who influenced you into reef keeping?

[evoIX_Reefer]

I didnt want to go off topic with another thread but someone was heading to an interesting topic.

I want to know the correlation to why or how you got into the hobby?

I used to watch my late grandfather as a kid take care of his tank, haul 6-7 5 gallon saltwater buckets from the outside detached garage into the living room and just put in the work. I remember watching his love for yellow tangs etc light up his face just watching his beautiful tank.

Even now, everyone comments like its his tank and watching his creation come back. I always have a yellow tang.

Not reef but he has a koi pond engraved on his tomb.

I was a bad kid that got into fights, I mean back in the day gang type fights. Still did good in school and got my b.s. in computer science but i was bad.

Went to the Navy to fix that but he was the one to always say he was proud.

Either influence or the joy of a tank brought me closer to him so i keep chugging along this hobby in memory of what it meant to him and the joy it also brings to me.


So what got you in the hobby? Sheer luck?

 

[albano]

Great story...good thing that he preferred yellow tangs to convict tangs!

I've had fish tanks since I was 5 yrs old...was in a car accident and was given a big tank (probably <5g) to entertain me while I was bed ridden. While in college in the early 70s my girlfriend had a part time job at a pet store in Atlanta, I saw clownfish and was hooked!

 

[cooper102]

I was influenced into reef keeping by fairways lobster tank.

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

Nice albano! Great gift that ended up being.

Cooper - wth april fools? My sons do ask to put a lobster in there so it is fresh for me to eat.

 

[SteveZz]

A friend of mine from high school had kept reef tanks for most of his life. We started talking about it and he ended up giving me one of his old tanks, teaching me what he knew and giving me starter corals. Then he left the hobby and he's now convinced me to dig my own pond and start with koi he's going to give me.

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

Good friend. At least he didnt send you in blindly.

 

[SteveZz]

Good friend. At least he didnt send you in blindly.

He sticks it out and continues to answer every question I have, so I can't complain.

 

[Reef lover24]

my dad used to buy and sell fish back in the day. He had about 15-20 tanks set up in his basement, made early morning runs to the airport to pick up livestock and put in the work. He had a few tanks around the house then had a custom 180g tank which he lost few years ago in sandy. I always used to help him and even though he just ran mostly FOWLR tanks I read online, did research and started a reef tank. That's how I got started