Who brought you into the fold?

[MadRussian79]

High school Ms. Chen's marine biology class 1998 a class mate (he may or may not appreciate using his name). It ballooned rather graphically form there. Went from hobby to crazy in a hurry, had to put it on hold to pursue education that would make me a better fish keeper. Finally got a real tank a year ago. But as NC_nutcase says I can quite any time, yup no problem.

 

[DWass]

My mom when I was 5 years old.

 

[BODYDUB]

My father was the one who got me into this hobby. We had 3 tanks, one 55G with two Tiger Oscars, one 30G with one Discus and one 30G with community fish.......

 

[dbcb314]

We had a fish tank when I was really little, but my great aunt's African Cichlid tank when I was in middle school got me into it. My next birthday I asked, and received, and 55 gallon tank set up.

Funny thing is, that tank is still running and has been running for 11 years. That filter has been on for 11 years straight and is still working great haha. I will be kind of sad when I finally tear it down in a few weeks.

 

[knifegill]

My idiot brother-in-law was keeping bettas in drinking glasses. I rescued them when I moved up here and had to learn really quickly. From there, it exploded. I still love bettas, even though all I have now is one giant. But bettas are part of why I like Oscars. Similar sort of interactive quality.

 

[PrecisionAquatics]

My then girlfriend, now wife talked me into buying a couple of Oscars and that was it, I was hooked

 

[Cichlidarowana]

When I was about 9 years old, I went with family and friends to a place called Hansen Damn in the Los Angeles area. I saw a bunch of little baby black catfish and caught about 4 and kept them in a soda bottle till I got home. Went and bought a goldfish bowl at my neighborhood lfs. Then I bought a 20 gallon. sold it and had a 55 gallon custom built for me. Then in High School I bout a 6 foot Fuji tank and had saltwater fish. Went back to fresh and have kept cichlids since I was 9 years old, get back into saltwqater every now and then but eventually go back to fresh.

 

[Oddball]

It would have to be my grandfather. The entire family used to spend summers at my grandparents spread in Montauk, LI NY. My grandparents owned 80 acres containing 7 ponds (natural and farm ponds). At the end of the driveway is Fort Pond Lake. Hang a left at the end of the drive and you pass 6 ponds before reaching Fort Pond Bay and the LI sound a 1/2 mile from the driveway. Or, at the end of the drive, hang a right and pass the 2 1/2 mile wide lake to reach Ditchplains beach on the Atlantic. My grandfather introduced me to fish through the native species in the area. Later, he set up a temporary aquarium where I used to watch things like;
searobin egg hatchings and fry development
flounder fry eye migration
young lobsters molt
blue crabs caring for and guarding egg masses
transparent fry develop into LMBs, yellow perch, white perch, etc.
spider crab eggs develop and hatch
transparent elvers mature into young eels
scallop bed dust grow into recognizeable bay scallops
...and the list goes on and on.

 

[zerojquan85]

My dad was always into fish... he told me he gave it up for awhile... but then when i was 8 he started again..

Then it turns out my uncle for the past 15 years have been doing the samething.. they told me that when they were all little.. goring up they would just go to the creek and catch fish....

Then after i graduated i finally bought an Arowana that my dad wanted. and then it all started....

Still have the Arowana actually its been almost 2 years since then.. and ya.. been back into the hobby ever since...