Who got you started in this hobby

[Pat Kelly]

We may have done this one before..... Cant remember

So most of us had someone influence us into getting into this hobby.

In my case it was my Dad. Always had a 10 set up.

 

[jonclark96]

My brother and I had tanks when we were kids. Nothing bigger than a 29 for the most part. I was out of fish keeping for a while when in college. My brother kept in it and had a 75, and when he moved and couldn't keep his tank, I inherited it. It really started the bug back for me. That was 4 tanks and 230 gallons ago...

 

[bschuhart]

My 5th grade teacher let me take care of the aquarium in his classroom. Then I asked my parents for a set-up for Christmas.

 

[F8LBITE]

A complete stranger got me started. I worked at the local pet shop when I was in High School and this customer came in and asked me if I wanted a free tank set up and I said "sure" so he went home and came back with it in his van. I was the happiest kid in the world and hooked ever since.

 

[dogofwar]

I voted other. When I was a kid I found a book on aquarium fish on our bookshelf...not sure where it came from...but I read it and read it...until I got a betta...

My parents got me a 29g set-up for Christmas (I was in 5th grade I think) - complete with Supreme Aquamaster filter (with the lift tubes you had to manually prime) and a Silent Giant pump to run the UGF airstones...

I really kicked things into gear when I "discovered" the local fish club (Greater Dayton Aquarium Society) when they had a show at a local mall. I was at the mall to shop...saw the show (probably 300 entries of all species)...and met some really nice people at the club. I was able to enter a couple of fish into the kid's class in the show, ended up winning 2nd and 3rd I believe...and going to the auction (also in the mall) on Sunday. I started going to monthly meetings...bought a rack of used 20Ls from a club member, going to fish shows around the region (Akron - also in a mall; Cleveland - at the fairgrounds; Detroit; Chicago, etc.)....then I went away to college and was out of fish for awhile.

I rediscovered fish thanks to a couple of really nice LFS in Sacramento (Capital Aquarium and O St. Aquarium). It was a couple years later and joined the Sacramento Club and started going to meetings...

So I guess my answer is "Other"

Matt

 

[Billy Rocket]

I got a "bright idea" one day to get a fish tank. Bought a 110g saltwater setup. That was 12 years and 1,200 gallons ago. I should have got a dog.

 

[Prince]

My mom. We had a 55 gallon Oscar tank as a kid. ( i know but I am 33 things have changed since then.) I used to catch crayfish from the creek and feed them to the Oscar unintentionally. I got back into it as an adult four years ago thanks to Andrew And Scales.

 

[mrkillie]

I got a "bright idea" one day to get a fish tank. Bought a 110g saltwater setup. That was 12 years and 1,200 gallons ago. I should have got a dog.

You can't leave dogs at home for a week without anyone to look after them. Fish is the way to go!!!

 

[gravel_digger]

I had an uncle who bought me my first tank with 10 guppies when i was about 12. As we all know with guppies in no time has almost triple that number easily and I have been hooked every since.

 

[chris_todd]

My advisor in grad school had a menagerie in his house. Fish tanks, turtles, snakes, birds, etc. He lived 5 minutes away from Elmer's Aquarium in the Pittsburgh suburbs, and was probably one of their best customers. I got the bug, stopped by elmer's and got a 20 high community tank setup. That was about 1995.

When we moved back to Maryland after grad school, that tank went into storage but we got back into the hobby when a friend who traveled a lot had an incident with his 65g tank while he was out of town. Now that tank and the 20 high are setup in our kitchen, and we've since added a 40 breeder, 50 breeder, 75, 90, 110, and few assorted smaller tanks for QT or growout (in other words, I've fallen down the slippery slope to obsession, and I can't get up).

 

[Ophelia77]

First of all, this is not MY hobby, but here's my side of it LOL. My Mom had an AKC registered Basset Hound kennel, and I've always had some strange pets, but my first "water" pet was my red-eared slider when I lived in the barracks. I think when Karl was a year is when i had my first tank. I traded fish for raising kids for a bit, then I met this crazy man who decided to overload my house with tanks. I decided if I had to live with it, I would at least get some enjoyment out of it, so I have my angels, and he has his tangs....

 

[Leffler817]

Growing up, my mom always kept animals. At different times we had a dog, birds, rabbits, and hamsters. We always kept a fish going in along side whatever else we were keeping. Now I have my fish and a dog. But neither of my sisters got into the hobby. My mom still keeps fish and a dog.

 

[D-money]

My grandparents got me started. They had a pond in the early 70's with goldfish,frogs, etc and in the winter they would take the goldfish out and keep them in an aquarium in the basement. I loved going over there to feed them so they bought me a 2.5 gallon tank for xmas 1974. Now I have a 150, 120, 75,55,40L,40Br,29 set up with a 20H&20L empty. Oh, and my 5 and 2yr olds love seeing and feeding Daddy's fish.

 

[iamzrad]

I voted for myself, but really it was my middle school.
I was in the fine arts magnet program but I had friends who were in environmental sciences and I always liked the fish. I would visit the classrooms when I could just to check everything out. No one really influenced me or "pushed" me.

My first tank was a some gold fish that I "won" at the fair. After that, I picked up a 29gal (summer money) and bought some 'sharks' (catfish), gold and blue gourami's and some misc mollies.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

I voted for "myself" but it was indirectly my uncle. He had a 75 set up in the downstairs basement with an oscar, JD, arowana, pair of convicts and a few other fish. I used to go outside and get crickets and worms to feed to the fish. He never really encouraged me, but his fish started a spark. I was given a 20 high starter set for my 10th birthday and the fire was lit.

 

[Tony]

My parents had a couple of 20G tanks when I was young, before we moved to Gaithersburg when I was in 4th grade. Think that I had more fun re-aquascaping the rockwork constantly and fiddling with 3-4 air-powered decorations in each tank than I did watching the fish. My godmother had a 55 metaframe with silver dollars that I always drooled over.

When we moved, we didn't set back up the tanks and I didn't have any tanks until I went down to Georgia Tech. I had a buddy down there that had a 55 Malawi tank... it was awesome. Realizing I didn't have the room for a 55 at my place, I setup a 20G planted setup with a couple of gouramis and rainbows. I consider that *my* first tank.

I started my own 55 African tank with mixed mbuna and haps as soon as I got back from school in 2000 and progressively moved the planted tank up to a 29, then a 45 as I got more into plants and rainbows. Spent a brief stint in the clink, keeping reef stuff.

Moved the Africans up to the 110 about 5 years ago and only had that one cichlid tank until I got out of the reefing and into this club last spring have since gone up to 25 about African tanks.

Thanks CCA for setting me straight.

 

[Julie]

You can blame my son for all that I have now! He wanted a goldfish. Won 1 or two at the fair, had them->it in a bowl, sister wanted one, got a 29gallon tank, added malawis, then a 90 (for then larger goldfish and some other SA fishies, then some 75's(for tangs), then added in 20gallon tanks for babies... etc. etc. etc...

some people just don't know when to stop!!

 

[Spine]

When I was 8yrs.old my Dad got me my first tank(Metaframe10gal) I've had tank(s) ever since

 

[dogofwar]

I had a Metaframe 10g back in the day. It actually held water until the late '80s... It was set up in my room on a stand I made from a wooden crate (!).

When I was 8yrs.old my Dad got me my first tank(Metaframe10gal) I've had tank(s) ever since

 

[danger_chicken]

Growing up, my mom always kept animals.

Mine too and still does, mostly horses, dogs and cats now. When I was 12 a friend of her's gave her a 30g with two 10" oscars. By day 2 there was only 1 oscar. That was my introduction to fish keeping and my love of oscars.

I selected "friend" as it was my roommate when I was 20 that really got me into fish. He came home with a 55g one day and we went to The Aquarium Center with our other roommate and all 3 of us bought fish. We bought mollies, gouramis, a gar, green terror, jack dempsy, (found a baby snapper) and a few other things I can't remember. Eventually he traded the tank for a 29g and then got married and moved out with the tank. I never took care of the tank/fish but that is when I really become interested in them. He's also the guy that coined the name "Danger Chicken".

After that a bought my mom a 10g setup. When I was 25 I found it unused in her house so I took it and set it up at my place. Within a year it was upgraded several times as I realized the bigger the tank the easier it was to maintain. I went from the 10g to a 30g, then a 52. By year two a 120g. 95% of what I kept from the 10g-120g was aussy rainbows. .

I was out of the hobby for about 5 years, when I got back in 3 years ago it was cichlids that caught my attention and I'm hooked on them now.