how did you get into the hobby?

[dan4x4]

Just interested to see how many people started out with a goldfish?!

I had a fish when I was a kid (primary school), a goldfish called lambton. no idea how he survived for so long. water was never dechlorinated. gravel was changed rather than vacuumed. I wasn't really that interested other than for 5 mins a day when I would feed him.

I then never had a fish for years. until I was like 20 or something, it wasn't until my 4th tank that i got interested in plants. It was more to keep the fish happy.

The plants always used to die lol. In my efforts to keep the plants alive I came across some awesome tanks, I diddnt know anything about keeping them.

I have always been in and out of the hobby, but more so when i got a betta, and managed to grow an amazon sword, used glut root tabs etc. got regd on here.

Then I learnt about soil! eventually got round to setting up a tank with john innes. Came to a bad ending after a while of success.

Finally I managed to get a "decent" sized tank, juwel rio 125 after months of planning etc!

I can just sit and watch my tank. I rather do that than watch TV most of the time! I love fish tanks. Not many people get it, but then not many people know what there is out there!

 

[Jakes]

I didn't start with a gold fish but the next best thing Guppies and Platties!

My first foray into the hobby was when I was 7 or 8. In the local mall there was a fish store in the corner, I used to love going in there and just look at fish. Then eventually after saving up paper round money and gutting more than one lawn I got a 60x30x30 tank. Filtration was by under-gravel filter ran by an air pump the hood was this horrible extruded plastic affair with a 'not so sealed' T8 fluorescent bulb #stateoftheart!

That one tank eventually grew to 9 wich included a breeding pair of angel fish, a brackish water aquarium and a reef aquarium which was my biggest at 300L.

Unfortunately I got rid of them all when I was 22 when I sold everything and emigrated to the UK to join the Army. Clearly army life as a private soldier in barracks wasn't ideal for keeping aquariums so it wasn't until Christmas 2015, 15 years after my last tank, that I got a new aquarium.

A 200L oak cabinet affair bought with the aim for aquascaping. I have a forum post following my endeavours into this whole aqauscaping journey on here, not gonna lie i am still learning and following everyone else's battle with BBA etc etc on here to sort my tank out.

Just like Dan4x4 I spend more time watching/tinkering with the tank than watching TV. I just find it very relaxing and always interesting!


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[zozo]

At this spot as a kid, 5 minutes walking from our house. The ditch around it was hundreds of years old, despite all the ruble in it, it perfectly clear and healthy, it had huge schools of roaches and meter long pikes in it you could see laying in the weed. At the back, left of the picture was an acre swamp land with several shallow puddles and springs feeding the ditch. If you didn't know your way into it, was rather tricky and somewhat dangerous to navigate throught the high reeds. That's where it started, catching sticklebacks, minnows, roaches, tadpoles, small frogs and salamanders, spiders, beatles and other insects.. Draging all home to study..

Looks differnet now, they fensed the area and are trying to renovate it and distroyed all the wildlife around it, to create something resambling a tidy manicured park.

 

[Smells Fishy]

Family. I have grown up around fish tanks, thing is my memory is so terrible from a young age I can't remember any of them. I know my parents had a big tank full of piranha, my Dad got a nasty bite one day and then I suppose they decided they would rather keep there fingers intact so got rid of them. When I was like 10 or something i had a small tropical tank that I didn't really show any interest in, guess my dad or mum got sick of finding dead fish and doing the water changes for me so got rid of that as well. Then was I was 17 I moved away and went to live with my brother, he had a 4ft community tank on the go and that got my interest. When I later got my own place he bought me a couple of tanks the biggest being a 100l and i filled them with a right pick and mix selection, madness thinking back, a Polypterus senegalus along with 2 massive pond goldfish and a crayfish. I thought it was cool at the time. I didn't know about dechlorinator so things didn't last long again. Had a break for 2 years and then somehow I got mts with 5 tanks on the go at once, things are a lot more calm nowa days with only 1 tank.

 

[KipperSarnie]

Regretfully health put a stop to my travelling so I returned to the hobby after a 35 year absence.
Initially, back in the late 60s we lived in the North West, my wifes home area & with no friends I needed a hobby.
I started with a little 12" x 10" x 10" & ended up with a large purpose built fish room & lots of friends.