with the fish.  Admittedly, that same fascination is still with me, today.  It's such a wonderful hobby to have a small piece of nature indoors.  Additionally, it's wonderful to be able to share and exchange ideas with a caring online community, such as this.

My story is exactly the same as yours, except that my dad bred angels once or twice. I was captivated!

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17 minutes ago, DaveSamsell said:

My Dad had an aquarium, when I was very young.  He mostly had a collection of live-bearers.  I remember being fascinated at an early age with the fish.  Admittedly, that same fascination is still with me, today.  It's such a wonderful hobby to have a small piece of nature indoors.  Additionally, it's wonderful to be able to share and exchange ideas with a caring online community, such as this.

Same here. My mom and dad kept all kinds of fish. I remember being intrigued them. I got my first tank when I was 9. It was a cichlid tank. I still have that tank to this day.

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When I was 9 years old I read a children's book about a kid who had guppies and the guppies kept multiplying like bunnies. So I got together some quart jars and took my 50 cents allowance to Grant City (sort like a 1969 version of Target) and bought several guppies. I learned what the word 'gravid' meant and I could see my guppies were 'with child'. I could even see the eyeballs of the soon to be born baby guppies through the body of the pregnant females.

And when my guppies had babies some were gray, but some were golden! And I started to learn about the wonderful different kinds of guppies there were and I was hooked!

Edited by Daniel
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My mom had fresh water and salt water fish when I was a kid. It was so much fun to wander the LFS when I was a kid. A friend of ours had piranha in a show tank in their recroom. That was back in the 60s so the legality may have been different. Anyway even they were kind of interesting.

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Moved to a house with no garden, started watching Foo the Flowerhorn videos on YouTube, read the ecology of the planted aquarium and got hooked on growing plants underwater. Started with shrimps and snails to help with alge and eventually moved to fish.

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I had an aquarium when I was little, perhaps like 9 years old. My mother would do the water changes and cleaning while my aunt would take me to walmart to buy goldfish for a quarter each. I'm 32 now, and recently remembered my aquarium from my childhood, and on a whim I said to myself "You know what, I'll put an aquarium, big one this time and I'll make it right, will research everything about it, fish, plants, filtration, etc."

And that's how it all started, the internet is a wonderful tool, something that we didn't have back then. I found all the info that I needed, what fish to put as a beginner, stocking recommendations, filtration, food, etc. Cory's channel helped tremendously with this. My mom would never have done all this 20+ years ago, so in retrospect I can see why my poor goldfish would last only 4 months max. I thought about it and felt so bad about all the fish that we killed with our ignorance, so now that I have my own money and so much information one click away, I decided to do it right in memory of all the fish that I had before and did not take care of properly.

Edited by HenryC
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I brought home fair goldfish when I was a kid, and my dad set up a goldfish bowl for them. Of course they didn't last long, but the idea of keeping fish stuck with me. When I was in junior high I tried keeping a 10 gallon with some success, but looking back I did so many things wrong! The internet was in its infancy then but I never used the computer, so I relied on books from the library. My mom got rid of it at one point and refused to let me have another (she's not an animal person and was convinced the tank was creating mold).

It wasn't until after college that I really got into aquariums, and was able to use the internet to learn. Was into it for a few years and then took a decade long break. Three-ish years ago I got back into it and this time i'm completely obsessed. 

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I was sick.

The school nurse had a 20g tank in the resting room (nap cots) FILLED with randomly breeding guppies, and a billion little dark rams horn snails. She saw I was fascinated and explained that they kept having babies and that was why there were so many. She said, "I should take some of the plain ones out so that I would get more of the bright ones but I am too busy" and in that moment I was hooked on fish, genetics, and selective breeding in the same lightning bolt.

My parents were not at all excited about any of this. It took me a long time to get my random guppies. Along the way I bred a lot of mammals, and kept a many fish. But I never put the two together until now. 

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I bought a goldfish bowl on a garage sale and got a feeder goldfish for it. It died after one day and I was heartbroken - I remember crying my eyes out as a new neighbor introduced himself. In hindsight, 7 year old me did everything wrong including frequently petting said fish. To console me my mom bought a ninja turtles acrylic aquarium and 3 guppies. We eventually graduated to multiple tanks and one 75 gallon filled with a variety of fun fish as my mom was a real animal lover. Eventually she rehomed the collection after my beloved calico fancy goldfish (kept in a tank far too small) died. 
 

I tried fish again a few years ago, falling prey to the classic Sad Betta syndrome and buying the betta and kit in one go. Bad go. Didn’t know anything about the nitrogen cycle. Dead fish, repeat, gave up because I thought I couldn’t keep them. 
 

COVID hit and I was stuck at home and needed more life around. Considered reptiles but my cats would be too determined to kill them. Found a 20 gallon with 9 fish for $50 on Craigslist. Now at 130+ gallons and who knows how many guppies.

it escalated quickly. 

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I just love nature in general. I grow a lot of plants outdoors and have always wanted to try water plants. It was a natural progression for me. Started with a 5 gallon planted tank and a betta, and a wildlife pond. It grew quickly from there.  Pics from 2017 Mr Fishy Face and the 1st yr.of the pond.

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When i was around 9 or so my great aunt gave me a 10 gallon at Christmas.  An aquarium was completely out-of-the-blue, no one in my house had ever had a tank before.  I am grateful to her to this day.  So much enjoyment and therapy has been brought to me over the decades.

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Years ago, my husband gave me a 29 gallon setup for my birthday along with a list of links where he'd been doing research.  It was a fun project.  We did a lot of research together and ended up owning a tank that we loved for years.  I sort of gave up the hobby after my son was born.  In fairness to myself I was working full time, my husband was gone a lot, we didn't have family nearby (still don't) and babies are harder than aquariums.  Something had to give.

Now that the kiddo is 11 and is even more passionate about the life sciences than I was at his age, it's the perfect time to get back into keeping fish.  He's been keeping a betta in a 10 gallon tank for years and is more than willing to help with water changes.  Planning out new tanks is giving him something to feel excited about right now when we're trying to survive summer that is super boring and more than a little scary.  

Edited by ForestJenn
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On 7/24/2020 at 6:52 PM, ForestJenn said:

That little 10 gallon was packed to the gills with fish and was an unmitigated disaster. 

Oh yeah, my first proper fish tank, a 10 gallon aquarium with a box filter and a heater was also a disaster! I stocked it with half a dozen neon tetras. Later when fishing with my dad, I netted a baby sunfish. I asked dad if I could take it home and put it in my new aquarium. He said he didn't think it was a good idea and predicted the 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 helped me take the sunfish back to the lake, and after I had saved up my allowance again, I re-stocked the aquarium.

My dad has been gone now for 14 years, but I choked up remembering this. I just wanted to talk to him and say, "hey dad, remember that time when I said 'Neon tetras are the fastest fish in the world'". We would have both laughed. I miss him.

Edited by Daniel
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20 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Oh yeah, my first proper fish tank, a 10 gallon aquarium with a box filter and a heater was also a disaster! I stocked it with half a dozen neon tetras. Later when fishing with my dad, I netted a baby sunfish. I asked dad if I could take it home and put it in my new aquarium. He said he didn't think it was a good idea and predicted the 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 helped me take the sunfish back to the lake, and after I had saved up my allowance again, I re-stocked the aquarium.

My dad has been gone now for 14 years, but I choked up remembering this. I just wanted to talk to him and say, "hey dad, remember that time when I said 'Neon tetras are the fastest fish in the world'". We would have both laughed. I miss him.

Daniel,

Very nice story.  Thanks for sharing that.  I am close with my Father as well.  He's now up in age,with a lot of health issues and lives with me.  Time & memories shared are very precious.  

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my first was a gold fish from the melbourne show when i was 14 or 15. for some reason i was instantly addicted cleaning his tank and doing 100% water changes almost daily having no filter and no idea i needed one or what a cycle may have been lol. i had that fish for a fair while even eventually upgrading to a 20 litre plastic tank with a u beaut ug filter.the seed was sown and ive had tanks continuously since then with the first few years being very unsuccessful on the whole being a broke teenager with no idea what i was doing and limited information available being well before the internet.there has been ebbs and flows of a bunch of tanks at a time or just one somewhere in the corner nearly forgotten. was back at that point 2 years ago all i had going was my aquaponics and a 55 with some bn and tetras super low maintenance and barely touched with no new fish for about 5 years with taking care of young kids more the priority on my time and more so money.for some reason one day i walked into a pet shop just for a squizz and walked out with an oscar fell back in love with the hobby bringing my 17 yo along with me now and back up to 10 tanks or so.but if i never bought that goldfish home in its little crappy 5 litre tank that day none of it would've happened.

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I got my first aquarium for my 10th birthday (a ten gallon). I don’t remember how I got interested in it but remember the excitement, the triumphs and failures. I had gourami’s and an angel fish and many others along the way. 
We lived in the suburbs of Ohio and I was the only one who had fish or developed an interest out of seven kids. As an adult I had them a few times but two years ago I discovered the fish community on YouTube just after getting a 55 gallon. So much had changed in the hobby and I dove into research and of course before I knew it I had two more tanks.

Thinking back now I do remember a friend that had guppies, that may have influenced me but to this day I’ve never had Livebearers.

Edited by bm3aquatic
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When i was maybe 5 or 6 my dad got a second hand 30 gallon. We went to the LFS and he let me pick out all the fish. Surprisingly i Never forgot what species of fish we had even tho i was so young. We ended up with Convicts, Bala sharks, Tiger barbs, and what was probably a common pleco that we just called a sucker fish and never fed because we didnt know you needed to at the time and of OF COURSE a little treasure chest Bubbler! I was so fascinated with those fish i would watch them for hours. Unfortunately one day i got home from school and it was a bloodbath... the convicts had gone all convict on everybody. After that i didnt keep fish again until the beginning of this year. I love nature, the outdoors and i love animals but im too busy to have a dog anymore. After that first tank i’d always wanted to keep fish again. Every once in a while i would go to my LFS or pet store and just walk through looking at all the fish longingly but it wasnt until the end of last year that i decided I wasnt putting it off anymore! Im so glad I did, its brought me a lot of happiness over the last few months.

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I always wanted a tank but for my college years i moved living situations at least once a year so i felt like it would have been too much trouble to keep hauling around. I got a house 2 years ago and then last year i remembered i wanted to try fishkeeping. Sold some magic cards and jumped into the deep end with a 75 gallon and have loved it ever since.

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I guess technically my first fish was 26 years ago, when I was 9 and spent way too much money to win a feeder goldfish at a fair. My parents knew nothing, I knew nothing, and I put it in a bowl of tap water. 

The fish was resting on the bottom within a few hours, looking ill. I called a pet store about it, where I learned about dechlorinator for the first time. My parents drove me to the store and got the conditioner. I returned home to find my goldfish on the carpet. It was still alive, so I scooped it back up and into the bowl, where I thought adding my newly acquired dechlorinator would miraculously save it. 

I then later learned how big of a tank you really need for a goldfish, and my parents convinced me it was going to be a lot of work. No one else I knew had a home aquarium at the time, but still the desire to have an aquarium was always there on the backburner. Fast forward to 2004-ish in a well-established era of internet research, I was able to keep a 10-gallon community tank going for several years with tetras and mollies, and really ramped things up in the past 11 months.

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