So my collage room-mate and I decided that we really should put a little fish tank in our room. (You know to spruce up the place.) We went down to our local WalMart to buy some fish. (I bet there could be a whole thread just on buying fish from Walmart.) We got a 10 gallon tank and the all the stuff equipment to go with it. Then we came back and picked out fish.
Being male Collage students we didn't think the community fish were that cool. So we saw this little round silver thing and asked what it was. The blonde high school student working the fish counter said it was called a Red Belly Pacu. (I'm pretty sure she was just reading the tag.) Then she told us it would only get 4 to 6 inches so it would be great for our little tank. We got that and 2 Oscars because well they would be able to live in that little tank with the Red Belly Pacu just fine. we decided a few guppy's would round out the tank and we took them all home.
A week later the guppy's had all magically vanished and i was staring at the tank insisting to my roommate that the fish were noticeably bigger. He said I was just imagining it.
two weeks later the three of our fish were all now in a 20 gallon tank on our kitchen table and we discovered we could feed them live gold fish. ( how fun was that )
A friend of a friend came over about this time and asked us what we planed to do with the fish when they outgrew the tank.............. What do you mean "Out grow the tank?" This is as big as they get right?
The next semester we had a 50 gallon stock tank from the local feed store hooked up with some home made heaters in the middle of our living room floor. As you can imagine a couple of collage students don't live in a very large place so it was inconvenient to say the least.
After I left that school I ended up driving from Utah to Oregon with the fish and bought the 80 gal tank that they lived in for the next few years. When I noticed that the Oscars spent most of their time hiding from the Pacu I made some arrangements (with the help of the local fish store) for the giant beast of a fish to live a much larger tank. 1000 plus gallons. The same guy later took my Oscars from me as well when i moved back to Utah.
Now when I take my daughter to the local aquarium and I see the Red Belly Paucs in the same tank as the arapaima, I think to myself yeah 4 to 6 inches. Lesson learned.
So how did you guys get into big fish tanks?
Being male Collage students we didn't think the community fish were that cool. So we saw this little round silver thing and asked what it was. The blonde high school student working the fish counter said it was called a Red Belly Pacu. (I'm pretty sure she was just reading the tag.) Then she told us it would only get 4 to 6 inches so it would be great for our little tank. We got that and 2 Oscars because well they would be able to live in that little tank with the Red Belly Pacu just fine. we decided a few guppy's would round out the tank and we took them all home.
A week later the guppy's had all magically vanished and i was staring at the tank insisting to my roommate that the fish were noticeably bigger. He said I was just imagining it.
two weeks later the three of our fish were all now in a 20 gallon tank on our kitchen table and we discovered we could feed them live gold fish. ( how fun was that )
A friend of a friend came over about this time and asked us what we planed to do with the fish when they outgrew the tank.............. What do you mean "Out grow the tank?" This is as big as they get right?
The next semester we had a 50 gallon stock tank from the local feed store hooked up with some home made heaters in the middle of our living room floor. As you can imagine a couple of collage students don't live in a very large place so it was inconvenient to say the least.
After I left that school I ended up driving from Utah to Oregon with the fish and bought the 80 gal tank that they lived in for the next few years. When I noticed that the Oscars spent most of their time hiding from the Pacu I made some arrangements (with the help of the local fish store) for the giant beast of a fish to live a much larger tank. 1000 plus gallons. The same guy later took my Oscars from me as well when i moved back to Utah.
Now when I take my daughter to the local aquarium and I see the Red Belly Paucs in the same tank as the arapaima, I think to myself yeah 4 to 6 inches. Lesson learned.
So how did you guys get into big fish tanks?
but on the inside i was like 'wtf am i sposed to do with this?' It sat around for a bit then i just decided i might as well set it up.
...i disagree 
