What was your first aquarium?

[Caperguy99]

Sometimes I give my head a shake when I think about how I got into the hobby.

I was probably around 11 years old, in 1998-99, and my parents let me get a 10 gallon for my room. I had a little hang on back filter that I diligently replaced the cartridge for every month! Without access to the internet, or even anyone who ever kept fish beyond the salesperson at Walmart, I can tell you that my stocking was not appropriate.

At different times, that 10 gallon was home to a pleco, a khuli loach, an elephant nose, various tetras and danios, a betta, a clown loach, two gouramis, and a smattering of neon tetras.

Those poor, poor fish. But hey, I guess you learn from your mistakes!

So what was everyone’s first tank?

 

[HUKIT]

My start was very, very similar. I was 7 years old with a 10g with white aquarium gravel which was cool until the diatoms and green algae took over. I tried live plants which sparked a pest snail outbreak. I kept trying fiddler crabs which always ended outside the tank. It was an incredibly rough start pre-internet, so just books and local pet store advice but I’m still here with 40+ plus tanks at 50 years old. I still have a lot of fond memories of my parents taking us to the local pet store every week!!

 

[LBDave]

My start was pretty much the same as yours back in 1965. I ended up working at a Tropical Fish store when I was 13. After a few months I actually ran the store at times when the owner was gone. It was a gas.

 

[DawnMichele]

My first tank was when I was about 10. It was a 10 gallon with a corner filter.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

You're all doing better than me. For my 8th birthday, my grandparents gave me a deep blue veil tail betta in a BOWL. I cringe now of course...but at 8, I had no idea.

 

[esoxlucius]

My dad got our first tank around 1975 when I was about 8. He said it was "ours" to look after (myself and my younger brother and sister), though in reality we were never really allowed to do anything with it other than watch the fish.

It was around 10g and my dad put three goldfish in there. It had gravel and a few small stones, that was it. No filter, no airstone, nothing.

He cleaned it out regularly and each clean was almost surgical, using hot water and scrubbing brushes. Looking back I don't think it would have been remotely possible for the nitrogen cycle to ever start in that tank! After each clean the tank looked brand new again, and I remember the three fish would "sulk" on the bottom for hours.

I now realise that they weren't sulking, but in intense shock due to being dunked back into their shiny new tank with freezing cold water in it, and I never recall him using dechlorinator either. But remarkably those fish lived for years.

That was my first experience of an aquarium.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Dang, my first tank was very similar to many here. 10g petsmart "top fin" bundle. Lampeye tetras, gouramis, gold barbs, and corydoras were the mainstay.

I also changed the filter cartridge out routinely and mom taught me an elaborate 100% water change practice where i actually removed the fish from the tank and emptied it completely about once a month. It seems foolish to me now but my little community fish did just fine, one corydora lived for like 8 years which is still one of my longest lived fish.

 

[Jexnell]

First tank that I can remember was mom's boyfriend had what I am guessing was a 125 with Oscar's. Then one night we went out for dinner and when we got home the whole apartment building was on fire and we lost everything.
First tank that was mine was late teens. A 10 gallon with 4 angels and 2 pictus cats...awhh the 80's what a great time.

 

[jjohnwm]

My first tank came from the K-Mart in town when I was 9 or 10; a 5.5-gallon stainless-framed beauty with a slate bottom and sealed not with space-age silicone, but rather with a black substance suspiciously akin to road tar. A gooseneck desk lamp provided both heat and light; the only other piece of equipment was a stainless-framed thermometer that I monitored with such intensity that I think I could change the temperature with my mind.

My dad insisted that the fish be treated with respect; 100% water change every week, accompanied by a thorough scrubbing of all interior and exterior surfaces. After awhile...a year or so, maybe?...we got a real honest-to-goodness filter, charged with charcoal and real honest-to-goodness fibreglass. A friend of my father, who had several tanks in his basement, got me started with some brick red swordtails, and of course our weekly visit to the K-Mart pet department sometimes saw new treasures coming home with us. I was on a first-name basis with the K-Mart pet lady; as I got a bit older, I came to realize that the K-Mart pet lady was a pretty hot number, which may have partially explained my father's easy indulgence of my new hobby ...but only partially, because he had always encouraged my varied hobbies and interests.

And, yes, Esox...that is indeed where I got my little bubbling diver dude, who stuck with me through thick and thin for many years before meeting an untimely demise at the hands of...ah, never mind...

 

[LBDave]

My first tank was when I was about 10. It was a 10 gallon with a corner filter.

Yep. I used a corner filter too. I think HOB was too luxurious for me at the time.
This tank was on a table at the head of my bed. I think half the water splashed on me during the
The 1971 San Fernando Earthquake