'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....' I was, myself just a pup when I first laid eyes upon my first 'fighting fish' or betta splendens. I was 3 years old then but I still have a clear picture of the fish I had begged my grandmother to buy for me. After she agreed to buy the fish for me... my memory fails me here as this is all I can recall. Wish my grandmother was still alive today so I can ask her for more details but she has passed on decades ago.
My interests in fish keeping started at a very young age. Growing up in an area where there were three pet/fish stores within walking distance helped nurtured me into a MFK today. In the early to mid 80's there was no access to the internet so most of the knowledge I gained as a child was from reading all the 'fish books' that were for sale at the three different pet stores. The owners all knew me well and granted me access to the fish books because I would help them with their customers when it got busy for them for free.
By the time I was 15 years old, my parents opened up my first fish store! Although it was a partnership with my older cousin and his wife, the store was opened because of me. This partnership lasted two and a half years. College in a different coast made running a store very taxing. Fast forward a few years and now I'm 21, the stock market has been kind to me and I build my fish Monster tank. 8ftx4ftx3ft high! So this tank is sitting on the 2nd floor of my sister's house! This was in 1993 and because it was on the 2nd floor, I was able to do a drip system with an overflow that went right into the drain downstairs. Back then, getting 80 gallons a day on a chalk RO filter was high-tech, haha..... sorry my time for today is up. I will continue this story of mine when time permits... hopefully later on today and I will add pictures as well. Thanks for reading so far
My interests in fish keeping started at a very young age. Growing up in an area where there were three pet/fish stores within walking distance helped nurtured me into a MFK today. In the early to mid 80's there was no access to the internet so most of the knowledge I gained as a child was from reading all the 'fish books' that were for sale at the three different pet stores. The owners all knew me well and granted me access to the fish books because I would help them with their customers when it got busy for them for free.
By the time I was 15 years old, my parents opened up my first fish store! Although it was a partnership with my older cousin and his wife, the store was opened because of me. This partnership lasted two and a half years. College in a different coast made running a store very taxing. Fast forward a few years and now I'm 21, the stock market has been kind to me and I build my fish Monster tank. 8ftx4ftx3ft high! So this tank is sitting on the 2nd floor of my sister's house! This was in 1993 and because it was on the 2nd floor, I was able to do a drip system with an overflow that went right into the drain downstairs. Back then, getting 80 gallons a day on a chalk RO filter was high-tech, haha..... sorry my time for today is up. I will continue this story of mine when time permits... hopefully later on today and I will add pictures as well. Thanks for reading so far