The how and why..

[Machine 79]

So...how you got into fishkeeping and why?
For me it wasn't intentional. A friend of my wife asked if we wanted a 30 gallon bowfront fish tank. I didn't really care if I got it or not but the woman was moving, she was going to throw it out. Upon arrival at her house , it turned into rescue mission. There was a marbled koi angelfish and Tetra in it. The tank was filthy and fish did not look good.
Sitting in my fish room now , 7 tanks , 52 species later I still have that 30 gallon and the two fish, which are healthy and happy.

What about the rest of you??

 

[tlindsey]

I was 7 years old when my Mother came home with a plastic probably 3 gallon custom bowl and a pair of Guppy. Been fascinated with the fishkeeping hobby ever since.

 

[lifeon2]

About 25ish years ago I discovered snake heads. Having always been around predatory animals due to family (big cats and raptors mostly) I was fascinated by them of course we all know how that went so I moved on from them to other predators.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Birthday gift when I turned 11 was a top fin 10 gallon starter kit from petsmart. My mom walked me through starting it up. I had Lampeye tetras, cories, a gold barb and a blue gourami.

Couldn't really say why. On our trips to petsmart I would always run off to the fish wall while my mom and sis picked up dog, cat, guinea pig supplies so I guess she just picked up on my hint eventually or gave in to my whining...my fish were so much cooler than those stinky guinea pigs anyway.

 

[tlindsey]

Birthday gift when I turned 11 was a top fin 10 gallon starter kit from petsmart. My mom walked me through starting it up. I had Lampeye tetras, cories, a gold barb and a blue gourami.

Couldn't really say why. On our trips to petsmart I would always run off to the fish wall while my mom and sis picked up dog, cat, guinea pig supplies so I guess she just picked up on my hint eventually or gave in to my whining...my fish were so much cooler than those stinky guinea pigs anyway.

lol

 

[esoxlucius]

My dad got a small tank for us kids in the 1970's and put three goldfish in. We didn't pay much attention to the fish at all, it was my dad who "cared" for them. But looking back at how he cleaned it once in a while, and what I know now, i realise that "cared" was probably the wrong word....tortured would be more apt!

It wasn't until I was about 14 and caught the angling bug that I started appreciating fish. Catching them wasn't enough, I wanted to take them home and watch them in a tank.

And that was the start of my journey, and it hasn't been smooth travelling neither, lol.

 

[mastiffsrule]

My Mom...she had a couple tanks while we were growing up. I remember she was so proud of her angels and remember going to peoples houses not stores to pick up fish!!! Ive had tanks of different sizes through out the years, always thinking of my Mom.

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

My parents bought me a 10g kit when I was five. Then one of my first "big" purchases as a kid was a 55 gallon kit, which to me at that time was huge since I had a 10 gallon for years. The why was, I just always liked fish, from fishing as a child, which is also why a gravitate towards natives.

 

[Fishnerd360]

When I was a toddler, I always enjoyed going to the aquarium. My parents got a small tank with 2 tetras, and that’s when I started to want more. I enjoyed going to pet stores just to see fish, and going fishing to see native species.

 

[Ruturaj]

Why: I always loved animals, all types of pets and wild animals. Spent hours on TV watching nat geo, discovery, animal planet. My dad being in forest department I had slightly more access to learn about wild life.

How: this is slightly big

When I was 5 someone gifted a 3-4 feet aquarium to my dad. Our fish kept dying as my dad had no idea about cycling. That tank was empty for few years then was broken in a move.

At 11, I used to go to swim in a river, use to catch guppies there, bring them home, put them in a tub and feed them bread. Sadly they didn't use to survive long.

When I was 14, I made dad get me a 20 high and many fish died in next few years. LFS never helped in meaningful way. They sold me goldfish, angles, oscars, koi, silver dollars that they shouldn't have.

I got in to other hobbies, left fish keeping behind, and most important thing, learned about forums.

At age of 21, my friend gave me baby fish less than an inch saying it's a flowerhorn, I went on forums (including MFK) and started learning about what I have and how would I keep it alive. I raised that beautiful fish to be a 10-12 inch stunner. Built a 270 gallon that didn't work out, got few more flowerhorns.

At 23, I moved to US, then was out of the hobby till last January of last year (age 29 at that point). Started with 10 and 20 again, wanted flowerhorn, so got 40 then moved coast to coast and got 75. Gave accessories of 50 to a friend and taught her basics.