How did your addiction start

anarchy

anarchy

Active member
I'm curious to know how people got into the hobby fw and salt.

Mine started when I moved in with a friend who had a 20 gal tank with 2 tiny red belly piranhas. I watched them grow and watched the tank get bigger. I bought a pleco for the tank and just watched. My buddy stopped taking care of the tank and my pleco died. When I got home from work I notice the piranhas eyes were all white and they weren't swimming much. I decided I was going to fix it so I took a water sample to tropaquatics and Kelly tested the tank and told me how to fix it. Spent the rest of the day changing all the water and cleaning everythibg. Over the next couple days the piranhas were back to normal. Ever since then I've had probably 10 tanks mostly cichlids then decided to try my luck with a 120 reef. 8 months later needed $$$ and sold the tank and kept the smaller tanks I'm running now. Addiction hits so quick.

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk
 
One of my sons wanted a dog, and I was like, "do you know how much work that is to take care of them?" I said, "we won't be able to go anywhere and will always rush home to take care of it." Instead, I bought a reef tank, in Michigan, that I bought on Ebay, because that was going to be way easier than taking care of a dog. Little did I know, LOL!!!
 
I've been keeping FW for 40 years. Really into puffers. I got some green spotted BW puffers & brought them up to SW. Added LR & a skimmer & some zoas came on the LR. I was so excited!!! Until my puffer ate them... So I rehomed the puffers (55g wasn't large enough for the 2 of them anyway) & started my 1st reef tank! 15 years later, I'm sad to say I've become allergic to my reefs & have to sell everything off...
 
My family has always been interested in fish keeping, but my personal addiction started in the form of a free Betta. My parents went to a wedding and the centerpieces were vases with live Bettas in them. She brought me home one. I had him in the vase for a couple weeks, but I quickly wanted to move him into something bigger. So I bought a 2 gallon tank for him. I don't remember the time tables, but this quickly spread into me having a 10 gallon fish tank, a 20g long with firebelly toads, and a 10g tank with a leopard gecko. This all eventually moved to me having a 20g fish tank with cichlids, and a 40g tank with a bearded dragon.

Then on black friday 2012, I bought a fluval spec V for really cheap. This was originally going to be an office tank, but then after looking, I decided to make it saltwater. So I made it a saltwater tank and made some modifications to it. February 2013 I got a free 12g nanocube, so I modified this and moved up. 2 months later I bought a cheap 75g tank off craigslist and began building it. July 2013, the tank went live. In october I bought a 29g biocube for super cheap, but didn't set it up until december when I migrated the 12g into it.

So all in all this spans roughly 12 years or so and it all started with a free betta, and is now a 75g reef and a 29g reef.
 
I went in a fish store when I was 19 (around 1999) and fell in love with SW fish. I soon bought a 29 gallon tank and took it to college. I wasn't too successful with it and didn't know what I was doing. I upgraded to a 46 and was pretty successful with a fowlr. I had a few ich outbreaks that set me back. I moved the tank to Chicago after college. I upgraded to a 90 in 2008 or so. Kept it as a fowlr and I've had almost all of the fish I have now since then. I didn't start keeping coral until I upgraded to my 220, and this is what really got me addicted.

Keeping fish was easy and I didn't do much to maintain the tank except keep it clean. Adding coral to the mix added hundreds of variables that keep it interesting and challenging. I love figuring things out, experimenting, and solving problems. That's why I like this hobby so much.
 
For my honeymoon we were going on 14 day cruise. I got injured right before it. Ihad 175 internal staples and the doc said if I flew I would die. So we decided to give the cruise to our brothers for free. Side note the two dicks didnt bring back 1 souvenir or take 1 picture. We had a fresh water tank and went to buy a fish. At the store they also had SW. My wife foolishly suggested lets buy a saltwater tank and bring our honeymoon to our living room. Big mistake. lol
 
Rich130981 said:
For my honeymoon we were going on 14 day cruise. I got injured right before it. Ihad 175 internal staples and the doc said if I flew I would die. So we decided to give the cruise to our brothers for free. Side note the two dicks didnt bring back 1 souvenir or take 1 picture. We had a fresh water tank and went to buy a fish. At the store they also had SW. My wife foolishly suggested lets buy a saltwater tank and bring our honeymoon to our living room. Big mistake. lol
Click to expand...
lo that's hilarious. my wife should've never told me "the coral is so pretty." now all I hear is "are you kidding you're buying more coral"

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk
 
Like most of my hobbies these days, it begins with YouTube. Was watching random shiz (probably cat videos) and happened to stumble upon Mr.Saltwater tank and BRS. Was impressed by all the pretty corals and kept learning for 2 months then decided to take the plunge thinking I'd spend $400-$500 max. haha

For me, this is a combination of being bored and loving all animals.
 
As a little kid I kept goldfish and later a Betta w/african frog. Then when I was 16 I was doing random google searches for hobbies and I saw a picture of a reef tank, I was like, "wtf is that? you can't keep corals in an aquarium!!!" then I decided I had to have one, but I didn't have any money since I was still in high school. I did lots of reading on maintenance and care and I ended up getting my first reef tank when I was in my 2 or 3rd year in college (?), the same 75g I have now, from approx. 1.5 years ago.
 
anarchy said:
lo that's hilarious. my wife should've never told me "the coral is so pretty." now all I hear is "are you kidding you're buying more coral"

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That's how it is for my girlfriend. She tells me I have too much, then when I randomly browse liveaquaria or something she looks and goes you should buy that one.
 
my addiction started with weed then moved to crack then meth now its fish the worst of the addictions is definity the fish
 
I had a freshwater 20 gallon long tank when I was a kid because my dad had some fish tanks when he was in high school and he had encouraged it. While the tank stayed for a couple of years, it wasn't something that really lit my fire. Fast forward to about the year 1998 - I was walking through a pet store with my wife at the time to pick up mice for my Florida kingsnake and there were all kinds of saltwater fish tanks that grabbed my attention. I distinctly remember a flame angel watching/following me whenever I came into the store. That was the initial spark, although it was cost and space prohibitive at that time for me. Fast forward again to 2012 and my wife and youngest stepson are playing some app together called Fish Live or something of the sort. Mila says, "You know, even just watching them swim around is really peaceful," and an idea germinated in my head - why not get a real salt water tank.

I knew there was a local fish store nearby, but I hadn't been inside of it before. I grabbed the youngest step-son and we went and took a look. Halfway through walking around, he says, "You know, we should get mom a tank," and I knew the sale was done. Thanks to advent of cubes, not only the pricing but also the space concerns had changed quite a bit since the late 90s, so we started with an Innovative Marine 38-gallon mini cube and have been working that setup for the last year a half.

- Jim
 
Girlfriend at the time wanted a clownfish because they were cute, ended up buying a 50 gallon and it turned into my hobby rather than hers.
 
i started off as a kid, around the age of 6 with a small 8 gallon and some goldfish. (i know, noob mistake.) when we moved i couldn't take it with and left it behind, then when i was 10 my dad came home with a 10 gallon tank and two goldfish. day later i bought got a 20 gallon complete kit at a garage sale for a measly $10, i only had 10 so it was between that and a microscope. day later found out the 10 gallon had a small crack, had i gotten the microscope i wouldn't be here right now. when i was 14 i got my first reef, i had saved up loads of money so i had to decide between an already running 100 gallon freshwater (large fish, i remember there were arowanas a polypterus) and an empty but system of a 125 gallon tank with the lights and equipment for saltwater. i chose the 125 gallon and that's my saltwater adventure began. haha i run my reef with my dad and it brings us closer together. now we have a 180 gallon mixed reef and i have one more year before i'm off to college!
 
Growing up I started with goldfish as a kid, then moved to fancy goldfish, then got sick of my fish dying and realized my well water was contaminated and started filling and topping the tank up with Culligan water. Then I moved to African Cichlids which I bred and were awesome. Then moved onto Saltwater after college!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top