WHAT GOT YOU INTERESTED IN AQUARIUM FISH????

For boys in their early teens in the 1950s, aquarium keeping was not a very popular hobby, but to me it was fascinating and even something of an escape. One of my dad's friends had a pond, and a neighbor's dad had a small aquarium when I was a little kid. Maybe aquariums captured my attention because fish can move in three dimensions, and maybe it's because aquatic environments seem so exotic. At any rate, the hobby has been sort of a passion with me from school days, through getting married and raising children, through decades working in the aerospace industry, and all the way to retirement.

Now it's your turn. I hope some of you can explain the fascination better than I just did.

I got interested in the aquarium hobby a couple of years ago. I would catch crabs and gobies and all sorts of marine sea critters at the beach. Then I would put them in a bucket and take them home. I don't remember when I actually bought the 20 gallon but I did. My parents would set the tank up and then we would put the critters in the tank. They always kept dying because we had absolutely and I mean ABSOLUTELY no info about keeping fish. I then gave up after a while because I thought that it was just a sign that I wasnt made for fishkeeping. Then a few years later to present time, one day I was looking at the empty tank just collecting a million pounds of dust and decided all of a sudden, Hey! I should start a tank again!

And so it started. I researched for days on end until I had the necessary knowledge to start an aquarium. So here I am today.

We always had a 55 gallon aquarium when I was growing up and I thought it was pretty cool. I would watch the fish sometimes, but had never considered having my own. One day when I was about ten years old I came home from school, went into my room, and sat down on my bed to do something. I looked over and much to my great surprise was my brother's plastic Lego container. In it was water and two feeder goldfish. I named them Rocky and Goldie I think. Rocky was the gray one and I bet you can guess what color Goldie was. I was absolutely thrilled with them and from that point on I was hooked. My brother actually was give an twenty gallon tank for his two fish and needless to say they lasted a lot longer than mine did in the two gallon plastic container. I think they finally died when he put some old mans beard moss from trees on our dairy in the tank.

there is a very interesting thing that why i bring all attention to aquarium..and today it is my hobby..i have aquariums for 17 years,when i was 5 yrs,usually i went to my grandfather's house,just infront of the house their an aquarium store full of colourfull fish...i just amazed to see those fishes..when i was in class 1,an aquarium was presented from my parents...till now my recent 4 ft is the 4 th aquarium...

Thanks, everyone, for sharing. Let's have some more.

well i got interested in bettas and now im breeding them...

i started with me as a kid having a large tank (probilly a 55) in my living room and having newts (which i loved to hold)then we moved and left the tank behind... then about 4 years ago i asked my mom to get a betta and i had him for a while before i was in the petstore again and looking at the bettas and seeing a female one. i made my mom buy it for me and me not nowing much through them together in the tiny little betta cup/holder and them fighting. as they were fighting and me freaking out i was doing research and i took the female out saving her. a while after that i got a 10 and like a 7 gallon tank from my grandpas house. i set them up the right way for breeding and would watch them like 24/7 before they breed. not getting any eggs i got a few more males and females and keep trying to breed them untill about almost a year i got babys and i have gotten 7 batches since with over 200 fry. and during that time i also had gotten a few tanks and got random fish and basicly thats where i am now with 2-30s, a 20, 8-10s, 2-7s, and many betta bowls.

Aquarium keeping is always a learning experience no matter how long we've tried to perfect it. You're intelligent for figuring things out for your favorite species.

About the newts, i really like them, but they don't like the warm water in Phoenix. Any help is appreciated.

i never had any problems with newts and they lived for years for me. but now i cant seem to find them in any stores....the same type at least. we even had the newts in the huge tank and we had crabs too. we had this like bubble thing that stayed on the bottom and the newts and crabs could go in it and get air and stuff. but this was like when i was 5-7.

i was always interested but my friend really gave me a boost in starting