Why Fish???

[LooksLater]

I've always liked aquariums and loved aquatic life. And always been a pet person. But I was a bit intimidated by fish tanks...then I moved in with mnemenoi.
It was really seeing the Tanganyikan tank fall into place that got me, I think. Then I fell in love with puffers. Then shrimp. Then plants. Learning aquariums was definitely accelerated in my case by always having him handy (he's practically an aquatic encyclopedia, and I took full advantage of that, still do!), and he was great about letting me make choices (and mistakes), and always ready to answer questions but not shoving anything on me. HE deserves a ton of credit for that, and I fell in love with keeping tanks really quickly...now I don't see myself ever NOT having one. Keeping aquariums is challenging- there's chemistry, botany, zoology- and rewarding in a way that other pet keeping hasn't been for me. It's like creating and maintaining a tiny little world, and I absolutely love that.

[SunnyHouTX]

Couldn't have said it better myself

[NDsuperduty]

Why Fish???

I started dating my wife when she was in high school and her mom had a 30g Gold fish tank in their game room. She got rid of the goldfish and told us we could put some other fish in it or she was gonna get rid of it. My wife wanted to restock it and remember telling her "fish are gay"....so we restocked the tank, lol. We went to Ultimate Fish at his old location and I saw fish that I had never seen before. Lots of Malawi and Tang fish that you would never see at petco. I was hooked pretty quickly. Like most people I learned a lot of hard lessons in the first year, killing several fish, but never got discouraged. With the exception of a small hiatus I've been keeping fish ever since.

[Lydia]

Wow, this thread is awesome. I never have time to enjoy discussions, but was able to do this one. Ive really enjoyed reading all the diverse stories and learning more about my HFB friends. Ha-its really pretty deep emotional stuff, then Crusher threw a curve ball and cracked me up, Thanks everyone, its been great!

[Chris360]

I had an aquarium here and there growing up but really got into it for my kids. A few years ago I bought them a Petsmart 55 gallon "starter tank", I quickly took it over since I was doing all the maintenance. From there I upgraded to a 150 gallon, then I met Peterp63 and was in awe over his huge aquariums and monster fish. So I got a 360 gallon and then a 420 gallon........and for some reason they just seem to not be big enough....hahaha Who knows what the future holds.....

[Ogrodii]

Re: Why Fish???

I began keeping fish 6 years ago wasn't really to serious just had a bunch of fat goldfish in a 20g tank then I moved and had to get rid of them for a whole year I had no tanks and came to the conclusion I couldn't live without a tank and fish. It also relieves my PTSD and clinical anxiety now I have 2 150g and never look back. Petro and Trophys for life

[BrAin]

Grew up on 14 acres with a few ponds around, lots of water, and low wetland areas. I always wanted an aquarium but couldnt have one because of the trailer we lived in. Later, I had given up on the tank and we built a new house. One b-day I got a 29 setup because I loved playing in the ditch so much. I never really bought a fish until I moved away to college and had to have some kind of water. Ended up with a beta for a little while to tide me over. (poor thing) Now I have my own place and almost every room has a tank or two. I love to fish and I still can be caught playing in the ditch when it rains.

[CRUSHER]

Why Fish???

Sad to see this thread end...
So I will attempt to bring it back to life :)
My daughter is 8 yrs old now, she lives in Florida with her mom. I was talking to here this morning and she started telling me about her Betta... I didn't know she had one. Apparently she forced her mom to get her one early last year. She told me how she feeds it once a day and how she changes its water every other week and how when she sticks her finger up to the glass that the Betta would puff out its gill plates at her finger and go nuts.
Seems she has started to be a fish nut early!
I told her I was proud of her and that she picked a very good fish and that if kept up with the feeding and cleaning her fish would live for a long time.
She's happy, loves her fish and that is all that matters!


Sent from my corner of the tank!

[danielp]

Have been hooked since i was a little kid when we had a black molly tank and they had babies.

Went to school and got my associates degree in Marine Biology. Wanted to become an Ichtyologist. Graduated and state fisheries jobs didn't pay much. Would up in the technical science field and have had aquariums since 1985.

[crazy42bmx]

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforums/showthread.php?56073-Everybody-has-a-tale-to-tell-!-Whats-yours&p=681309#post681309

[CRUSHER]

This one was started before the one in the thread Crazy

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforum...309#post681309

[allysangels]

when i was a kid we went to visit my dad's uncle in illinois, who happened to breed show-quality discus. i remember seeing the babies nibble at their parents sides, and having to be carried away from the side of the tank to the table at dinnertime. :) as i got older, i had all kinds of pets, but only a betta here and there as fish, until i was 20 and moved in with a roommate in conroe who had a 250g in the living room. big oscars, bigger pacu, and giant clown knife. he would send me on errands as he worked very long days, and would always fill my gas tank so i didn't mind. one of these errands was to the LFS every week to get feeders. that's when i really fell in love. ever since, i've had at least 2 or 3 tanks, all kinds of different freshwater fish, every new fish i get interested in, i end up with a new tank for. then i got lucky, and found a chance to turn my hobby into a paying job at petco. from there, i've worked at a few different LFS on the SW side of town. i count myself as one of the lucky ones, being able to get paid to do what i love, and turn my passion into a career. lets see where it goes from here...

[LordBarron7692]

Wow!!! 3 pages of some great stories but this can't be all of it so let's keep it going i know someone out there has a story to tell

[LordBarron7692]

****UPDATE****
So my 3yr old son and his best friend who is also 3 tell me one day "you fish are not fun" my first reaction was huh what do you mean the fish are not fun? My sons look at them and he walks over to the tank and the Discus propmtly scatter from where they were. I then say to him well would you like more active fish to which he and his little friend jump up and down screaming yes so I pulled out the 90 cleanded it out and put some trophs in it and now I do believe my son just like his father will have a life long love affair with aquariums.

[Fancyfish]

I remember bringing home goldfish in a Chinese take-out likecontainer when I was 5ish. I really gotstarted with fish in the 4th grade. Myteacher had a tank with guppies and at the end of the year I got to take somehome with me. It quickly grew as fishwere the only pets my mom let me breed.