What Fish Made You Want To Keep Fish

[WOLF2013]

I have to think long and hard about this one.... lmao.
I was born in the aquarium hobby as both my father and his sister had aquariums so I was raised around many different species of fish. while my dad's sister liked the community stuff (cardinal tetras, discus, rams, etc) my dad was on the monster side (pacu, oscars, rtc,tsn) etc. So I've learned many of the popular fish.
I think for me it would have to be Oscar cichlids and the silver dollar genus (metynnis, myleus, and mylossoma.) i loved watching redhooks grow up and get those orange blotches. loved oscars for their personality.
also angelfish and so many catfish.
just a happy go lucky fish keeper here.

 

[FINWIN]

Guppies and goldfish. My aunt used to keep those and parakeets. All her tanks had that crystal paint background stuff in either green or red.

 

[jjohnwm]

First fish were Black Bullhead fry, collected in the spring when they were still in squirming masses guarded by their parents in shallow water. This discovery turned a tadpole-collecting excursion into a major safari.

First "tropicals" were Red Brick Swordtails, given to me by a friend of my father, who had a dozen or so tanks of them in his basement. The first time I went downstairs to feed my fish and discovered newly-born fry was one of the most exciting days of my young (10-ish years) life.

Coincidentally, today I still admire and keep Swordtails, although my taste now runs more toward wild green ones. A have a stock-tank full of them in the yard as I write this; getting their winter home in the basement ready this afternoon.

 

[Niki_up]

I remember when I was a kid under 10 years old my mom would bring me with her while visiting her friends and she would drink tea or coffee and have a hen clucking session ??

one of her friends had a 20/40 gallon tank that was way over stocked with fancy goldfish…like 20-50 goldfish in the tank, you couldn’t see anything but fish swimming. I would plank my little ass in front of that tank for hours and just watch them. Our local Walmart always had tropical section and when my mom shopped I would go look at all the pretty fish. I cannot remember which fish I liked most but I always enjoyed watching them.

it wasn’t until I was 17 that I got my frost betta and goldfish. Unknowingly I put them in the same 1/2 gal bowl and ended up with a single betta a day or two later.

I’ve pretty much kept fish on and off since then, whenever my life allowed a tank.

it wasn’t until this past 5 years that I discovered my passion was plecos

 

[FJB]

I too was born into fish, more decades ago than I want to admit. My mother was an avid enthusiast keeper and breeder and had an outdoor, partially covered patio with many tanks and raised cement 'pocetas' (='ponds'). I remember the latter as huge but were probably just squarish boxes, few feet long and wide, not for aesthetics but for breeding. There were two rows. My memory of that includes from gouramis, to angels, to paradise fish, to goldfish and lots of different live bearers. My first tank was a few years after my family moved to a new home, and my mom had stopped doing fish. It included angels and Brochis, but later a bit of everything and another tank. Undergravel and corner box filters were the thing, and no heaters were needed.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

For me, it was definitely plecos. They've always been some of my favorite fish. It extends to raws and similar shaped "flat wider" fish.

 

[That Trinindad Pleco]

Great, I also like rarer plecos, I kind of fall into the dad had fish category, but it was me who suggested we get a tank and he had then when he was in his 20s, like 30 years ago.

 

[tlindsey]

When I was a child my mother brought home a 2 gallon plastic bowl and a pair of guppies. Been hooked ever since.

 

[That Trinindad Pleco]

My first was a 1 gallon bowl with a Male Betta, who sadly died the day before we set up our first tank with a filter.

 

[aussieman57]

The fish that made me want to keep fish are, surprisingly, not fish I'm interested in anymore.

Same for me only the fish that got me started was Frontosa.