What Got You In This Hobby?

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Orca 33

I thought it would be fun to see how everyone descoved this addiction.

Since I made this thread ill start it.

I was 8 years old and my next door neighbor wanted me to sweep their lawn after they mowed for the summer. For payment I had the choice of 250 bucks or a complete 10g freshwater setup, well I choose the fish tank with 2, 6 inch commet gold fish and a pleco way to big to be in a 10 gallon.
After I set up my tank that night I was hooked and have been doing this ever since. I now have 140g Discus tank, 24g nano with lps and softies, and right now I am in the middle of setting up my next masterpeice a 75g with MH and T5' SPS reef tank (currently cycling). Working and setting up fish tanks is an art to me. There is nothing better than sitting in front of your tank after you put hours of hard work into this beautiful small slice of the ocean.
 
A friend gave me a 55gal tank with stand as payment for helping him move out of an apartment.

I was going to make it into a freshwater tank and ran across a small saltwater store and I never looked back. To this day I blame him everytime my wife finds out how much I have spent. Its his fault. :roll:
 
I had freshwater since I was 9 years old in one form or another. Even bred Angelfish in my 10 gallon at the ripe age of 14.

Finally got a 55 gallon long acrylic tank when I was 20 and did planted and cichlids. Wasnt much of a challenge so I tried a 10 gallon and 12 gallon bowfront Saltwater. Did well enough.

12 gallon bowfront did so well that when I had to get rid of it at work, I was able to trade for a cracked 90 gallon that came with an awesome stand and canopy. Dream come true.

I have been using the same stand and canopy and now keep acros and assorted corals. Only thing keeping me from moving to a larger tank is the actual breakdown of my 90 and the wife (of course).

Nick
 
My mother raised FW fish, then when I moved out I did the same. When we moved from Irving to E.Texas we decided it was time to do it because we had the empty tanks to do it. I no longer have any FW fish but I do have 7 SW tanks going.
 
I grew up in Southern California, and a lot of places we went to had saltwater tanks.

But I think it was Sea World, and all the tanks they keep. We went every year, and I love the ocean.

Having a small slice of the ocean in my home is the closest I'll get to having a dolphin :wink:
 
When I was younger my parents had a 300 gallon, 200 gallon, and a show 100 gallon all saltwater. Over a period of time my parents sold off. And I always wanted a 200 gallon.

So when I graduated from High school and I got my first job I saved my money and I bought my 100 gallon and everything I thought to get it set up in saltwater. My dad was very good with them and still is within 3 weeks I had fish and corals, within 5 weeks I had my first of now 8 clams.

My tank in my eyes is very beautiful and it is full. I still would like to get my 200 gallon. But I'm a full time college student. And that is taking alot of money now.

Ricky
 
It was a crack habit of my brother... He asked me if I wanted to try some. I said yes... Now I'm a crack head. well actually I guess you can say a fish head. :shock:
 
What got me into this hobby?


.....my divorce. :lol:
 
I got into the hobby about 8 years ago. My husbands college roommate had a 55 gallon reef that I fell in love with. I set up a small tank after that and continued to upgrade through the years. My husband got into the hobby alittle while after me but always had to get a bigger tank then mine. Now we are finally in the process of combining our tanks into one.
 
I'd always wanted an aquarium, but never had one... The first birthday Tarynn has while we were together (Still dating at this point) I asked her what she wanted...

...her request? A single Betta in a small bowl...

I bought her the Betta, but thought the bowl was mean so I got a 10 gallon aquarium instead...

...gave the setup to her... The Betta died in short order, and being the geek I am, I started researching how to do things properly...

...this led to a full community 10 gallon freshwater...

...then a freshwater 20 gallon...

...then a freshwater 55 gallon...

(All running concurrently, mind you)

...then, I was at PetCo and thought how much more colorful those Saltwater fish were...

...so I got a 29 gallon saltwater tank...

Just Damsels and clowns, no live rock or anything, just a biowheel filter...

...then I saw that pretty Mandarin Dragonet at PetCo, and hey, it was only $8.99, so I bought it...

Got it home... THEN did research into what it needs...

...uhoh... What's this "Living Rock" stuff?

And the rest... As they say... Is history...

And yeah, we do still get quite a bit of amusement that all of "this" (Sweeping hand across dining room fish room) began from a single Betta...
 
25 years ago when my husband was stationed in Hawaii, we took up scuba diving and decided we needed to bring a little of the ocean home for our small children to see what we saw underwater.

I bought a 55g and we brought everything home from our dives, sand, water, live shells, an eel, octopus, banded coral shrimp, yellow tangs, puffer, and a cowfish. All in the same tank.

I caught the baby octopus while night diving on the north shore and he was by far the most entertaining of all. He never tried to escape, only tried to sneak up on the other tankmates.

Back then we had FOWLR because corals were illegal to take. I got a 30g tank later to keep the shells because some were the stinging type.

I used an undergravel filter and a Dynaflow HOB. I used a diatom filter once a month for two or three days and that was it. I never worried about testing the water. I topped off with SW from our diving once a week. Everyone was happy.

We kept it for three years and gave it all away when we were transferred to Germany. To my surprise, when we got to Germany I saw several pet stores with nice SW livestock and equipment. That was where I saw the protien skimmer for the first time.

When I started my current 40g SW a year ago it was a huge learning experience and still is.

Gail
 
A freakin' betta! I tried to "rescue" a co-worker's sick betta (failed). Got another one because I had all of the stuff. Then I was up to 5 in their own little 3-gallon Eclipse condos.

Then I got a 30-gallon FW tank. The rest is history...dang bettas... :lol:
 
Other than a short time in college and afterward, I've had a fish tank going since I was maybe five. I moved from goldfish and guppies to brackish about five years ago, then on to marine about three years ago. Last year when hurricane rita was supposed to hit the coast and move toward Waco, a friend who was in vegas on vacation called me up and asked me to go rescue his fish (SW and FW).

When he got home, he was like, "Hey, this is a lot of work I don't have to do anymore." So he called me and asked if I wanted the tanks- gratis. That's where I got the 175g & 125g tanks.

Of course, I've also had snakes, lizards, geckos, chameleons, hamsters, gerbils, mice, rats, squirrels, hedgehogs, two possums, a racoon, a groundhog, terrestrial hermit crabs, finches, parakeets, cockatiels, dogs, and cats.
 
My mother was a beach nut and we were there every weekend we could living very close to SPIT. She setup a 29g front hex with water, livestock and items we aquired from the beach. When I moved out, I failed to get back into the hobby until 1999 when a business aquaintance (and now good friend) & I set up a barter arrangement. I worked on his website and computers & he set up a 55g softie tank in my living room & took care of it. We loved it so much that when we moved here and were able to, we setup another 55g. Long nights of research and discovery then commenced. We have since 'upgrade' to a 75 mixed reef and can not wait until we save up enough money to do a 175 bowfront or 240.
 
32 years ago I walked into a pet store and saw a blasted tank with a hermit crab in it. Got sucked in, spent everything I made on the darn things. Got married had kids, got out of it for a bit and now I got resucked (assuming thats a word). :wink:

Pete
 
My story is very simple: Two of my favorites animals are dolphin and horse.

There has been an fresh water aquarium in my house since I was a child. This was back in Vietnam.

When I attended LSU,one of my hobby was going to local fish stores just to watch. Until one day, my roommate left me a 10 gal tank. I set it up as my night light with a yellow tang. I have had no knowledge about SW fish at that time. I only fed him flake food. He was a very hardy fish. Between two semesters, I went out of town about 2 weeks. When I came back to my apt, the fish still alive but has became a WHITE tang. He laid on his side and was so pale.

I felt so bad. I brought him back to the local fish store asking to put him into the biggest display tank they got. They promised after they the treated him to be sure he is healthy.

Every Sat, I visited that store. The yellow tang looked better and healthier, his color came back and soon the son of the owner put him in their big display tank. The tang was so happy swimming. It made me feel so much better.

Now, I can't live without a fish tank. It is my baby. I tried not to keep up with how much I spent because it caused too much stress but i am happy and looking forward to come home to see my reef tank every day now. My favorite spot is to eat by the counter next to the tank. The fish come right in front of my face... they are so cool to watch.
 
When I was with my first wife I had two 55gal FW on a stacked stand. I loved these tanks and had over $1,500 invested. When we divorced she got them. :evil: I told myself then if I was to ever have another tank that cost $1,500 it would be SW. (little did I know) My wife now always knew that I loved aquariums. When I graduated my electrical school she got me a tank. $1,500 later I barely had water and rocks. :shock: I too do not discuss how much I have spent. FW is so much easier but SW has much more involvement.
 
I was looking up some sump information for my fresh water tank and ended up running into Marc's site. I read... and read...and read and eventually ended up here on tis site. That is when I decided to do more research on SW tanks... then I jumped and here I am.
 
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