Your favorite yet earliest fish keeping memories

[Patrick_G]

In 5th grade I had 5-6 guppies in a 10 gallon on my night stand. I remember waking up one morning and thinking I was dreaming because suddenly there was 10 guppies! 
 

In high school my Mom volunteered at the national aquarium. Her friend, one of the biologists, had an over abundance of a rare African Cichlid, and gave me some to raise. 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Patrick_G

[Jennifer V]

3 hours ago, Celly Rasbora said:

 

I have earlier memories, catching minnows and tadpoles to have as pets

I did the same thing and totally forgot about it until now. I lived by a pond as a kid so I turned my plastic little kiddie pool into a place for tiny fish, tadpoles, frogs and anything else I could find. Thank you for reviving that memory! 

[Lifeisgood]

I grew up on a lake that had a swampy edge where I used to scoop up weeds and leaves at the edge and sort through the findings.  I collected baby bullheads, crayfish, tadpoles etc. I remember even catching baby bowfin (which are quite beautiful when young). My mom let me try to keep them alive in containers of all sorts then I would let them go.  I learned a lot and enjoyed it all.  But my mom drew the line when I tried to set up an aquatic ecosystem with salamanders in the bathtub.😊

[SWilson]

The early part of my life, I grew up in Hong Kong, where there’s a famous “Goldfish Alley” where shopkeepers sell all kinds of fish and aquatic pets. I used to love walking down that street and looking at all the animals (while also feeling a sad for them in kept in tiny plastic bags or turtles piled into buckets). My absolute favorites were the red ear slider turtles, which are so cute when they are babies. My mom was not a fan of animals back then (and opposed spending money on getting a pet). 
Eventually I got to keep fish of my own when someone gave us an old plastic 5ish gallon aquarium and I caught some small brown fish out of the artificial pond that was outside the apartment where we lived. To this day I have no idea what they were. 
in college, I was homesick and lonely and struggling with depression, I got my first wet pet - Bob Marley the betta (my roommate named him). He really helped me, and he survived a harrowing journey being smuggled on a cross country flight from Boston to Portland, OR. When we arrived in Oregon, I moved back in with my parents and Bob moved into that same old plastic aquarium from my childhood. 

it’s been 13 years since Bob, and quarantine has gotten me back in the hobby with a vengeance.  I feel that same childish excitement I felt walking around Goldfish Alley in Hong Kong as a little girl, now when Im spending time with my tanks, touring the Bay Area fish stores and trying not to buy more fish, and watching AC unboxing videos.

this is a great thread ❤️ thank you @James Black for starting it. 

[Tanked]

 My earliest memory is a goldfish in a bowl with maybe a rock or some marbles.  After that, Mom figured that if we wanted to see fish, we could see them in the pet dept. at Woolworth's. 

At some point I had to spend a few nights sleeping on a cot in my brother's living room. His hobby at that moment was Neon Tetras.  I would watch them glowing in the dimly lit room as long as I could stay awake. That is when I got hooked

Not a fish memory, but at age 11 I went on a grand adventure with the neighbors.  The deal was that I would ride with them to the lake for the week and they would put me on a bus for the return trip.  While there, I discovered freshwater mussels in the lake.   I made the 6 hour bus ride home with a 3# coffee can full of water and live mussels on the seat beside me.  Unfortunately my first aquarium was still a few years away, and it did not end well for the mussels.

[Daniel]

When I was 9 years old I read a children's book (Henry Huggins) 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!

[Lemon]

23 minutes ago, Daniel said:

When I was 9 years old I read a children's book (Henry Huggins) 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!

hey that's part of how I got into fishkeeping!

[Tory]

Definitely my earliest fish keeping memory, only my favorite because my mom loves to tell it to everyone 😅

When I was a toddler my family had a fish tank that they'd successfully kept all the fish alive in for a few years. Well I was going through a phase of really loving bubbles, and I knew that you could make bubbles with shampoo like in the bath. So I decided to pour shampoo into the fish tank and "wash their hair." My mom had no idea what to do, so my family just watched the fish die while my cousin pointed out each one and said "that one's a goner" 🤣

[Frank]

I had a tank with four cichlids and some cardinal tetras. The biggest lemon severum was king of the tank.

Somebody asked me to take a fish off of their hands because it was too agressive. It would sometimes harass my other fish for a moment. Then the normally placid King would zoom over there and chase it away. 

[clovenpine]

Maybe not the first, but an early and VERY happy memory for me:

When I was maybe 8 or 9, my mother used to drop me off at the public library each Saturday while she grocery shopped.  Next door to the library was a very small LFS owned by a dude whose picture is probably beside "gruff old fish nerd" in the dictionary.  Each week after I selected my 5 books I'd walk over to the fish store and talk to the owner until my mom came to pick me up.  He was so patient with me and let me "help" scrub algae, feed fish, etc.  One day, he walked me out to the car with two huge boxes of old issues of tropical fish magazines and books that he was getting rid of.  He said since he could tell I loved reading and fish, I'd probably enjoy them.

I wish I still had those!

[Warhawk]

I have two memory's that really stand out for me.

My first memory of keeping fish was when I was 5 or 6 I remember my family had what I thought was a huge fish tank in our living room. I can remember it had 3 or 4 gold fish and lots of fake plants. Thinking about it now I'm guessing it was a 30 or 40 gallon tank.  I remember feeding them a few times but we didn't keep the tank very long. 

Later when I was 10-12 years old I would spend the summers playing in the creek behind my house. I remember digging out a section of the creek and making a dam to build a small area to let the fish live in. I would catch small fish and crayfish in the creek and turn them loose in the area I had built.  It is amazing how much time a kid has to do stuff like that when your single mom worked 2 jobs. 

[Chiclid addict]

For me it had to be the day I got my first tank it was a tank I had Been around for years and was there every step of the way it was given to me by my aunt who at the time lived with me and when she moved out she left the little 10 gallon tank I helped build and a every thing and at the time this little 10 gallon was a huge tank because I was like 10

[FrozenFins]

2 hours ago, clovenpine said:

Maybe not the first, but an early and VERY happy memory for me:

When I was maybe 8 or 9, my mother used to drop me off at the public library each Saturday while she grocery shopped.  Next door to the library was a very small LFS owned by a dude whose picture is probably beside "gruff old fish nerd" in the dictionary.  Each week after I selected my 5 books I'd walk over to the fish store and talk to the owner until my mom came to pick me up.  He was so patient with me and let me "help" scrub algae, feed fish, etc.  One day, he walked me out to the car with two huge boxes of old issues of tropical fish magazines and books that he was getting rid of.  He said since he could tell I loved reading and fish, I'd probably enjoy them.

I wish I still had those!

The fish store owner must have thought it was so cute that a 9 year old wanted to help scrub algae. 

[FriendlyLoach]

Picking out a black moor that I called blacky, and a ryukin that I called orangy. I was like 8 and probably really overfeed them, and stunted them. They were in a 10 gallon. I remember getting the tank for christmas and I was so excited!!!

[Hobbit]

29 minutes ago, FriendlyLoach said:

Picking out a black moor that I called blacky, and a ryukin that I called orangy.

My youngest brother got to name all our family fish since he wasn’t old enough to be involved in other ways. For years they were all Goldy. 😆 We were all very impressed when we got a frog and he named it Legs!

[Kirsten]

Not a happy memory, but I think my earliest fish keeping memory was burying a beloved pond snail "Speedy" who died unexpectedly. I forgot that I had snails before I even had fish until this prompt! Figures, considering how much I still love them.

[TheNerdyFish]

oh man ity was early 90s when pet stores were wild you could go in get a toucan and some guppies i was about 6 years old my family always had aquariums and it was time to get mine my uncle gave me a 10 gallon and an iron stand which 30 years later that fish tank stand is sitting right next to me right now so it was the 90s  clown puke gravel was the cool thing to have every ceramic ornament  was neon rainbow colored  and your tank wasn't cool  if it didn't  have a mermaid and a bubbling treasure chest i ended up with multi color blue gravel and a neon rainbow skull which i also still have i had black skirt tetras neon colored glass tetra cause what kid didn't want those a kuhli loach a striped raphael cat and a pleco it def was an overstocked tank but i had that tank for years and it started a life long passion of fish keeping and i am grateful for that experience i am now 35 pretty much have had at least one tank since then currently running about 15 tanks of various size plus summer tubs heavily involved in multiple fish clubs too  

[morphy1701]

Earliest memories are of my dad's freshwater aquarium (probably a 55). He had a huge tire-track eel (at least 12 inches, maybe longer) that lived under a big piece of driftwood. All you would normally see was his head poklng out . Dad would feed him feeder goldfish. They would swim too close to him and he would seem to inhale them. Suddenly no fish and a shower of shimmering scales. Also had two kissing gouramis I loved because they would kiss! Sadly, that tank and fish were lost when our trailer burned down. Fortunately we had moved a few weeks earlier but since the trailer was on our business's property my parents were slowly moving stuff to the new house. Cause of the fire was arson. FD was sure of that but no way to prove anything. Dad is 99% sure he knows who it was (just fired employee). No one hurt but a lot of memories lost.

He had an amazing salt water tank (75 I think). I'm not sure if all these different varieties were in it at the same time or over several years but there are three things I remember distinctly. He had two different sea anemones, one Pacific and one Atlantic, that each had there own pair of clownfish. So delightful watching the clownfish grab foos and bring it back to the anemones. There a was a beautiful Brittle Star starfish with loooong arms. And the best was a mated pair of seahorses that actually had babies! I remember him teaching me about how the males carried the babies and I can remember how fat he got!

Then was a 75 gallon African Cichlid tank with several breeding pairs. We would keep the pregnant momma up in a smaller 20 gallon in my room to watch over. So neat to see the momma suck all her tiny babies into her mouth when she felt threatened then spit them all back out.