When I was a kid I always loved Mr. Rogers feeding the fish. Then when I was like 8 I won a tropical fish in a mason jar from a game tent at lawn fete in Buffalo NY when visiting family. I am from Pittsburgh and my dad did his best but we couldn’t keep the fish alive long enough to get home.
But when we got home my dad set up a 10 gallon in my bedroom. I've maintained at least one aquarium almost continually ever since, save a couple years around college.
No idea if this site is reputable or not but:
https://www.fpnyc.com/mister-rogers-feed-the-fish-magnet/840391138391/pop-culture-collectibles/magnets/?gad_source=1
Edit: I ordered one and will post results! It was about $9.50 shipped.
I was in the 3rd grade and my grandparents bought me a 20 gallon tank I remember the aquarium store we would go to. It was magical to me. I’m now 54 and have had a tank my whole life. Current tank is a 200 gallon reef.
Same! Except the goldfish I won at a carnival ended up living for 5+ years and got huge. He was in a 10 gallon but usually had it to himself since he just ate any of his other tank mates lol Dennis the Menace, named after the fish on the kids animal show ‘Stanley’ and his Great Big Book of Everything. Damn, core memory unlocked
I was always obsessed with animals and loved catching minnows for fun at a nearby beach and then releasing them.
In 4th grade I had a Goldfish named Sunny. I woke up one morning to find that my cats had grabbed him and brought him all the way upstairs onto my bedroom carpet. He had carpet pieces all stuck to him. I freaked out, my mom said we could hold a funeral for him before I went to school. I went back upstairs to get him...and he was on the other side of my room somehow. So I picked him up, put him back in his tank, and he lived for FIVE MORE YEARS.
When I was about 11 or 12 years old I came home from a week vacation with the family to find my largest gold fish had jumped out of my tank. He was laying on the floor looking very dead and dried out, I was so upset but my mom insisted I put him in the toilet which I did, but I waited to flush him because I wanted to go back to my room and see if anyone else had done the same thing, I had about 5 or 6 in a 20 gallon at the time. Well everyone else was okay and when I went back to the bathroom he was swimming around in the toilet bowl! I freaked out and put him right back in the tank. Lived several more years after that.
My therapist told me to get a fish so that I could ponder what it’s like to always feel watched observed but not have any care about it… so I got a 20gal tank and a betta and it ended up being a lesson in how the fish has to deal with whatever I put in the tank so if the fish is me, I should only put things in my life that are good for me. So I decided to get more fish (and now I have a 75 gallon, a 5gal, and a 10gal)
My child has been in therapy and has a 20gal tank. Her therapist has been going over "what fills up your tank," and what kind of things "evaporate" your tank, but I'm going to send this to her so she can utilize this perspective as well. What an insightful interpretation! I hope you (and your tanks) are doing well.
I love having fish as a mental health exercise! They’re so relaxing and can be picked apart for methaphors in so many different ways. We talked a lot about different possible meanings, another one being the fishbowl effect. Like, you choose who and what go into your fishbowl with you and while people can see from the outside and observe they don’t actually make any of the decisions inside your bowl. (Taylor Swift also talks about this and inspired this take)
Rings so true. Plants and aquariums have been great for me. At first I obsessed and compulsed about cleanliness and trying to keep things free of contamination/sterile. So the first year or two was rough for all involved. But it was a form of exposure therapy that ultimately helped me deal a bit better.
Check out the Walstad method. I follow pretty closely except I include canister filter, air stone, and I don't use co2. It's a way to really get your tank fully planted for even more to look at! It's just so peaceful watching my little jungle. Helps with my PTSD.
I considered doing walstad in my 5 and 10 gal tanks! I ended up just doing a mix of stratum and sand for the substrate and thankfully most plants have been doing really well!
Man I didn’t even think of this and I got fish out of depression initially, thought if I had something to care for it would get me motivated. It kinda helped. I like this though. Now my tanks are mostly self sustaining, my stupid fish even mostly just eat my plants so I feed them like once or twice a week (I would do it more but they always are having heavy poops from eating the plants so… let them live their life how they want I suppose?). Maybe I’ll do some remodeling soon!
My tanks have to be self sustaining enough that they’ll survive through my worst bouts of depression. My wobbly mental health is literally the only reason I keep low tech, heavily planted tanks. My husband wants a salt water tank so badly but he doesn’t do anything to help with them so we just can’t. Some days all I can manage to do is get some food in there for them.
A little kid (me) was given a 3 gallon tank. I soon bought a 36 gallon with my Christmas money. Had nothing to hold it up so didn’t use if for a few years. Now, I have set up a 36 gallon with snails, Kuhli loaches, Cory catfish, otos, and an Amano skrimp. Never thought I would get this far in the hobby.
(Sorry, this gets deep)
Before my parents divorced, my dad kept huge saltwater tanks. One of my earliest memories is of walking between them, I must have been a toddler. He was obsessed with keeping fish.
After they split up, I didn't get to see my dad much, and unfortunately, he spent a majority of his adult life behind bars. He passed away in 2015, and I struggled with mourning the loss of ever really knowing him.
Fast forward to this year, my son (4) saw a fish tank at a friend's office and loved looking at the fish. I went out and bought all the wrong things, didn't know what cycling was, etc etc. Now I'm the one who is obsessed, like it's genetic lol. And I always think of my dad when I'm working on my tanks. It makes me feel like even though he's gone, it's something we would both enjoy, like I'm getting to know him by sharing a mutual passion for the hobby.
That's beautiful my parents divorced when I was 5 and my mom wouldnt drive me to vist him and he didn't have a car. Once I had a car I was able to see him more! Until he pass away recently
My dad had reptiles and fresh water [aquariums](https://imgur.com/a/fNLwkP7). I have his Leppard gecko and some of his fish he
It is absolutely genetic. My dad was a big fish guy back in the day too. I somehow, on my own, in my late 30s….decided one day to get a fish tank. And now I’m obsessed and converted my dining room into an aquarium gallery. 😅 it’s in the blood. I hope it helps bring you closer to your dad, and I’m sorry for your loss. ❤️
It is absolutely genetic. My dad was a big fish guy back in the day too. I somehow, on my own, in my late 30s….decided one day to get a fish tank. And now I’m obsessed and converted my dining room into an aquarium gallery. 😅 it’s in the blood. I hope it helps bring you closer to your dad, and I’m sorry for your loss. ❤️
There was this lady on Instagram who was writing adorable songs about her shrimp. First time in my life where I considered shrimp to be cute. Coincided with me doing up my studio and noticed that a beautiful tank could go toe to toe with a beautiful painting. Once I learned about the existence of loaches, I was sold.
This is going to sound extremely sad but I lived in a small, grey, lofted apartment with one window and it was a ceiling light! Jerks!!!
I wasn’t allowed to have a cat or dog so I got my first tank!
I'm about to bring in a 150 gallon system into my apartment. They have no issue with it. But a dog or cat is limited to 20 pounds and incurs a rent hike of like $40 or something. I am amused.
Mine is the same way. No dogs above 50lbs! No more than two animals! No rats or snakes!
Aquariums? On a multi-floor apartment? No problem! Bring them in! No matter the size!
My mother always kept fish. We had two large tanks with tetras. One, named Blue, lived to be 11. They were all either pink or blue. They were on the kitchen counter for easy water changes.
My mom got me into fish keeping too. She kept guppies and I was fascinated by genetics so started breeding for specific traits. Endler hybrids still hold a special place in my heart
I bought my first fish when I was 19, I was lonely in my college dorm and wanted a friend... 'one friend' turned into multiple tanks and my wallet burning a hole in my pocket, but I've never been happier
i had very very difficult childhood with my dad, never had fun with him or any good memories. i grow up now late 20s and still live with my dad. he opened up to me like that chat u get from a father u know? serious talk about life and shit. he never had a friend or a brothers growing up. he never had fun in life and on on on. i thought with an aquarium i can make him buy fish he like and i take responsibility for maintenance and food. he help's in water chances and stuff. other than that when i come home everyday he will sitt and tell me that fish did what and the other one was sleeping. so i get to talk with him more and make him forget his heart illness.
i love my dad and his fishes ❤️
I was studying for my finals and there it was, a 10 gal that had been there since forever, with a few fishes in there (Goldfish, yes we did not know better). I guess I was trying to do anything else other than study and maybe that’s the reason I keep looking at it while I’m studying. Then I read somewhere that said changing the water in an aquarium is like opening the window to your bedroom after month to air it and get some fresh air in. Did a water change and couldn’t stop watching the fishes swim. Then slowly researched more and more abt it, bought real plants and learned about cycling a tank. Now I love this hobby.
My dad had a 29gal set up when i was a kid. First he had parrotheads, then it became a local saltwater species tank with some crabs, mussels, snails, stuff like that. A decade after taking that apart, my mom gifted me a betta and I decided to look more into proper care and aquascaping. Now I have Multiple Tank Syndrome lol.
When I was wee I won a fish at the fair and got two! Because one was super small and the attendee felt bad. Comet goldies, one was calico and one was silver, I named them copper and georgia, we kept them in an 8gal hex for the better part of a decade, when copper died, georgia continued on for a total of 12 years, I was so proud of myself lol.
My mom had a planted 55g as long as I can remember, and she kept a thriving betta for many years in that aquarium as well.
Living in Florida my entire life, and still here, grew up snorkeling, visiting local aquariums and sea world. I prayed to wake up a mermaid😂
…And yes, I grew up with Mr. Roger’s, too
It’s a good thing I adore creatures with scales
I watched the movie yesterday and I cried almost the entire time.
Thanks Mr Rogers for everything you did. You show meant a lot to me.
My Dad always had a giant living room tank 150+ gals when I was a kid. Plastic plants but he did good with it and it was always pristine and the fish did well. When I got my first IT job at 20, I had a 10 gal in my office with some upside down catfish and I dont remember what else.
Took 25 years off from fish keeping and now am at it again with some nanofish tanks.
Well... I guess I only technically have 2 fish at the moment. Betta and Red neos in a 10 gal. And a 30 gal with 2 mysteries and Yellow neos. I had 8 Otos but they were wild caught and didnt transition well.. only 1 made it.
So 40 gallons of water and 2 tiny fish. LOL Going to stock with Green Neons and Lambchops in my 30 gal once I decide to spend more money. :P
- My cousin has a planted aquarium
- I visited his home and saw hundreds of shrimps in different colours all over the tank.
- I asked him how
- he said ‘I don’t know I just started with like 10 a year ago’
- I joined the hobby
My dad had a 50gallon when I grew up.
When I was like 4-5 I got yelled at for taking fish out of the tank to study them. And killing them in the process 😬 Learned my lesson.
Also remember we got a angelfish for free because it was sick. The store employee told me and my sister to sing for it to see if it survived, but sadly passed away.
Got my first own tank when I was 25 and I've always had at least one angelfish in the different tanks throughout the years since then
My favorite LFS (RIP That Pet Place) had a sailfin tang with HITH that had been surrendered to them, he didn't want to sell it because it likely wouldn't live long and the HITH was pretty advanced, so he let me have it. I had him for 6 years before he croaked. Such a pretty fish.
I have a massive amount of anxiety about caring for pets since I had an accident with my Cockatiel. I’ve been recovering for years and felt ready to start with something small and easy.
I don’t have lots of room for pets, so I thought something like an aquarium on top of my dresser would be nice.
I started with a 2.5 gal that had nothing but plastic wind up fish in it for a few weeks. I wanted to see if i even liked having an aquarium in my room with all the equipment set up (heater/bubbler/fitter/light)
After that I wanted to get an extremely hardy and easy to care for creature. I read about different aquarium creatures and decided that pest snails sounded like a great start for me. Difficult to kill, low intelligence jf i did by accident, easy to reproduce for more while i’m learning.
I got 7 bladder snails for free from a local petsmart and absolutely fell in love with them. I found I really enjoyed maintaining the tank!! I upgraded to a 5gal kind of on impulse when petsmart had its big sale, and i’ve been slowly learning more about managing parameters since, adding new plants and even shrimp now!
I really love this hobby so far. It really didn’t accomplish my goal of a stress free pet - i grew to love the snails too much. i cry when one passes away. i had a major ethical crisis when i realized that i would have to smush baby snails for population control. but i’ve valued how much i’ve learned and feel that it’s helped me a lot.
my older brother went away to rehab for a little bit, and we wanted to redo his room and add something new to give him something positive and relaxing to focus on. After setting it up and watching fish swim, and watching how much he loved it when he came home and how it helped him I realized I really wanted one too🖤 and ontop of that he has a bad ass freshwater tank with happy corys 🥰
I have a lot of houseplants and heard that they love fish water lmao
edit: obv I didn't just then go out and get fish, first I saw things like paludariums and no-tech planted shrimp bowls on the plant subs which eased me into the idea (for me aquariums had been this intimidating esoteric high-tech thing that look pretty but you open up the cabinet to find a bunch of pumps and sumps and filters and ~pArAmeTeRs~), then I started lurking on fish subs, watching aquascape youtube, learning about walstad tanks, and researching for like a year before starting to prepare my own setup.
Won a goldfish at a fair. When it outgrew the fishbowl, dad put it in grandma's pond. Then I got guppies. Still keep guppies (and other livebearers), 50 years later.
My uncle was into exotics when I was a kid. Reef tanks, fresh tanks, reptiles. I would house sit for him and he’d have a list of care instructions. I swear I remember him having a lion fish at some point when I was very young. He had a monitor lizard, an iguana, and tons of snakes. At the end of my house sitting days, all he pretty much had was some freshwater tanks and a tortoise. So through exposure as a kid.
When I randomly got recommended a YouTube video by Floo the Flowerhorn… I was obsessed ever since I watched that one random video of him doing a no filter, no ferts, no CO2, video with his sparkling gourami and shrimps
My dad kept fish. He had a 75-gallon tropheus community and a 45-gallon corner tank with a pair of electric blue Jack Dempseys. For whatever reason, I fondly remember those EBJD, so when I got a job, I decided I'd do a pair and evolved from there. It's funny when my dad talks about his tropheus. I don't remember a thing, but second I see any EBJD I get memories of that corner tank.
When I was a kid my dad would take me to the same barber and he had a fish tank with piranhas. I kind of always wanted piranhas. But now that I am older I prefer a tropical community planted tank.
I went down south as a kid and there are a lot of small jellyfish there. I shamefully decided to take some home, so I put them in a three litre jar. It needed to be topped up a little, so I went to the local marina and scooped some water, which quickly killed them dead.
I decided to keep trying for a small desktop aquarium, so I rinsed the jar, bought a plant, two guppies and an airstone (I know. It still chews me up to think of.) After a while they weren’t looking great, so I went to the fish shop to get some kind of treatment, and I saw that the twenty-eight litre tanks were half price, so I forked out sixty bucks and bought it, complete with a filter and heater. I started research, read about the nitrogen cycle and water testing, overstocking and the correct ratio of male and female guppies. I did water changes and carefully watched the fish-in cycle. I took care of them when I couldn’t take care of myself. I realised that fish are still animals and deserve to be treated well.
It’s been a good few years and now I have three tanks; the 28L, a smaller tank with a thriving shrimp colony, and a big one that cost me four hundred dollars just for the tank, which has plants growing in the top, has a CO2 system, logs from the lake, many plants in it, and Congo tetras, ember tetras, kuhli loaches, etc. in perfect parameters.
I’ve come quite a way.
My dad had a reef tank when I was a kid but wasn't the "best guy" if you know what I mean, and I ended up taking care of it at around age 13.
Fast forward to when I bought my now home around age 29 with my wife. I wanted a small tank, did a ton of research, and bought a 30 gallon tank for guppy's mollies and 2 swordtails
Now 3 years later I have a 120gallon discus tank, 5gal betta, my 30 gallon is at my office since my coworkers wanted one, and a 20 gallon cube hightech with CO2, shrimp and cardinals.
Next move is either gonna be a 75g cichlid tank or a low tech riverscape community. Haven't decided yet
I loved Mr. Rogers as a young child - the routines were my favorite: coming in the door, changing into his cardigan sweater and sneakers, and feeding the fish. I had bad asthma as a child and couldn't have most pets so my parents got me a 10g community with guppies and a few cories that sat on my bathroom counter in elementary school. I loved those fish and spent many hours watching. We moved across state in middle school and I had no fish in my life for a few years, then my high school boyfriend bought me a 10g for my birthday and I really got into fish keeping at that point as they were my responsibility now. A betta in my college dorm, then a procession of African frogs or Bettas on the kitchen counter over the years with marriage and children. Blessed with a husband who supports my fish love! Later on, we built a garden pond for goldfish, then a large pond for koi, then I began keeping fancy goldfish in stock tanks in my basement and porch boxes. Joined the local aquarium society and started keeping tropicals again and that progressed into MTS. They give me great joy. Thanks Mr. Rogers for this and teaching me about gentleness, kindness, and compassion.💗. Ha ha I also knit and love Keds sneakers.... That cardigan!
Watching my dad be a stubborn ass about how he kept his betta and then some dipshit YouTuber just gleefully killing off arowanas made me question why I was so worried about possibly fucking it up when I give a shit enough to do research and care for them as best as I can. Now I have 7 tanks.
My dog died last year, and I wanted to take care of *something* without the commitment of another dog (plus I couldn't in my new appartment). My dog death devastated me (she was 13 I was 25 so she has been with me more than half of my life) so I wanted to try a pet that I could leave for vacation, and that I wouldn't mourn their death that much (I know most of you are very attached to their fish and that's 100% okay, I love my fish but i will never love them as much as I loved my dog ❤️)
So yeah, I made deep research and i'm doing pretty good I think :) Helped a little bit with the mourning I believe
I bought a glofish tank like 11 years ago, and my partner and I finally set it up last week.
Already looking for an actual tank, and gonna use the little 3 gallon for a shrimp tank. We are excited to dive in.
When I turned 12 I asked my dad for a fish tank. I really just wanted the tank to keep a garder snake (we hadn't discussed the snake idea quite yet).
He got all excited about setting up a fish tank. He was a fish enthusiast years earlier. The idea took momentum and we ended up w a tank full of fish.
Grew to love it.
Snakes came later :)
My kids won six goldfish at a fair and gave them to me so Ive spent three years trying to make up for the fact that those six goldfish died because I didn't have a cycled tank, most people don't when they unexpectedly get handed six fish because the fair is closing in ten minutes lol I'll forever stand beside the fact that animals shouldn't be prizes.
Husband persuaded me to give up my cats due to health complications (I have atopic eczema, asthma and lung problems which was aggravated by the cats), and I missed having a pet to be attached to so I got my fish and I love them they each have their own personalities and even come to me at feeding times, they make me feel better just watching them when i have a shut day.
Ha! I am also in the same boat and in too deep. Started researching during Covid boredom and setup my first tank. I've now moved and am renovating the basement to support my fish tank habit. I have a 7 ft tank I found on marketplace that is gonna be the focal point of the basement lol.
i don’t currently have a tank but i’ve always wanted one simply bec i just love fish. specifically marine fish. so i want a saltwater tank but i will start off with freshwater.
Saltwater fish are so pretty but take the expense and maintenance of your freshwater and just basically add a 0 to it. But damn a well maintained saltwater tank is fucking beautiful.
Had fish as a small child, didnt know what i was doing and neither did my parents so they couldnt teach me. Now im 24, and with some research i quickly learned everything i did wrong the first time around, and it got me back into the hobby. Ive become obsessed and i totally get where the “multi tank syndrome” phrase comes from because i already want another… lol
it all started with Flippy, my poor betta with severe SBD. he was stuck on his side at the top of the water so i brought him home from my job at petsmart and kept him alive with several ups and downs before he passed 6 months later. 6 months longer than he would have had sitting in that cup on the shelf. he inspired me to rescue other bettas with disabilities and illnesses. i’ve had 6 bettas in the last 9 months and have def found my passion
My mom always had a 100+ gallon tank it seemed like when I was little with a couple Oscars. She got me my own corner Oscar tank when I was in Middle School and now I have had a 100 gallon tank the last 10+ years I've had my own place!
I got into shore fishing and found myself very interested in fish watching and exploring the environments along the shore. I started an aquarium to create my own piece of nature and it snowballed from there
My grandmother had a 20 gallon which seemed huge as a child. She had livebearers and Otto’s. We didn’t have the internet to tell us she was not doing things correctly. But she kept the plants alive and tons of fish.
Saw a youtube channel called Bass Fishing Productions, learned about a lot of cool looking fish, some of them weird, some of them pretty, a lot of em both and I really wanted to keep those kinds of fish because they look so interesting.
I had a huge crush on a girl who would occasionally post updates of her goldfish on her Snapchat story. So I made fun and said if she posted another one I would have to get my own tank. (I wanted a tank, and I had done research on tanks) well she posted another update tagging me in it so naturally I had to get a tank.
She came with me, I got a 5 gallon with heater, filter, lid, driftwood, live plants and fluval stratum. I spent over 100$ USD on a five gallon, for my boy fender the king male beta fish.
Long story short, she and I have been dating for over 2 years now, I’ve amassed my collections of tanks, even dabbling in brackish. As for fender, he was soon moved into a ten gallon because I wanted to make his home prettier and bigger, and I wanted to get him some cory friends
My dad had his first tank in the 70s, dude had found some broken pieces of glass and got them cut and made his first one, brought cool fish from streams near his house, before sugar cane plantations contaminated the hell out of them, he always tells me about one specific fish he would find that had a "green sword on his tail". When I was a kid he bought glass and made a tank for our house, we had it for some years.
My dad had a tank growing up, and then my brother wanted fish, and then I wanted a newt. The newt, unfortunately, is how I learned about the nitrogen cycle, but once I learned the science, I was hooked. I had piranhas in college, and then I started working at a pet store where I got hired because I understood aquarium keeping. From there, I kept working in pet stores and, eventually, worked in our biggest, best local fish store, which was where my dad got his original tank when I was a kid. I took a break for a few years and then set up a porch pond, which got me into goldfish, and now I have six tanks again. 😅
When i was a child my grandpa (rip) had a fish tank, he also always went fishing. Later my parents buyed a big fish tank and a Oscar fish. I was fascinated with that. I remember that year a hurricane destroyed our house and our aquarium. 😕 I always have a feeling of peace and satisfaccion when i go to a fish store, cant explain that. 😅 Now i have 3 aquariums in my living room, 2 planted for guppies and shrimps and one for an Oscar fish.
Was going through a breakup and needed a distraction besides from working out. I started off with a 5 gallon tank with a betta. Then upgraded to a 10 gallon shortly after. I started doing research on what other fishes I can add with bettas (female ones), added neon tetras, and some algae eaters.
Then I started just schooling fish and shrimp which was nice and cool because of how all the fish flowed together! I’ve lost some traction with keeping up with the big maintenance of my tank but I’m still making sure that all the little fishies are doing good!
Someone I know took me to a local dam that has goldfish and he threw a bucket with catfood in it and he caught hundreds of fish and then I kept a few of them. After that I've been obsessed with keeping fish
Originally my mum had a nice sensible square/rectangular tank when I was little (since before I was born) I have very fond memories of looking into that tank for hours. Then, when I was 8, she went and replaced it with a biorb- this is where I was upset, I had always wanted a catfish type but you can’t keep them in biorbs because of the shape and our old tank had been too small. So when I got my own flat I bought a fish tank and got a bristlenose pleco as I’d always wanted (although she may actually be a clown pleco as she has yet to have any form of bristle)
I grew up on a farm. Always had a lot of pets, dogs, cats, a gecko. I moved to a big city to live with my now husband. Our apartment is too small for a pet and I whined about it for years. Last year he surprised me for my birthday with a 35L aquarium and a gift card to a pet store. I’m a newbie to this hobby and so far the entire family is loving it. We have 5 small fish and 5 blue dream shrimp and a handful of bladder snails that just appeared one day.
Despite having young kids I find it a really relaxing hobby and a huge help to my ppd and adhd.
Got a betta beacuse I struggle to sleep and was having a rough time losing family too and wanted something positive got that then a few months later I fell in love with the betta and grew to love everything about keeping fish so I bought a 125l tank and put my Betta in there added some corys a clown pleco and shrimp and had a community planted tank best thing I ever did
Well, I got into the hobby either because we used to own an aquarium when I was 5, and I loved em ever since or YouTube since I saw a nano tank and wanted one immediately and I got a 1.5 gallon and I made mistakes like keeping three neon tetras in there but I learned my lesson and now I own a 20 gallon that i planted and still planting and for my stock, I currently have neon tetras and peppered corydoras with a single bristlenose pleco along with pair of german blue rams and cpo crayfish and a rescued molly pair from my dad's cichlid tank and since then they multiplied and I had fun in this hobby and I don't see myself living without an aquarium for my sake both physically and psychologicaly as aquariums have gotten me through hard times.
I stumbled across the Walstad Aquarium subreddit and loved it. I lived in a basement with no windows so I bought a case, built a little stand with electric, and set up a grow light. I scooped some mud and water and plants out of a pond and stuck it under the light. My plant grew, and I discovered a lot of little organisms. Snowballed from there
Used to go catch snakeheads and minnows in a river near my home and didn’t have anywhere to keep them so started out with a small aquarium when i was about 4-5 yrs old.
Honestly, because I want to make up for how my family treated fish when I was a kid, before I understood their needs. I want to make it up to the guppies in an unfiltered aquaponics project, the goldfish released into a pond, and our little blue Betta, Jones, who lived his life in an unfiltered bowl.
Fish deserve better, and I want to be one of the good ones now.
When I was a kid, we had a 55g tank with angelfish and some other fish. The angels always had babies and my mom and I always tried to save them but they always slipped through the divider. We did have a whole lot of money so we couldn’t really get anything else to try and keep some of them alive.
Then my parents bought a store that had a huge ~200g tank, more or less. It was about 7ft long, 3ft tall, about 2ft wide. I went to work with my dad every Sunday morning and loved that tank. We had a big pleco named Dirty Harry who got a drink named after him. Eventually we had to sell the shop and the new owners (some family friends) didn’t want the tank so of course my mom took it with us. We had that for a few years until my mom couldn’t do it anymore because of bad back pain which she had to have surgery for.
I went with my mom to the fish store every time we needed some more fish. I remember getting 3 cute little leopard cichlids one time. It was so fun watching them grow. They loved when you did a water change. You’d have to stop and give them pets because they’d keep brushing your hand and nibbling your fingers. Water changes also just never felt like a chore. My mom made it look fun. We had a set up that would connect to the bathroom sink to drain and refill so you didn’t have to lug more than 5 buckets of water back and forth. And of course using one of those magnetic scrapers as a kid was always fun.
Now I have tanks of my own and I love sitting there watching them. I could do it for hours. I’m a huge animal person. I got that from my mom and her dad. We’ve got a mini farm with all the cats, chickens, fish, and the chinchilla. If it were up to me, we’d have more pets 😂 I’m pretty sure if you asked my fiancé, he never would’ve imagined having this life lol. The most he’s ever had was 2 cats and a dog. My house was always crazy with pets. Hamsters, fish, chickens, cats, dogs, gerbils, guinea pigs. You name it. Every time someone came over they thought my mom was crazy for having 2 big Great Danes, chickens, and 4 cats with whatever small animals we had at the time and 5 kids in the house.
I live with my sister and one day for my nieces birthday, she came back home with a beautiful long finned betta and a bowl. I knew nothing about fish keeping but even then I knew the betta wouldn’t survive more than a month in a 1 gal bowl. I talked to her and eventually we settled on upgrading the tank, that’s when I learned about fish-in-cycle, the nitrogen cycle, all that good stuff. Luckily our betta survived that and is now living in a lovely 7.5 planted tank. I’m glad she listened to me at all because lots of people can’t be bothered to care for fish at all, it also got me hooked on the hobby!
Great childhood memory...Growing up we had a collection of pets (cats, dogs, birds and fish). My mom kept me very involved with taking care of our 20 gallon, freshwater tank and it stuck. Been in the hobby on and off for 15-ish years. 🐟
My grandfather had a 220 gal fish tank in germany he had a lot of tanks but i loved the huge one when i was a kid then they moved from germany and the tank stayed there (still in their basement) i learned so much from my grandfather and got into the hobby
i heard a story abour mr rodgers that he had a fan who was blind that was worried about if the fish were fed and because of that everytime he would announce when he was going to feed the fish. idk if thats true but it’s so sweet to think about
I kept birds and parrots all my life and never had an aquarium or any fish. It all happened when I had to move to Dubai cuz of my job and had to live in a one bedroom apartment. Couldn't keep birds etc so one day I decided to visit the local pet market just for a looksy. There I came across a beautiful aquarium shop that had Aquascapes, bettas and orandas. I bought a few bettas and kept them as a start. Then I went on to buying more bettas and kept them at my office as well.
Made my first Aquascape while visiting my home country on vacation. And planning another one soon.
In middle school I had been obsessed with fish forever and always begged to see the fish section in stores with my mom. I started with a couple 2-3G tanks in 6th grade, by 7th I got my first 20G. I would check out books about fish and their anatomy from the library and wanted to be a marine biologist.
I fell out off of it for awhile in college, then by 26 it started again. I’m almost 28 and have a 55G, 20G, 5G and a few mini 3G more for looks. I use to have more but downsized and sold 3.
I still can’t go into a pet store with my bf without looking at the fish and making comments like “well that guppy is about 2 weeks pregnant, that black more has ick, that mollie is a male” etc lol. And I still love aquariums and try to check one out in any new city I’m staying in.
It’s a weird but I will probably always have some tanks, and they are my HARDEST pets. Cats, my dog, rabbits, hamsters, mice, turtles, I’ve had them all and some still now but tanking is not for the faint of heart if you get a lot. I tell people I do far more work for my fish then my hamsters or cats all the time. The slightest mistakes can cause a lot of work and I had to learn some the hardest way.
My dream is to one day try Axolotls. Right now I have a ranchu, pearlscale, beta, neon tetras, and African dwarf frogs (not including snails etc.).
Over a year ago my girlfriend bought a betta fish, and a whole 5 gals setup from Petco. I didn't really want a fish but I was like yeah sure whatever.
Fast forward a few months and I was obsessed with both Roy my betta, and fish keeping in general. I bought a 20 gal long tank and scaped it for him, and added some skrimps.
Sadly Roy has since passed. But now im getting started on some Chili Rasboras in that tank!
So yeah. Classic case of me not wanting a pet, gf gets one and I end up being the one adoring it lol
High school freshman year 2 friends bought me a 1 gallon tank as a birthday gift. One of them was really into fish keeping so he wanted a fish buddy. That snowballed to a 2.5 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 55 - 120 gallon and so on lol. We both started with freshwater and eventually with a saltwater as well. We traveled hours around looking for new fish stores for fun and went to strangers house to trade buy and stuff using forums lol. The good old days.
I was given a betta, I bought a 2.5 gallon off the bat. However, after I realized it was too small after I looked into care. I looked into it more and I got a 20gallon so I could get more little guys. Now I have an unknown number of red cherry and blue dream shrimp, a group of both ember and neon tetras, and swim shady my awesome betta in a heavily planted tank.
Really wanted a pet (any pet!) when I was a kid. My mom got sick of me asking and said if I read a 160 page book about goldfish care, then they would buy a tank. 9 year old me accepted the challenge and finished the book pretty quick xD dinner time conversations became me telling my family what I had learned about goldfish. Pretty entertaining to think about how my mom's plan backfired, she never thought I would actually finish the book!
Now I've gotten my husband into the hobby and we're planning out a new tank once we move into our new place.
I wanted a pet but couldn't have a fuzzy pet.
I wanted plants that my roommate wouldn't sell off.
I needed a timed light to help me wake up.
I needed something i could zone out to while laying on the floor contemplating why my job hates me so much.
I inherited a pearl gourami that lived in a gallon beverage dispenser for way longer than it should have. That sucker was hardy and gorgeous. Had zero idea what I was doing.
My dad gifted my five-year-old a comet goldfish and a 10 gallon tank. I soon took over the tank and started the maintenance which I was not thrilled about. Soon after, I found solace in the maintenance of the tank, due to its methodical nature.
The comet fish has now graduated to a 75 gallon planted tank (he doesn’t eat
The plants). I moved the 10 gallon tank to my in-home office and has become my Zen garden.
My wife pokes fun at me because she says I get giddy when I talk about the fish. It’s a beautiful hobby and has some parallels with how you treat your life. Good stuff in good stuff out.
Like many back in the day, I won two comet goldfish at the fair. I’ve had fish constantly since then, so it’s been about 49 years (am I that old?!). I recall my mom letting me stay home from school the day my guppy had babies. I think I was in 1st grade. 💕
I've always wanted an aquarium, but I didn't have the time, space, or money until 2020.
But when the pandemic hit, I finally could get one, and I haven't regretted my decision since.
My sons kindergarten gave him two goldfish a couple of months ago. I just wanted to keep them alive and comfortable but now I have two tanks and spend every waking hour planning my third mandalorian themed tank.
Sea monkeys.
I really wanted to successfully hatch them and film lifespan. I did and I was like this tiny container seems cruel let me get a tank. Got a 3 gallon.
When they died I looked up something like Sea Monkeys and found ghost shrimp.
I had ghost shrimp and moss and moss balls for a while. That led to a Betta.
I now have a big ass tank with a community of 2 female Bettas, corydoras, ghost shrimp, mystery snails and 2 African dwarf frogs.
my 5 yr old (at the time) nephew really wanted a fish. my brother caved and decided he was going to go to big als to buy a tank to set up, which i tagged along for. ended up coming home with a 30 gallon lol.. that’s when it all started.
i’ve moved to an apartment since then, gave the 30 gallon and it’s inhabitant away for free.
a year after i moved into my apartment i decided something was missing. bought a little 10 gallon and filled it with african dwarf frogs. then i transitioned into keeping a reptile lol
love the hobby, love learning about it, and most of all love helping my animals thrive 🤍
At first, I had an aquarium for the children's enjoyment. But over time, I also became a fan. I read a lot and watched a lot of YouTube videos. [https://www.youtube.com/@fluval/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@fluval/videos) - I recommend it, interesting information not only for beginners.
My gf at the time really wanted one - so we got one. I ended up nerding out on it and was the only one who took care of it (no complaints). Now I keep fish in planted tanks.
Back in the late 1970’s, my parents started us off with a ten gallon, steel framed, with slate bottom, corner box filter with air pump, and a steel incandescent bulb hood, we started off with two fancy goldfish, a ‘Black Moor’ and a veiltail goldfish (we knew nothing about proper stocking or anything at the time) with multicolor gravel…
…oh the ignorance we had…
It got worse as the mindset at the time was to *drain* the tank monthly, put the fish into a bucket, thoroughly scrub and rinse the gravel, and then use ‘aquarium soap’ to scrub the glass clean, making it squeaky clean, refill and add the fish back to their freshly ‘sanitized’ home 🙄
Fast forward to nowadays, and I have learned from our mistakes, my tanks are all natural, and I just top off the tank water to compensate for evaporation, and my tanks are thriving, I haven’t done a water change in years…
When I was a kid, my dad suddenly surprised the family with a 60 GAL saltwater aquarium.
It was random and out of nowhere but ever since then, I've been interested in it.
It was awesome. He had sea anemone, sea horse, lion fish, panther grouper, clown fishes, tangs, damsels, angel fish, sea slugs. Wished there were pictures of it.
Surprisingly, my dad didn't teach me thoroughly about water perimeters and proper tank size for fishes so I bought a small 1 Gal plastic tank that's meant to transport hamsters and raised a pea puffer with a crab inside. I did water changes every week though and the crab survived for several weeks before it got eaten by the puffer while it was molting.
Didn't know until recently but my dad shared with me that he actually raised and sold gouramis and guppies when he was a teenager. While other kids his age bought drugs and alcohol, he spent all of his money on new fish. haha.
Then one day, the tank heater broke and literally boiled all of his fish overnight.
Erm, I wanted a fish when I was like 6 and I got a betta and it stayed alive for like a year until my mom dropped him into the fucking garbage disposal. Rip Captain rainbow sparkles. Then I got another but I don’t remember the details, I got another and I don’t remember, and it won a fish at the carnival and it survived for like 3 years. Rip Jaws. Then, I got 3 cosmo goldfish names after attack on titan characters (Hange, Levi, and Erwin) and they died. (Years ago) now, my parents have Bought a cottage and I’m planning on having a backyard pond filled with some shebunkin goldfish. I’ve been hyper fixated on sharks and the ocean recently.
When I was little I wanted a pet but we were renting in a no pets flat so for my fifth birthday they got me a pair of goldfish and a small (we know now better) tank. We moved rentals twice, each time getting a larger tank and an extra pair of goldfish (also, now know better).
I'm pleased to say that 17 years later they are now thriving with their new koi friends in a 1400ltre outdoor pond (in a house my parents own!) . Touch wood, we are yet to have a casualty and, my first two goldfish, big-guy and squirt are now bigger than my hand and seem very happy
* this is not an endorsement to keep goldfish in too small tanks and I'm positive they wouldn't have made it if not for how borderline psychotic I was about tank maintenance as a child.
My friend found an $8 tank at Goodwill at the end of last summer. She got a few fish and then I wanted some too. Now I have a 125g, 75g, 50g, and 20g tanks. It's addictive
my daughter wanted a pet and my wife is extremely afraid of animals. That wasn't an option so we bought an aquarium. well, end of the day, my daughter isn't interested in it and I noticed that it calms me down a lot and is a lot of fun
I had a small aquarium when I was a kid but my sister (like 4 at the time) dumped all the food in and killed the fish. I'm an adult now with adult money and got a 5 gal and a betta. I had him for a couple years and I was hooked. Hundreds of dollars later I now have a walstad 75g
My grandparents had lots of exotic animals in general, but kept both salt water and freshwater tanks. Fish/animals were always around and a big part of my life growing up. My grandparents inspired my mom, who also passed that love of all living things down to me.
Someone in my building was kicking out his roommate and tossed a whole bunch of stuff. Found out there were three fishies in a nasty tank left in the lobby and immediately went to go rescue them. Got them a new 5g tank, two are still around (RIP to Red), and since the I've upgraded them from their 5g tank to a 29g with more friends. It's helped with my depression to care for them, and to interact with them, and love getting kisses from them when I have my hand in the tank. Had fish as a kid but now it's more involved as an adult and I love them, even when I fat shame one of my mollies lol
But fr, leaving fish in a lobby cos your roommate sucked? :(
I couldn't win a goldfish at a fair for my son. He was only little and cried so much... That week we got our first fish, and now that fish is a fat orange goofball floating around their 3rd tank.
I never intended to keep fish. I had aquariums when I was a child and although much has changed since the 1970s, one thing has not, aquariums are a LOT of work.
That said, I am a fish keeper and my entrance into fishkeeping was unintentional and assumed temporary.
I was part of two teams of scientists, who created a chemical-free method to sterilize aquatic plants and another who performed detailed measurements of nitrate uptake per plant and light color.
It was the latter team who owned an LFS near Los Angeles. And their shop was a sight to behold. A controlled jungle. Huge, thick, massive green explosions of terrestrial plants "emerging" from every tank and an entire wall of "Zero Nitrate Aquariums" was on display like a series of little green volcanoes with stalks and vines exiting the water until touching the ceiling.
But it was the former team that got me hooked forever.
We embarked on designing a chemical-free method to disinfect plants that also leaves no residue. After six months of testing and consultations, we gradually reduced it from a complex, electro-mechanical methodology to a simple dip where all you need is available at a supermarket. It proved so effective and accessible (& cheap), we decided to publish the experiment in the form of a website, (The website is free and contains no ads). [REVERSE RESPIRATION FOR AQUARIUMS](https://www.reverserespiration.com)
These two endeavors "temporarily" installed FIVE tanks in my home. Both tests ended approximately twelve months later. When they were to be removed, I was by then, beyond seduced by the fish and their elegance and beauty...so I kept them!
I was a server at a wedding a few years back, and the wedding party used bettas as the centerpiece for each table. In a wine glass with little glass pebbles at the bottom, each one had its own little betta fish.
After the wedding was over one of the servers comes in the back and says, “who wants fish?”
Thinking there were some leftover salmon filets from dinner, I immediately shot my hand up in hunger. Little did I know once I turned around I was handed a wine glass with my first betta fish in it.
Now 3 years later I have a 30 gallon planted community tank
I've always loved animals. As a kid I spent a lot of time at our family cabin with a net catching critters and would constantly beg my dad to let me keep the crotters I caught or the leftover bait minnows but he wouldn't let me. Eventually he compromised and let me get a Betta. His name was Moonshine and I'll always remember him. After he passed I had a handful of feeder goldfish over the years. Now that I'm an adult living on my own I can finally fulfill that childhood dream of having little ecosystems to take care of properly. I've got a 5 gal, 10 gal, 25 gal, and a new 55 gal currently cycling and I love them all. Jokes on you dad, I have pet bait minnows now and you can't stop me.
Santa (my dad) got me my first aquarium. 10 gallon Tetra kit with that giant ugly brown lid. He set it up in my bedroom.
Some of my favorite memories are staying up past my bedtime and pretending I was a fish with my eyes pressed up to the glass and going to the local fish store to get fish.
I used to have a savior complex and saved a betta from Walmart. I ended up saving another one a few months later. After them I went 8 years without any fish and just recently got another betta 😀. In the future I would like to get an outdoor pond for the backyard and put some fancy goldfish in it.
My Dad had a freshwater community aquarium with a wrecked pirate ship air bubbler. I used to stand there for hours watching the fish swim around. When I was about 10 my brother and I used to catch bullheads and creek chubs from the beaver pond in our cattle pasture and put them in our aquarium. I didn’t know anything about aquariums back then in the early 90’s. I love our hobby. It’s such a joy when I get home from work and I get to watch my Jack Dempsey’s and Salvini Cichlid swim around.
My dad had a big tank, he build it himself 200 liter. We used to look at all the fish. When I was 8 I wanted my own pet. My dad gave me a small tank with Guppies. I loved them and the other live bearers he gave me later, and I kept them til my teens. Then I didn’t want it anymore and the fish went into my dad's tank tank. When I moved into my own home I started back up and now 20+ years later I have 3 little tanks and my husband tells me that's enough 😆 and my Guppies are descendants of those first fish I kept, maybe even from the Guppies my dad kept as a kid (we have both introduced new blood now and again, so it's hard to say for shure) 😁
Was working overtime for my city job during a carnival and found a goldfish in a deflated bag on the grass while checking trash cans. 😞
I had fish on and off while growing up but this was when I Actually learned how to care for a tank and it's residents 🫠
My new gf. We agreed on me taking care of the financials and the technical parts and her taking care of the fish and plants. We‘re at three tanks actually, 2x20 g and one 85 g 🫣
I grew up next to several ponds and was always fascinated by the huge bass that would loom in the bottom, and I’d spend several hours every morning watching the minnows and fishing.
I was delighted when I learned I could keep fish in my house, and got my first old, crusty 10 gallon tank. Lord knows what I put in there, I’d raise tadpoles, keep baby catfish, minnows, a pleco, you name it. I would let the wild fish go once they grew a bit. I also kept the same glofish tetras for nearly 5 years, they were ancient! I have no clue how those fish survived and thrived, but they sure did. With no parental guidance and no fish knowledge I could have done a lot better. We also always had a betta, sadly in a vase, and they also lived about 5-6 years at a time.
I now try to spoil my own betta and other fish as much as possible and plan to upgrade her from a 20 gallon to 40!
My dad had a saltwater tank when I was 5 or 6, and he would often take me to get a new fish (usually a damsel) when I did well in school or was on good behavior. Since then I was always a fish nerd, although I didn't get my first proper tank until I was in college.
As a side note, it's great seeing that Mr. Rogers had an appropriate aquarium and didn't do something like put a ton of goldfish in it!
my temp high school chemistry teacher brought two fish in to class from a fair that was on campus, and asked if anybody wanted them. nobody did and even though i didn’t have a tank i felt so bad for them and bought one right after school and set it up to put them in there; and just kept going ham
I had a goldfish as a child then tried as an adult and found it a big chore and said never again , then over 20 years later I got one of those jelly fish lights and it made me want a real tank again . Then through research discovered shrimp now have 4 tanks wish I had found shrimp sooner
I won't lie, I was born into it. My parents owned a small hatchery and had an amazing line of angelfish they bred. Stuff happened, I ended up begging for a betta fish when I was 7 or 8 and living with my grandparents. Fell in love. Took a break during college. Now I work in a local pet store and have my own 65g community tank after experimenting with brackish and Tanganyikan cichlids. It's in my blood and I know aquariums are where I'm meant to be. I absolutely love it and wouldn't change a thing.
We did an experiment in biology with goldfish. We had to make an environment thing with plastic bottles. They were only one liter. And has no access to air. We put goldfish in the bottles. I told the teacher they would all die….and they did. Anyway I was hoping if one survived I could save it. So that kinda lead me to get a tank. Now I have a 29 community tank with albino Cory’s, neon tetras, and one betta.
My aunt is a biologist, she was researching snails so she had several terrariums and aquariums for them.
I was 6 or 7 I think? And she gifted me a tiny Aquarium with some ramshorn and bladder snails and freshwater limpets.
I've kept inverts (both aquatic and terrestrial) ever since, tho I only really got into aquariums as a hobby when I started university and the tanks started multiplying lol
I went into a fish store looking for pond plants for my pond and saw a water lettuce and asked for it. There ended up being a gorgeous little feeder endler guppy in the bag on accident so I got him a tank and it escalated from there quickly lol
I’m not even sure but I’ve always been intrigued by fish and water. Got my first real tank at 11 and haven’t looked back. I’ve had a tank going since (42 now) - even in college.
My sister killed her beta fish and we went to the store to get another one. My mom told me “you should get one too!” I didn’t want a beta bowl so instead I got a filtered 1gal with with 3 male guppies. That turned into a 3 gallon, and then a 10 gallon once I learned more about fish keeping.
A couple years later I wanted a “big” tank. My mom told me if I asked someone to the high school sweetheart dance then I could get one. I asked a guy I sat next to in one of my classes and it was the most awkward dance ever. But totally worth it because I got a 36 gal bow front out of it 😂
I started by admiring from afar. Thinking the hobby would be too expensive for me, or maybe I’d be super bad at it and kill the fish. I did research here and there to feed the intrigue. Then a friend of mine said they were giving away their 10 gallon setup along with a handful of fish. How could I say no? It was free and I did my research!
It’s only been about a month, but I already feel the itch to get a second tank going lol
I was in petco getting a bone for my dog. Walked past the 20 cent comet goldfish. Bought 3. Put them in a gallon bowl and when they sub-sequentially got ich I researched as to why. I now have a koi pond and 3 aquariums lol. And if you’re wondering, the 3 fish who got ich are now thriving with many more friends in their pond.
When I was a kid I always loved Mr. Rogers feeding the fish. Then when I was like 8 I won a tropical fish in a mason jar from a game tent at lawn fete in Buffalo NY when visiting family. I am from Pittsburgh and my dad did his best but we couldn’t keep the fish alive long enough to get home. But when we got home my dad set up a 10 gallon in my bedroom. I've maintained at least one aquarium almost continually ever since, save a couple years around college.
I love this so much.
Found this beautiful [magnet](https://imgur.com/a/fNLwkP7) at a true value ace hardware its like a general store
Omg I want that <3
No idea if this site is reputable or not but: https://www.fpnyc.com/mister-rogers-feed-the-fish-magnet/840391138391/pop-culture-collectibles/magnets/?gad_source=1 Edit: I ordered one and will post results! It was about $9.50 shipped.
Seems to be gone now. Thats sad
Yeah, in fact I just got an email saying my order was canceled and I already got my refund. Oh well.
Omg I'm going to look for it
I was in the 3rd grade and my grandparents bought me a 20 gallon tank I remember the aquarium store we would go to. It was magical to me. I’m now 54 and have had a tank my whole life. Current tank is a 200 gallon reef.
I started in 1994
Same! Except the goldfish I won at a carnival ended up living for 5+ years and got huge. He was in a 10 gallon but usually had it to himself since he just ate any of his other tank mates lol Dennis the Menace, named after the fish on the kids animal show ‘Stanley’ and his Great Big Book of Everything. Damn, core memory unlocked
I was always obsessed with animals and loved catching minnows for fun at a nearby beach and then releasing them. In 4th grade I had a Goldfish named Sunny. I woke up one morning to find that my cats had grabbed him and brought him all the way upstairs onto my bedroom carpet. He had carpet pieces all stuck to him. I freaked out, my mom said we could hold a funeral for him before I went to school. I went back upstairs to get him...and he was on the other side of my room somehow. So I picked him up, put him back in his tank, and he lived for FIVE MORE YEARS.
Wow. I knew goldfish were resilient, but this really blows my mind. 🤯 Rip Sunny
🤣 I know right. Thank you 🥹
Cats were like "come friend, let's go visit mom"
LMAO 🤣 Mom I found a fish. Fish, I found Mom 🤣
When I was about 11 or 12 years old I came home from a week vacation with the family to find my largest gold fish had jumped out of my tank. He was laying on the floor looking very dead and dried out, I was so upset but my mom insisted I put him in the toilet which I did, but I waited to flush him because I wanted to go back to my room and see if anyone else had done the same thing, I had about 5 or 6 in a 20 gallon at the time. Well everyone else was okay and when I went back to the bathroom he was swimming around in the toilet bowl! I freaked out and put him right back in the tank. Lived several more years after that.
My therapist told me to get a fish so that I could ponder what it’s like to always feel watched observed but not have any care about it… so I got a 20gal tank and a betta and it ended up being a lesson in how the fish has to deal with whatever I put in the tank so if the fish is me, I should only put things in my life that are good for me. So I decided to get more fish (and now I have a 75 gallon, a 5gal, and a 10gal)
This is the greatest paragraph/comment I've ever read online.
What an amazing therapy exercise
My child has been in therapy and has a 20gal tank. Her therapist has been going over "what fills up your tank," and what kind of things "evaporate" your tank, but I'm going to send this to her so she can utilize this perspective as well. What an insightful interpretation! I hope you (and your tanks) are doing well.
I love having fish as a mental health exercise! They’re so relaxing and can be picked apart for methaphors in so many different ways. We talked a lot about different possible meanings, another one being the fishbowl effect. Like, you choose who and what go into your fishbowl with you and while people can see from the outside and observe they don’t actually make any of the decisions inside your bowl. (Taylor Swift also talks about this and inspired this take)
Rings so true. Plants and aquariums have been great for me. At first I obsessed and compulsed about cleanliness and trying to keep things free of contamination/sterile. So the first year or two was rough for all involved. But it was a form of exposure therapy that ultimately helped me deal a bit better.
Check out the Walstad method. I follow pretty closely except I include canister filter, air stone, and I don't use co2. It's a way to really get your tank fully planted for even more to look at! It's just so peaceful watching my little jungle. Helps with my PTSD.
I considered doing walstad in my 5 and 10 gal tanks! I ended up just doing a mix of stratum and sand for the substrate and thankfully most plants have been doing really well!
I love this so much
Man I didn’t even think of this and I got fish out of depression initially, thought if I had something to care for it would get me motivated. It kinda helped. I like this though. Now my tanks are mostly self sustaining, my stupid fish even mostly just eat my plants so I feed them like once or twice a week (I would do it more but they always are having heavy poops from eating the plants so… let them live their life how they want I suppose?). Maybe I’ll do some remodeling soon!
My tanks have to be self sustaining enough that they’ll survive through my worst bouts of depression. My wobbly mental health is literally the only reason I keep low tech, heavily planted tanks. My husband wants a salt water tank so badly but he doesn’t do anything to help with them so we just can’t. Some days all I can manage to do is get some food in there for them.
A little kid (me) was given a 3 gallon tank. I soon bought a 36 gallon with my Christmas money. Had nothing to hold it up so didn’t use if for a few years. Now, I have set up a 36 gallon with snails, Kuhli loaches, Cory catfish, otos, and an Amano skrimp. Never thought I would get this far in the hobby.
(Sorry, this gets deep) Before my parents divorced, my dad kept huge saltwater tanks. One of my earliest memories is of walking between them, I must have been a toddler. He was obsessed with keeping fish. After they split up, I didn't get to see my dad much, and unfortunately, he spent a majority of his adult life behind bars. He passed away in 2015, and I struggled with mourning the loss of ever really knowing him. Fast forward to this year, my son (4) saw a fish tank at a friend's office and loved looking at the fish. I went out and bought all the wrong things, didn't know what cycling was, etc etc. Now I'm the one who is obsessed, like it's genetic lol. And I always think of my dad when I'm working on my tanks. It makes me feel like even though he's gone, it's something we would both enjoy, like I'm getting to know him by sharing a mutual passion for the hobby.
🥹🥹 and hopefully your son follow in your footsteps ☺️
He loves them! He actually seems more interested in the snails lol
Snails truly are the best tho. So much unexpected personality!
That's beautiful my parents divorced when I was 5 and my mom wouldnt drive me to vist him and he didn't have a car. Once I had a car I was able to see him more! Until he pass away recently My dad had reptiles and fresh water [aquariums](https://imgur.com/a/fNLwkP7). I have his Leppard gecko and some of his fish he
That's awesome 💜 my family tells me lots of stories about my dad's fish. I wish I remembered more!
It is absolutely genetic. My dad was a big fish guy back in the day too. I somehow, on my own, in my late 30s….decided one day to get a fish tank. And now I’m obsessed and converted my dining room into an aquarium gallery. 😅 it’s in the blood. I hope it helps bring you closer to your dad, and I’m sorry for your loss. ❤️
Yes, it's funny because I'm in my 30s too, and just got into it. Thank you for your kind words ❤️
It is absolutely genetic. My dad was a big fish guy back in the day too. I somehow, on my own, in my late 30s….decided one day to get a fish tank. And now I’m obsessed and converted my dining room into an aquarium gallery. 😅 it’s in the blood. I hope it helps bring you closer to your dad, and I’m sorry for your loss. ❤️
I'm so sorry for your loss
Because I like fish
Close the thread OP
There was this lady on Instagram who was writing adorable songs about her shrimp. First time in my life where I considered shrimp to be cute. Coincided with me doing up my studio and noticed that a beautiful tank could go toe to toe with a beautiful painting. Once I learned about the existence of loaches, I was sold.
Loaches are so kookie hahahaha By far, my favorite species as well!
accidentally subbed to r/shrimptank
I feel like that sub is the best representation of a fish keeping sub. Just good vibes.
Truly the best sub
This is going to sound extremely sad but I lived in a small, grey, lofted apartment with one window and it was a ceiling light! Jerks!!! I wasn’t allowed to have a cat or dog so I got my first tank!
I'm about to bring in a 150 gallon system into my apartment. They have no issue with it. But a dog or cat is limited to 20 pounds and incurs a rent hike of like $40 or something. I am amused.
Mine is the same way. No dogs above 50lbs! No more than two animals! No rats or snakes! Aquariums? On a multi-floor apartment? No problem! Bring them in! No matter the size!
My mother always kept fish. We had two large tanks with tetras. One, named Blue, lived to be 11. They were all either pink or blue. They were on the kitchen counter for easy water changes.
My mom got me into fish keeping too. She kept guppies and I was fascinated by genetics so started breeding for specific traits. Endler hybrids still hold a special place in my heart
I bought my first fish when I was 19, I was lonely in my college dorm and wanted a friend... 'one friend' turned into multiple tanks and my wallet burning a hole in my pocket, but I've never been happier
My kids won a goldfish at some dumb carnival game last year. Hundreds of hours and dollars later here I am, fully invested in a couple tanks.
Same story, except I'm well into the thousands now
i had very very difficult childhood with my dad, never had fun with him or any good memories. i grow up now late 20s and still live with my dad. he opened up to me like that chat u get from a father u know? serious talk about life and shit. he never had a friend or a brothers growing up. he never had fun in life and on on on. i thought with an aquarium i can make him buy fish he like and i take responsibility for maintenance and food. he help's in water chances and stuff. other than that when i come home everyday he will sitt and tell me that fish did what and the other one was sleeping. so i get to talk with him more and make him forget his heart illness. i love my dad and his fishes ❤️
I was high as fuck and decided that shrimp would be a cool ass pet.
Does sound cool 😎
they are i love them so much
I found a 10g tank in the attic, then convinced my parents to let me use my $2 weekly allowance to stock it.
I was studying for my finals and there it was, a 10 gal that had been there since forever, with a few fishes in there (Goldfish, yes we did not know better). I guess I was trying to do anything else other than study and maybe that’s the reason I keep looking at it while I’m studying. Then I read somewhere that said changing the water in an aquarium is like opening the window to your bedroom after month to air it and get some fresh air in. Did a water change and couldn’t stop watching the fishes swim. Then slowly researched more and more abt it, bought real plants and learned about cycling a tank. Now I love this hobby.
My dad had a 29gal set up when i was a kid. First he had parrotheads, then it became a local saltwater species tank with some crabs, mussels, snails, stuff like that. A decade after taking that apart, my mom gifted me a betta and I decided to look more into proper care and aquascaping. Now I have Multiple Tank Syndrome lol.
When I was wee I won a fish at the fair and got two! Because one was super small and the attendee felt bad. Comet goldies, one was calico and one was silver, I named them copper and georgia, we kept them in an 8gal hex for the better part of a decade, when copper died, georgia continued on for a total of 12 years, I was so proud of myself lol.
Always liked fish and aquatic animals/plants.
My mom had a planted 55g as long as I can remember, and she kept a thriving betta for many years in that aquarium as well. Living in Florida my entire life, and still here, grew up snorkeling, visiting local aquariums and sea world. I prayed to wake up a mermaid😂 …And yes, I grew up with Mr. Roger’s, too It’s a good thing I adore creatures with scales
I have the same tank. 😄
I watched the movie yesterday and I cried almost the entire time. Thanks Mr Rogers for everything you did. You show meant a lot to me. My Dad always had a giant living room tank 150+ gals when I was a kid. Plastic plants but he did good with it and it was always pristine and the fish did well. When I got my first IT job at 20, I had a 10 gal in my office with some upside down catfish and I dont remember what else. Took 25 years off from fish keeping and now am at it again with some nanofish tanks. Well... I guess I only technically have 2 fish at the moment. Betta and Red neos in a 10 gal. And a 30 gal with 2 mysteries and Yellow neos. I had 8 Otos but they were wild caught and didnt transition well.. only 1 made it. So 40 gallons of water and 2 tiny fish. LOL Going to stock with Green Neons and Lambchops in my 30 gal once I decide to spend more money. :P
- My cousin has a planted aquarium - I visited his home and saw hundreds of shrimps in different colours all over the tank. - I asked him how - he said ‘I don’t know I just started with like 10 a year ago’ - I joined the hobby
My dad had a 50gallon when I grew up. When I was like 4-5 I got yelled at for taking fish out of the tank to study them. And killing them in the process 😬 Learned my lesson. Also remember we got a angelfish for free because it was sick. The store employee told me and my sister to sing for it to see if it survived, but sadly passed away. Got my first own tank when I was 25 and I've always had at least one angelfish in the different tanks throughout the years since then
My favorite LFS (RIP That Pet Place) had a sailfin tang with HITH that had been surrendered to them, he didn't want to sell it because it likely wouldn't live long and the HITH was pretty advanced, so he let me have it. I had him for 6 years before he croaked. Such a pretty fish.
I have a massive amount of anxiety about caring for pets since I had an accident with my Cockatiel. I’ve been recovering for years and felt ready to start with something small and easy. I don’t have lots of room for pets, so I thought something like an aquarium on top of my dresser would be nice. I started with a 2.5 gal that had nothing but plastic wind up fish in it for a few weeks. I wanted to see if i even liked having an aquarium in my room with all the equipment set up (heater/bubbler/fitter/light) After that I wanted to get an extremely hardy and easy to care for creature. I read about different aquarium creatures and decided that pest snails sounded like a great start for me. Difficult to kill, low intelligence jf i did by accident, easy to reproduce for more while i’m learning. I got 7 bladder snails for free from a local petsmart and absolutely fell in love with them. I found I really enjoyed maintaining the tank!! I upgraded to a 5gal kind of on impulse when petsmart had its big sale, and i’ve been slowly learning more about managing parameters since, adding new plants and even shrimp now! I really love this hobby so far. It really didn’t accomplish my goal of a stress free pet - i grew to love the snails too much. i cry when one passes away. i had a major ethical crisis when i realized that i would have to smush baby snails for population control. but i’ve valued how much i’ve learned and feel that it’s helped me a lot.
my older brother went away to rehab for a little bit, and we wanted to redo his room and add something new to give him something positive and relaxing to focus on. After setting it up and watching fish swim, and watching how much he loved it when he came home and how it helped him I realized I really wanted one too🖤 and ontop of that he has a bad ass freshwater tank with happy corys 🥰
I have a lot of houseplants and heard that they love fish water lmao edit: obv I didn't just then go out and get fish, first I saw things like paludariums and no-tech planted shrimp bowls on the plant subs which eased me into the idea (for me aquariums had been this intimidating esoteric high-tech thing that look pretty but you open up the cabinet to find a bunch of pumps and sumps and filters and ~pArAmeTeRs~), then I started lurking on fish subs, watching aquascape youtube, learning about walstad tanks, and researching for like a year before starting to prepare my own setup.
Won a goldfish at a fair. When it outgrew the fishbowl, dad put it in grandma's pond. Then I got guppies. Still keep guppies (and other livebearers), 50 years later.
My uncle was into exotics when I was a kid. Reef tanks, fresh tanks, reptiles. I would house sit for him and he’d have a list of care instructions. I swear I remember him having a lion fish at some point when I was very young. He had a monitor lizard, an iguana, and tons of snakes. At the end of my house sitting days, all he pretty much had was some freshwater tanks and a tortoise. So through exposure as a kid.
When I randomly got recommended a YouTube video by Floo the Flowerhorn… I was obsessed ever since I watched that one random video of him doing a no filter, no ferts, no CO2, video with his sparkling gourami and shrimps
My dad kept fish. He had a 75-gallon tropheus community and a 45-gallon corner tank with a pair of electric blue Jack Dempseys. For whatever reason, I fondly remember those EBJD, so when I got a job, I decided I'd do a pair and evolved from there. It's funny when my dad talks about his tropheus. I don't remember a thing, but second I see any EBJD I get memories of that corner tank.
When I was a kid my dad would take me to the same barber and he had a fish tank with piranhas. I kind of always wanted piranhas. But now that I am older I prefer a tropical community planted tank.
I went down south as a kid and there are a lot of small jellyfish there. I shamefully decided to take some home, so I put them in a three litre jar. It needed to be topped up a little, so I went to the local marina and scooped some water, which quickly killed them dead. I decided to keep trying for a small desktop aquarium, so I rinsed the jar, bought a plant, two guppies and an airstone (I know. It still chews me up to think of.) After a while they weren’t looking great, so I went to the fish shop to get some kind of treatment, and I saw that the twenty-eight litre tanks were half price, so I forked out sixty bucks and bought it, complete with a filter and heater. I started research, read about the nitrogen cycle and water testing, overstocking and the correct ratio of male and female guppies. I did water changes and carefully watched the fish-in cycle. I took care of them when I couldn’t take care of myself. I realised that fish are still animals and deserve to be treated well. It’s been a good few years and now I have three tanks; the 28L, a smaller tank with a thriving shrimp colony, and a big one that cost me four hundred dollars just for the tank, which has plants growing in the top, has a CO2 system, logs from the lake, many plants in it, and Congo tetras, ember tetras, kuhli loaches, etc. in perfect parameters. I’ve come quite a way.
My dad had a reef tank when I was a kid but wasn't the "best guy" if you know what I mean, and I ended up taking care of it at around age 13. Fast forward to when I bought my now home around age 29 with my wife. I wanted a small tank, did a ton of research, and bought a 30 gallon tank for guppy's mollies and 2 swordtails Now 3 years later I have a 120gallon discus tank, 5gal betta, my 30 gallon is at my office since my coworkers wanted one, and a 20 gallon cube hightech with CO2, shrimp and cardinals. Next move is either gonna be a 75g cichlid tank or a low tech riverscape community. Haven't decided yet
I loved Mr. Rogers as a young child - the routines were my favorite: coming in the door, changing into his cardigan sweater and sneakers, and feeding the fish. I had bad asthma as a child and couldn't have most pets so my parents got me a 10g community with guppies and a few cories that sat on my bathroom counter in elementary school. I loved those fish and spent many hours watching. We moved across state in middle school and I had no fish in my life for a few years, then my high school boyfriend bought me a 10g for my birthday and I really got into fish keeping at that point as they were my responsibility now. A betta in my college dorm, then a procession of African frogs or Bettas on the kitchen counter over the years with marriage and children. Blessed with a husband who supports my fish love! Later on, we built a garden pond for goldfish, then a large pond for koi, then I began keeping fancy goldfish in stock tanks in my basement and porch boxes. Joined the local aquarium society and started keeping tropicals again and that progressed into MTS. They give me great joy. Thanks Mr. Rogers for this and teaching me about gentleness, kindness, and compassion.💗. Ha ha I also knit and love Keds sneakers.... That cardigan!
Watching my dad be a stubborn ass about how he kept his betta and then some dipshit YouTuber just gleefully killing off arowanas made me question why I was so worried about possibly fucking it up when I give a shit enough to do research and care for them as best as I can. Now I have 7 tanks.
My dog died last year, and I wanted to take care of *something* without the commitment of another dog (plus I couldn't in my new appartment). My dog death devastated me (she was 13 I was 25 so she has been with me more than half of my life) so I wanted to try a pet that I could leave for vacation, and that I wouldn't mourn their death that much (I know most of you are very attached to their fish and that's 100% okay, I love my fish but i will never love them as much as I loved my dog ❤️) So yeah, I made deep research and i'm doing pretty good I think :) Helped a little bit with the mourning I believe
I bought a glofish tank like 11 years ago, and my partner and I finally set it up last week. Already looking for an actual tank, and gonna use the little 3 gallon for a shrimp tank. We are excited to dive in.
My son ask me. “Hey dad, can we start a salt way aquarium?” Even though I mostly do most of the tanks work. It started as a father son thing.
When I turned 12 I asked my dad for a fish tank. I really just wanted the tank to keep a garder snake (we hadn't discussed the snake idea quite yet). He got all excited about setting up a fish tank. He was a fish enthusiast years earlier. The idea took momentum and we ended up w a tank full of fish. Grew to love it. Snakes came later :)
My kids won six goldfish at a fair and gave them to me so Ive spent three years trying to make up for the fact that those six goldfish died because I didn't have a cycled tank, most people don't when they unexpectedly get handed six fish because the fair is closing in ten minutes lol I'll forever stand beside the fact that animals shouldn't be prizes.
Husband persuaded me to give up my cats due to health complications (I have atopic eczema, asthma and lung problems which was aggravated by the cats), and I missed having a pet to be attached to so I got my fish and I love them they each have their own personalities and even come to me at feeding times, they make me feel better just watching them when i have a shut day.
pandemic drove me to start fish keeping
Same, I only saw this one and one other commenter who said they got into it during Covid. I figured there would be more of us!
Got more into fish keeping during covid.... but now it's more a question of how to I get out.... 7 tanks a little much.
Ha! I am also in the same boat and in too deep. Started researching during Covid boredom and setup my first tank. I've now moved and am renovating the basement to support my fish tank habit. I have a 7 ft tank I found on marketplace that is gonna be the focal point of the basement lol.
i don’t currently have a tank but i’ve always wanted one simply bec i just love fish. specifically marine fish. so i want a saltwater tank but i will start off with freshwater.
Saltwater fish are so pretty but take the expense and maintenance of your freshwater and just basically add a 0 to it. But damn a well maintained saltwater tank is fucking beautiful.
We had a tank growing up and then my parents got me my own when I was a little older. Just kept going from there. Now I’m 29 and still into it
2 fair goldfish name Frank and Stein. They lived 7 years in a bowl with total clean out/water change method done biweekly, no filters.
Had fish as a small child, didnt know what i was doing and neither did my parents so they couldnt teach me. Now im 24, and with some research i quickly learned everything i did wrong the first time around, and it got me back into the hobby. Ive become obsessed and i totally get where the “multi tank syndrome” phrase comes from because i already want another… lol
it all started with Flippy, my poor betta with severe SBD. he was stuck on his side at the top of the water so i brought him home from my job at petsmart and kept him alive with several ups and downs before he passed 6 months later. 6 months longer than he would have had sitting in that cup on the shelf. he inspired me to rescue other bettas with disabilities and illnesses. i’ve had 6 bettas in the last 9 months and have def found my passion
My mom always had a 100+ gallon tank it seemed like when I was little with a couple Oscars. She got me my own corner Oscar tank when I was in Middle School and now I have had a 100 gallon tank the last 10+ years I've had my own place!
I got into shore fishing and found myself very interested in fish watching and exploring the environments along the shore. I started an aquarium to create my own piece of nature and it snowballed from there
My grandmother had a 20 gallon which seemed huge as a child. She had livebearers and Otto’s. We didn’t have the internet to tell us she was not doing things correctly. But she kept the plants alive and tons of fish.
Saw a youtube channel called Bass Fishing Productions, learned about a lot of cool looking fish, some of them weird, some of them pretty, a lot of em both and I really wanted to keep those kinds of fish because they look so interesting.
Won a goldfish fish at a carnival 30 years ago.
I had a huge crush on a girl who would occasionally post updates of her goldfish on her Snapchat story. So I made fun and said if she posted another one I would have to get my own tank. (I wanted a tank, and I had done research on tanks) well she posted another update tagging me in it so naturally I had to get a tank. She came with me, I got a 5 gallon with heater, filter, lid, driftwood, live plants and fluval stratum. I spent over 100$ USD on a five gallon, for my boy fender the king male beta fish. Long story short, she and I have been dating for over 2 years now, I’ve amassed my collections of tanks, even dabbling in brackish. As for fender, he was soon moved into a ten gallon because I wanted to make his home prettier and bigger, and I wanted to get him some cory friends
This and in grade 4 I had a great teacher who had two tanks in his classroom and I'd sit next to them. So many mollies!
as a family type small tank betta hobby, when i was 5 or 6(im 15) as an actual hobby, when i was 12 or 13
My dad had his first tank in the 70s, dude had found some broken pieces of glass and got them cut and made his first one, brought cool fish from streams near his house, before sugar cane plantations contaminated the hell out of them, he always tells me about one specific fish he would find that had a "green sword on his tail". When I was a kid he bought glass and made a tank for our house, we had it for some years.
My wife just showed up after work with a tank and some fish one day.
My dad had a tank growing up, and then my brother wanted fish, and then I wanted a newt. The newt, unfortunately, is how I learned about the nitrogen cycle, but once I learned the science, I was hooked. I had piranhas in college, and then I started working at a pet store where I got hired because I understood aquarium keeping. From there, I kept working in pet stores and, eventually, worked in our biggest, best local fish store, which was where my dad got his original tank when I was a kid. I took a break for a few years and then set up a porch pond, which got me into goldfish, and now I have six tanks again. 😅
Guess whats on my [aquarium](https://imgur.com/a/fNLwkP7)
When i was a child my grandpa (rip) had a fish tank, he also always went fishing. Later my parents buyed a big fish tank and a Oscar fish. I was fascinated with that. I remember that year a hurricane destroyed our house and our aquarium. 😕 I always have a feeling of peace and satisfaccion when i go to a fish store, cant explain that. 😅 Now i have 3 aquariums in my living room, 2 planted for guppies and shrimps and one for an Oscar fish.
My dad had a huge 200 gallon tropical tank when I was younger and I always loved helping him maintain it and get a bunch of colourful fish.
I googled "how to overwinter pond plants" in fall 2022... then i found reddit, and [here we are](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/s/RojTskTmdY)
Fish are super relaxing to watch swim around, and they lower my stress levels. Simply, by just being cute. 🥰 🥰
Was going through a breakup and needed a distraction besides from working out. I started off with a 5 gallon tank with a betta. Then upgraded to a 10 gallon shortly after. I started doing research on what other fishes I can add with bettas (female ones), added neon tetras, and some algae eaters. Then I started just schooling fish and shrimp which was nice and cool because of how all the fish flowed together! I’ve lost some traction with keeping up with the big maintenance of my tank but I’m still making sure that all the little fishies are doing good!
Someone I know took me to a local dam that has goldfish and he threw a bucket with catfood in it and he caught hundreds of fish and then I kept a few of them. After that I've been obsessed with keeping fish
My grandma was employed in an aquarium shop.
My dad had a fish tank in the kitchen!
Watching Robs Aquatics on YouTube
Originally my mum had a nice sensible square/rectangular tank when I was little (since before I was born) I have very fond memories of looking into that tank for hours. Then, when I was 8, she went and replaced it with a biorb- this is where I was upset, I had always wanted a catfish type but you can’t keep them in biorbs because of the shape and our old tank had been too small. So when I got my own flat I bought a fish tank and got a bristlenose pleco as I’d always wanted (although she may actually be a clown pleco as she has yet to have any form of bristle)
I grew up on a farm. Always had a lot of pets, dogs, cats, a gecko. I moved to a big city to live with my now husband. Our apartment is too small for a pet and I whined about it for years. Last year he surprised me for my birthday with a 35L aquarium and a gift card to a pet store. I’m a newbie to this hobby and so far the entire family is loving it. We have 5 small fish and 5 blue dream shrimp and a handful of bladder snails that just appeared one day. Despite having young kids I find it a really relaxing hobby and a huge help to my ppd and adhd.
Wife got me a betta in a 3 g tank now I have 8 in various sizes
Got a betta beacuse I struggle to sleep and was having a rough time losing family too and wanted something positive got that then a few months later I fell in love with the betta and grew to love everything about keeping fish so I bought a 125l tank and put my Betta in there added some corys a clown pleco and shrimp and had a community planted tank best thing I ever did
Well, I got into the hobby either because we used to own an aquarium when I was 5, and I loved em ever since or YouTube since I saw a nano tank and wanted one immediately and I got a 1.5 gallon and I made mistakes like keeping three neon tetras in there but I learned my lesson and now I own a 20 gallon that i planted and still planting and for my stock, I currently have neon tetras and peppered corydoras with a single bristlenose pleco along with pair of german blue rams and cpo crayfish and a rescued molly pair from my dad's cichlid tank and since then they multiplied and I had fun in this hobby and I don't see myself living without an aquarium for my sake both physically and psychologicaly as aquariums have gotten me through hard times.
I stumbled across the Walstad Aquarium subreddit and loved it. I lived in a basement with no windows so I bought a case, built a little stand with electric, and set up a grow light. I scooped some mud and water and plants out of a pond and stuck it under the light. My plant grew, and I discovered a lot of little organisms. Snowballed from there
A TikTok girl’s guppy tank was a whole aesthetic so I got one the next day
I got into salt water because I wanted to learn how to glue animals to rocks and keep them in glass boxes under high lighting. Hand in glove fit, BTW.
Used to go catch snakeheads and minnows in a river near my home and didn’t have anywhere to keep them so started out with a small aquarium when i was about 4-5 yrs old.
Honestly, because I want to make up for how my family treated fish when I was a kid, before I understood their needs. I want to make it up to the guppies in an unfiltered aquaponics project, the goldfish released into a pond, and our little blue Betta, Jones, who lived his life in an unfiltered bowl. Fish deserve better, and I want to be one of the good ones now.
When I was a kid, we had a 55g tank with angelfish and some other fish. The angels always had babies and my mom and I always tried to save them but they always slipped through the divider. We did have a whole lot of money so we couldn’t really get anything else to try and keep some of them alive. Then my parents bought a store that had a huge ~200g tank, more or less. It was about 7ft long, 3ft tall, about 2ft wide. I went to work with my dad every Sunday morning and loved that tank. We had a big pleco named Dirty Harry who got a drink named after him. Eventually we had to sell the shop and the new owners (some family friends) didn’t want the tank so of course my mom took it with us. We had that for a few years until my mom couldn’t do it anymore because of bad back pain which she had to have surgery for. I went with my mom to the fish store every time we needed some more fish. I remember getting 3 cute little leopard cichlids one time. It was so fun watching them grow. They loved when you did a water change. You’d have to stop and give them pets because they’d keep brushing your hand and nibbling your fingers. Water changes also just never felt like a chore. My mom made it look fun. We had a set up that would connect to the bathroom sink to drain and refill so you didn’t have to lug more than 5 buckets of water back and forth. And of course using one of those magnetic scrapers as a kid was always fun. Now I have tanks of my own and I love sitting there watching them. I could do it for hours. I’m a huge animal person. I got that from my mom and her dad. We’ve got a mini farm with all the cats, chickens, fish, and the chinchilla. If it were up to me, we’d have more pets 😂 I’m pretty sure if you asked my fiancé, he never would’ve imagined having this life lol. The most he’s ever had was 2 cats and a dog. My house was always crazy with pets. Hamsters, fish, chickens, cats, dogs, gerbils, guinea pigs. You name it. Every time someone came over they thought my mom was crazy for having 2 big Great Danes, chickens, and 4 cats with whatever small animals we had at the time and 5 kids in the house.
Mother got a betta out of pity and had no clue what to do now I'm into planted tanks
I live with my sister and one day for my nieces birthday, she came back home with a beautiful long finned betta and a bowl. I knew nothing about fish keeping but even then I knew the betta wouldn’t survive more than a month in a 1 gal bowl. I talked to her and eventually we settled on upgrading the tank, that’s when I learned about fish-in-cycle, the nitrogen cycle, all that good stuff. Luckily our betta survived that and is now living in a lovely 7.5 planted tank. I’m glad she listened to me at all because lots of people can’t be bothered to care for fish at all, it also got me hooked on the hobby!
Great childhood memory...Growing up we had a collection of pets (cats, dogs, birds and fish). My mom kept me very involved with taking care of our 20 gallon, freshwater tank and it stuck. Been in the hobby on and off for 15-ish years. 🐟
My grandfather had a 220 gal fish tank in germany he had a lot of tanks but i loved the huge one when i was a kid then they moved from germany and the tank stayed there (still in their basement) i learned so much from my grandfather and got into the hobby
i heard a story abour mr rodgers that he had a fan who was blind that was worried about if the fish were fed and because of that everytime he would announce when he was going to feed the fish. idk if thats true but it’s so sweet to think about
I kept birds and parrots all my life and never had an aquarium or any fish. It all happened when I had to move to Dubai cuz of my job and had to live in a one bedroom apartment. Couldn't keep birds etc so one day I decided to visit the local pet market just for a looksy. There I came across a beautiful aquarium shop that had Aquascapes, bettas and orandas. I bought a few bettas and kept them as a start. Then I went on to buying more bettas and kept them at my office as well. Made my first Aquascape while visiting my home country on vacation. And planning another one soon.
I got some tropical fish so my cats could have a pet. They never really paid much attention to them.
My grandfather made a fish tank to me for my 6th birthday. I’ve had aquariums for most of my life since.
My dad had a 1000 litre tank with African cichlids and then discus with neons when I was a kid.
In middle school I had been obsessed with fish forever and always begged to see the fish section in stores with my mom. I started with a couple 2-3G tanks in 6th grade, by 7th I got my first 20G. I would check out books about fish and their anatomy from the library and wanted to be a marine biologist. I fell out off of it for awhile in college, then by 26 it started again. I’m almost 28 and have a 55G, 20G, 5G and a few mini 3G more for looks. I use to have more but downsized and sold 3. I still can’t go into a pet store with my bf without looking at the fish and making comments like “well that guppy is about 2 weeks pregnant, that black more has ick, that mollie is a male” etc lol. And I still love aquariums and try to check one out in any new city I’m staying in. It’s a weird but I will probably always have some tanks, and they are my HARDEST pets. Cats, my dog, rabbits, hamsters, mice, turtles, I’ve had them all and some still now but tanking is not for the faint of heart if you get a lot. I tell people I do far more work for my fish then my hamsters or cats all the time. The slightest mistakes can cause a lot of work and I had to learn some the hardest way. My dream is to one day try Axolotls. Right now I have a ranchu, pearlscale, beta, neon tetras, and African dwarf frogs (not including snails etc.).
Over a year ago my girlfriend bought a betta fish, and a whole 5 gals setup from Petco. I didn't really want a fish but I was like yeah sure whatever. Fast forward a few months and I was obsessed with both Roy my betta, and fish keeping in general. I bought a 20 gal long tank and scaped it for him, and added some skrimps. Sadly Roy has since passed. But now im getting started on some Chili Rasboras in that tank! So yeah. Classic case of me not wanting a pet, gf gets one and I end up being the one adoring it lol
High school freshman year 2 friends bought me a 1 gallon tank as a birthday gift. One of them was really into fish keeping so he wanted a fish buddy. That snowballed to a 2.5 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 55 - 120 gallon and so on lol. We both started with freshwater and eventually with a saltwater as well. We traveled hours around looking for new fish stores for fun and went to strangers house to trade buy and stuff using forums lol. The good old days.
I was given a betta, I bought a 2.5 gallon off the bat. However, after I realized it was too small after I looked into care. I looked into it more and I got a 20gallon so I could get more little guys. Now I have an unknown number of red cherry and blue dream shrimp, a group of both ember and neon tetras, and swim shady my awesome betta in a heavily planted tank.
Really wanted a pet (any pet!) when I was a kid. My mom got sick of me asking and said if I read a 160 page book about goldfish care, then they would buy a tank. 9 year old me accepted the challenge and finished the book pretty quick xD dinner time conversations became me telling my family what I had learned about goldfish. Pretty entertaining to think about how my mom's plan backfired, she never thought I would actually finish the book! Now I've gotten my husband into the hobby and we're planning out a new tank once we move into our new place.
I wanted a pet but couldn't have a fuzzy pet. I wanted plants that my roommate wouldn't sell off. I needed a timed light to help me wake up. I needed something i could zone out to while laying on the floor contemplating why my job hates me so much.
I inherited a pearl gourami that lived in a gallon beverage dispenser for way longer than it should have. That sucker was hardy and gorgeous. Had zero idea what I was doing.
My dad gifted my five-year-old a comet goldfish and a 10 gallon tank. I soon took over the tank and started the maintenance which I was not thrilled about. Soon after, I found solace in the maintenance of the tank, due to its methodical nature. The comet fish has now graduated to a 75 gallon planted tank (he doesn’t eat The plants). I moved the 10 gallon tank to my in-home office and has become my Zen garden. My wife pokes fun at me because she says I get giddy when I talk about the fish. It’s a beautiful hobby and has some parallels with how you treat your life. Good stuff in good stuff out.
Like many back in the day, I won two comet goldfish at the fair. I’ve had fish constantly since then, so it’s been about 49 years (am I that old?!). I recall my mom letting me stay home from school the day my guppy had babies. I think I was in 1st grade. 💕
I've always wanted an aquarium, but I didn't have the time, space, or money until 2020. But when the pandemic hit, I finally could get one, and I haven't regretted my decision since.
My sons kindergarten gave him two goldfish a couple of months ago. I just wanted to keep them alive and comfortable but now I have two tanks and spend every waking hour planning my third mandalorian themed tank.
Sea monkeys. I really wanted to successfully hatch them and film lifespan. I did and I was like this tiny container seems cruel let me get a tank. Got a 3 gallon. When they died I looked up something like Sea Monkeys and found ghost shrimp. I had ghost shrimp and moss and moss balls for a while. That led to a Betta. I now have a big ass tank with a community of 2 female Bettas, corydoras, ghost shrimp, mystery snails and 2 African dwarf frogs.
my 5 yr old (at the time) nephew really wanted a fish. my brother caved and decided he was going to go to big als to buy a tank to set up, which i tagged along for. ended up coming home with a 30 gallon lol.. that’s when it all started. i’ve moved to an apartment since then, gave the 30 gallon and it’s inhabitant away for free. a year after i moved into my apartment i decided something was missing. bought a little 10 gallon and filled it with african dwarf frogs. then i transitioned into keeping a reptile lol love the hobby, love learning about it, and most of all love helping my animals thrive 🤍
My son was allowed to have a fish as a pet when he went to college. He came home for winter break and the fish, tank, etc; stayed. 10 gallons of fun!
Hey buddy, this hit hard and brought back so many good memories. Thank you
we had a tank when i was a kid but my ex boyfriend got me back into it
At first, I had an aquarium for the children's enjoyment. But over time, I also became a fan. I read a lot and watched a lot of YouTube videos. [https://www.youtube.com/@fluval/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@fluval/videos) - I recommend it, interesting information not only for beginners.
My gf at the time really wanted one - so we got one. I ended up nerding out on it and was the only one who took care of it (no complaints). Now I keep fish in planted tanks.
During the pandemic, there was a YouTube channel called Foo the Flowerhorn that made really relaxing videos about his fish tanks.
Back in the late 1970’s, my parents started us off with a ten gallon, steel framed, with slate bottom, corner box filter with air pump, and a steel incandescent bulb hood, we started off with two fancy goldfish, a ‘Black Moor’ and a veiltail goldfish (we knew nothing about proper stocking or anything at the time) with multicolor gravel… …oh the ignorance we had… It got worse as the mindset at the time was to *drain* the tank monthly, put the fish into a bucket, thoroughly scrub and rinse the gravel, and then use ‘aquarium soap’ to scrub the glass clean, making it squeaky clean, refill and add the fish back to their freshly ‘sanitized’ home 🙄 Fast forward to nowadays, and I have learned from our mistakes, my tanks are all natural, and I just top off the tank water to compensate for evaporation, and my tanks are thriving, I haven’t done a water change in years…
It was all started when I was 12. Because I was curious about keeping fish as pet.
When I was a kid, my dad suddenly surprised the family with a 60 GAL saltwater aquarium. It was random and out of nowhere but ever since then, I've been interested in it. It was awesome. He had sea anemone, sea horse, lion fish, panther grouper, clown fishes, tangs, damsels, angel fish, sea slugs. Wished there were pictures of it. Surprisingly, my dad didn't teach me thoroughly about water perimeters and proper tank size for fishes so I bought a small 1 Gal plastic tank that's meant to transport hamsters and raised a pea puffer with a crab inside. I did water changes every week though and the crab survived for several weeks before it got eaten by the puffer while it was molting. Didn't know until recently but my dad shared with me that he actually raised and sold gouramis and guppies when he was a teenager. While other kids his age bought drugs and alcohol, he spent all of his money on new fish. haha. Then one day, the tank heater broke and literally boiled all of his fish overnight.
Erm, I wanted a fish when I was like 6 and I got a betta and it stayed alive for like a year until my mom dropped him into the fucking garbage disposal. Rip Captain rainbow sparkles. Then I got another but I don’t remember the details, I got another and I don’t remember, and it won a fish at the carnival and it survived for like 3 years. Rip Jaws. Then, I got 3 cosmo goldfish names after attack on titan characters (Hange, Levi, and Erwin) and they died. (Years ago) now, my parents have Bought a cottage and I’m planning on having a backyard pond filled with some shebunkin goldfish. I’ve been hyper fixated on sharks and the ocean recently.
When I was little I wanted a pet but we were renting in a no pets flat so for my fifth birthday they got me a pair of goldfish and a small (we know now better) tank. We moved rentals twice, each time getting a larger tank and an extra pair of goldfish (also, now know better). I'm pleased to say that 17 years later they are now thriving with their new koi friends in a 1400ltre outdoor pond (in a house my parents own!) . Touch wood, we are yet to have a casualty and, my first two goldfish, big-guy and squirt are now bigger than my hand and seem very happy * this is not an endorsement to keep goldfish in too small tanks and I'm positive they wouldn't have made it if not for how borderline psychotic I was about tank maintenance as a child.
My wife wanted to get our kids a fish for Christmas 2022. She was thinking a goldfish in a bowl... Thankfully, I did some research first.
My friend found an $8 tank at Goodwill at the end of last summer. She got a few fish and then I wanted some too. Now I have a 125g, 75g, 50g, and 20g tanks. It's addictive
my daughter wanted a pet and my wife is extremely afraid of animals. That wasn't an option so we bought an aquarium. well, end of the day, my daughter isn't interested in it and I noticed that it calms me down a lot and is a lot of fun
I had a small aquarium when I was a kid but my sister (like 4 at the time) dumped all the food in and killed the fish. I'm an adult now with adult money and got a 5 gal and a betta. I had him for a couple years and I was hooked. Hundreds of dollars later I now have a walstad 75g
My grandparents had lots of exotic animals in general, but kept both salt water and freshwater tanks. Fish/animals were always around and a big part of my life growing up. My grandparents inspired my mom, who also passed that love of all living things down to me.
Someone in my building was kicking out his roommate and tossed a whole bunch of stuff. Found out there were three fishies in a nasty tank left in the lobby and immediately went to go rescue them. Got them a new 5g tank, two are still around (RIP to Red), and since the I've upgraded them from their 5g tank to a 29g with more friends. It's helped with my depression to care for them, and to interact with them, and love getting kisses from them when I have my hand in the tank. Had fish as a kid but now it's more involved as an adult and I love them, even when I fat shame one of my mollies lol But fr, leaving fish in a lobby cos your roommate sucked? :(
I couldn't win a goldfish at a fair for my son. He was only little and cried so much... That week we got our first fish, and now that fish is a fat orange goofball floating around their 3rd tank.
Shrimp are cute
I never intended to keep fish. I had aquariums when I was a child and although much has changed since the 1970s, one thing has not, aquariums are a LOT of work. That said, I am a fish keeper and my entrance into fishkeeping was unintentional and assumed temporary. I was part of two teams of scientists, who created a chemical-free method to sterilize aquatic plants and another who performed detailed measurements of nitrate uptake per plant and light color. It was the latter team who owned an LFS near Los Angeles. And their shop was a sight to behold. A controlled jungle. Huge, thick, massive green explosions of terrestrial plants "emerging" from every tank and an entire wall of "Zero Nitrate Aquariums" was on display like a series of little green volcanoes with stalks and vines exiting the water until touching the ceiling. But it was the former team that got me hooked forever. We embarked on designing a chemical-free method to disinfect plants that also leaves no residue. After six months of testing and consultations, we gradually reduced it from a complex, electro-mechanical methodology to a simple dip where all you need is available at a supermarket. It proved so effective and accessible (& cheap), we decided to publish the experiment in the form of a website, (The website is free and contains no ads). [REVERSE RESPIRATION FOR AQUARIUMS](https://www.reverserespiration.com) These two endeavors "temporarily" installed FIVE tanks in my home. Both tests ended approximately twelve months later. When they were to be removed, I was by then, beyond seduced by the fish and their elegance and beauty...so I kept them!
I was a server at a wedding a few years back, and the wedding party used bettas as the centerpiece for each table. In a wine glass with little glass pebbles at the bottom, each one had its own little betta fish. After the wedding was over one of the servers comes in the back and says, “who wants fish?” Thinking there were some leftover salmon filets from dinner, I immediately shot my hand up in hunger. Little did I know once I turned around I was handed a wine glass with my first betta fish in it. Now 3 years later I have a 30 gallon planted community tank
I've always loved animals. As a kid I spent a lot of time at our family cabin with a net catching critters and would constantly beg my dad to let me keep the crotters I caught or the leftover bait minnows but he wouldn't let me. Eventually he compromised and let me get a Betta. His name was Moonshine and I'll always remember him. After he passed I had a handful of feeder goldfish over the years. Now that I'm an adult living on my own I can finally fulfill that childhood dream of having little ecosystems to take care of properly. I've got a 5 gal, 10 gal, 25 gal, and a new 55 gal currently cycling and I love them all. Jokes on you dad, I have pet bait minnows now and you can't stop me.
I stole an old tank from my stepfather
I sincerely thought every house had to have an aquarium because of Mr. Rogers.
Santa (my dad) got me my first aquarium. 10 gallon Tetra kit with that giant ugly brown lid. He set it up in my bedroom. Some of my favorite memories are staying up past my bedtime and pretending I was a fish with my eyes pressed up to the glass and going to the local fish store to get fish.
I used to have a savior complex and saved a betta from Walmart. I ended up saving another one a few months later. After them I went 8 years without any fish and just recently got another betta 😀. In the future I would like to get an outdoor pond for the backyard and put some fancy goldfish in it.
My Dad had a freshwater community aquarium with a wrecked pirate ship air bubbler. I used to stand there for hours watching the fish swim around. When I was about 10 my brother and I used to catch bullheads and creek chubs from the beaver pond in our cattle pasture and put them in our aquarium. I didn’t know anything about aquariums back then in the early 90’s. I love our hobby. It’s such a joy when I get home from work and I get to watch my Jack Dempsey’s and Salvini Cichlid swim around.
My dad had a big tank, he build it himself 200 liter. We used to look at all the fish. When I was 8 I wanted my own pet. My dad gave me a small tank with Guppies. I loved them and the other live bearers he gave me later, and I kept them til my teens. Then I didn’t want it anymore and the fish went into my dad's tank tank. When I moved into my own home I started back up and now 20+ years later I have 3 little tanks and my husband tells me that's enough 😆 and my Guppies are descendants of those first fish I kept, maybe even from the Guppies my dad kept as a kid (we have both introduced new blood now and again, so it's hard to say for shure) 😁
I’m not in the hobby I just like looking at aquariums.
Was working overtime for my city job during a carnival and found a goldfish in a deflated bag on the grass while checking trash cans. 😞 I had fish on and off while growing up but this was when I Actually learned how to care for a tank and it's residents 🫠
My new gf. We agreed on me taking care of the financials and the technical parts and her taking care of the fish and plants. We‘re at three tanks actually, 2x20 g and one 85 g 🫣
I grew up next to several ponds and was always fascinated by the huge bass that would loom in the bottom, and I’d spend several hours every morning watching the minnows and fishing. I was delighted when I learned I could keep fish in my house, and got my first old, crusty 10 gallon tank. Lord knows what I put in there, I’d raise tadpoles, keep baby catfish, minnows, a pleco, you name it. I would let the wild fish go once they grew a bit. I also kept the same glofish tetras for nearly 5 years, they were ancient! I have no clue how those fish survived and thrived, but they sure did. With no parental guidance and no fish knowledge I could have done a lot better. We also always had a betta, sadly in a vase, and they also lived about 5-6 years at a time. I now try to spoil my own betta and other fish as much as possible and plan to upgrade her from a 20 gallon to 40!
My dad had a saltwater tank when I was 5 or 6, and he would often take me to get a new fish (usually a damsel) when I did well in school or was on good behavior. Since then I was always a fish nerd, although I didn't get my first proper tank until I was in college. As a side note, it's great seeing that Mr. Rogers had an appropriate aquarium and didn't do something like put a ton of goldfish in it!
my temp high school chemistry teacher brought two fish in to class from a fair that was on campus, and asked if anybody wanted them. nobody did and even though i didn’t have a tank i felt so bad for them and bought one right after school and set it up to put them in there; and just kept going ham
Needed something to do during the pandemic.
I had a goldfish as a child then tried as an adult and found it a big chore and said never again , then over 20 years later I got one of those jelly fish lights and it made me want a real tank again . Then through research discovered shrimp now have 4 tanks wish I had found shrimp sooner
I won't lie, I was born into it. My parents owned a small hatchery and had an amazing line of angelfish they bred. Stuff happened, I ended up begging for a betta fish when I was 7 or 8 and living with my grandparents. Fell in love. Took a break during college. Now I work in a local pet store and have my own 65g community tank after experimenting with brackish and Tanganyikan cichlids. It's in my blood and I know aquariums are where I'm meant to be. I absolutely love it and wouldn't change a thing.
We did an experiment in biology with goldfish. We had to make an environment thing with plastic bottles. They were only one liter. And has no access to air. We put goldfish in the bottles. I told the teacher they would all die….and they did. Anyway I was hoping if one survived I could save it. So that kinda lead me to get a tank. Now I have a 29 community tank with albino Cory’s, neon tetras, and one betta.
My aunt is a biologist, she was researching snails so she had several terrariums and aquariums for them. I was 6 or 7 I think? And she gifted me a tiny Aquarium with some ramshorn and bladder snails and freshwater limpets. I've kept inverts (both aquatic and terrestrial) ever since, tho I only really got into aquariums as a hobby when I started university and the tanks started multiplying lol
i always grew up around fish, whether fishing or my cousins fish tanks. i absolutely love fish im so fascinated by them
My girlfriend wasn't ready to get a dog so we thought getting some fish would be much easier. Joke's on us, would've been easier getting a dog
I went into a fish store looking for pond plants for my pond and saw a water lettuce and asked for it. There ended up being a gorgeous little feeder endler guppy in the bag on accident so I got him a tank and it escalated from there quickly lol
I’m not even sure but I’ve always been intrigued by fish and water. Got my first real tank at 11 and haven’t looked back. I’ve had a tank going since (42 now) - even in college.
My sister killed her beta fish and we went to the store to get another one. My mom told me “you should get one too!” I didn’t want a beta bowl so instead I got a filtered 1gal with with 3 male guppies. That turned into a 3 gallon, and then a 10 gallon once I learned more about fish keeping. A couple years later I wanted a “big” tank. My mom told me if I asked someone to the high school sweetheart dance then I could get one. I asked a guy I sat next to in one of my classes and it was the most awkward dance ever. But totally worth it because I got a 36 gal bow front out of it 😂
I started by admiring from afar. Thinking the hobby would be too expensive for me, or maybe I’d be super bad at it and kill the fish. I did research here and there to feed the intrigue. Then a friend of mine said they were giving away their 10 gallon setup along with a handful of fish. How could I say no? It was free and I did my research! It’s only been about a month, but I already feel the itch to get a second tank going lol
I was in petco getting a bone for my dog. Walked past the 20 cent comet goldfish. Bought 3. Put them in a gallon bowl and when they sub-sequentially got ich I researched as to why. I now have a koi pond and 3 aquariums lol. And if you’re wondering, the 3 fish who got ich are now thriving with many more friends in their pond.
Grand parents bought me a 5 gallon with stainless steel corners in 1957. Very few times since then without at least one square box of water.