What was your first aquarium?
- Thread starter Caperguy99
- Start date
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- Tags
- aquarium hobby
I was about 8 or 9 with my first 'tank'. It was one of those squat bowls with gravel, a bubbler and some elodea. I had a white oranda named Silver (no red cap). Later I moved Silver into a 20 long with blue crushed glass gravel, one of those neon ceramic castles and some loud plastic plants. two corner filters. My giant apple snail Charlie was his tankmate.
When I was kid our neighbor had a “big” tank in their wall with 4 Oscar’s in it. I loved it. For my 11th bday in 1981 I got 3’x1’x1.5’ tank with river gravel and air driven under gravel filter. My first inhabitants were a geo brasiliensis, pair of black convicts (
) and a jack dempsey. It got really violent really quick when the convicts started to breed 
By the time I was 15 I had a small fish room under my parents house with 10 tanks and spent my time breeding and trading mostly CA/SA cichlids.
Good nostalgic memories. Great thread!
) and a jack dempsey. It got really violent really quick when the convicts started to breed By the time I was 15 I had a small fish room under my parents house with 10 tanks and spent my time breeding and trading mostly CA/SA cichlids.
Good nostalgic memories. Great thread!
When I worked at this fish store the owner would clean all the small tanks with a HOB filter. He would steer up the gravel and let it filter for a while and then go to the next tank. That's about all I remember about HOB's at that time.
I was near the earthquake enough that it shook our house a lot. Some damage but not major. Scary time. Lots of aftershocks.
When i was really young, like around 5 we had 2 goldfish in a bowl. They lasted a few years from what i recall.
My first real tank of my own was when i was around 10, small one that i kept an axolotl in, i really looked after it and even had a worm farm so i could feed him his daily earthworm. It got big and 2 years later my parents got me a 2 foot tank so i could upgrade. Sadly i didnt know much back then and just filled it up and dropped him in. changed its diet to sliced up beef heart as it was summer and worms were harder to come by and a week later he was dead and i was heartbroken. I still feel bad now recalling it all, the thought that the new tank would be great for it and how excited i was and then the death of a pet.
I learned a harsh lesson that good intentions can sometimes have a bad outcome, it took me a good few years to learn about cycling tanks etc. when i did i realised what a mistake i had made and how easy it could have been prevented.
My first real tank of my own was when i was around 10, small one that i kept an axolotl in, i really looked after it and even had a worm farm so i could feed him his daily earthworm. It got big and 2 years later my parents got me a 2 foot tank so i could upgrade. Sadly i didnt know much back then and just filled it up and dropped him in. changed its diet to sliced up beef heart as it was summer and worms were harder to come by and a week later he was dead and i was heartbroken. I still feel bad now recalling it all, the thought that the new tank would be great for it and how excited i was and then the death of a pet.
I learned a harsh lesson that good intentions can sometimes have a bad outcome, it took me a good few years to learn about cycling tanks etc. when i did i realised what a mistake i had made and how easy it could have been prevented.
