what got you addicted?

[apparent]

Hey everyone just curious as to what got everyone hooked into this hobby. I know for me I had a fw tank for years but I always found myself wandering off into the sw section of the pet store admiring all those colorful fish, But I always heard how much harder it was to maintain a sw tank. But I finally decided to give it a shot one day. I still remember how nervous I was adding my first blue damsel to the tank wondering if I did everything I was supposed to do in order for this little guy to live. Luckily he survived, then I came upon websites showing reef tanks and was almost instantly hooked and and that very same day ordered almost everything I needed to turn my little 20g into a reef tank. Needless to say I ended up upgrading a lot of my stuff later on though =P I guess having my own little piece of the ocean sort of speak in my own home with all the diverse life in it is what hooked me and all those colorful fish of course

 

[Anonymous]

I saw this fish at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. I wanted a SW tank ever since that day. I had FW but the fish weren't as colorful or varied as they are in the SW hobby.

 

[Anonymous]

i have always had a love for fish ever since i was a wee one.

as i got older, i took up a greater interest in marine life - particularly mammals. when i went to college, i was given the responsibility to care for our marine lab which had 6 sw tanks - 1 aggressive, 4 docile and 1 coldwater. i was taking my first marine biology class at the time. that was when i realized i would have a sw tank of my own. i never even imagined it would be a reef.

 

[Anonymous]

Doesn't everybody have a fish tank? :wink:



I started with freshwater. Liked the looks of the saltwater fish. God, what was I thinking.

 

[Len]

I did it for the girls. I thought that was why all the guys started reefkeeping?

Honestly, I think it was my first glimspe of an Elegance Coral that did me in. Too bad they are nearly impossible to keep nowadays.

 

[Joey French]

Clownfish with anemone...lethal combination. My girlfriend rues the day I happened upon that particular aquatic scene.

 

[fungia]

i always wanted a tank and i was looking at the sw and fw section when buying food for my dog. the sw section was so much prettier so it was a no brainer.

 

[ReefRian]

For as long as I can remember I've loved the ocean and sea life. The very first job I ever dreamed about or wanted as a child was to be an oceanographer. I had a freshwater tank for a short time, but pretty soon turned it into a seahorse tank. I was somewhere around 10 or 12 years old. I had it up for many years and loved those guys. I also had a clown and mandarin. They all lived for over 2 or more years. Eventually I took the tank down and gave the fish to a friend that had a tank. Then broke the tank accidentially and never got a new one. A little over a year ago my boyfriend and I started talking about sealife and I got the desire again. In October I started a 65 gal reef and have been loving it ever since and can't wait to do more and more and more.

Rian

 

[Anonymous]

I always had a fresh water tank setup, and once I saw pics of a reef I knew that's what I wanted in my new tank. Then I found this board and HAD to get a reef tank set up.

B

 

[Anonymous]

I always kept fish as a kid up until college. In the dark ages of saltwater I had a few damsels a clown and a condy anemone for a few years with crushed coral and that awesome undergravel filter! I kind of got out of keeping fish for many years and when I started doing research to set up a new freshwater planted tank a few years back I was flat out amazed at the strides made in keeping corals and fish - I started back up with an eclipse 6 gallon nano before I even knew there were nanos and now I'm hooked! 4 saltwater tanks currently and trying to suppress the urge to start another

 

[Mogo]

On a whim I bought my 2 year old a 10 gal fw with a couple angels, a raphael cat, a bubbling treasure chest and a very high tech air stone. As the fish grew, bigger tank. As my interest grew, different types of fish. Then a couple more aquariums. Then biotype tanks. Today, as well as the 140 sw tank, I still have a 50 gal tanganyikan tank and a 38 gal s. american tank. (Oh yeah and a pond full of goldfish.)

After 13 years, the raphael cat is thriving although its almost as big as my car. The original angels (fw) died a couple years ago. I've had most of the original tanganyikans for over 8 years. Yes it's busy but I can't bear to give the fw buggers up.

 

[EmilyB]

I kinda of adopted my husbands FW tank one day since he never cleaned it. He taught me the basics and I went nuts. 8)

I was just getting into breeding some cichlids when hubby decided to do saltwater. Two sumps cracked during the tank setup which flooded the living room twice. 8O

He basically handed me three damsels and three rocks, said they're all yours, and I have been happily flooding the house with SW ever since. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I've done FW pretty much since I can remember.... (That's subjective, having blown MUCH brain cells in younger days..)

Wanted to do marine inverts from my early teens, but wasn't real confident with the advice I kept getting from LFS's.. (That and the equipment was always out of $$ reach..)

So.... - I guess I've wanted to start a reef for almost 20 years before finally jumping in. 8)

 

[DOGMAI]

The guy on the corner said the first one was free. So I tried it, and now.... Oh you were talking about fish and reefs and coral and stuff. Well thats a different story. Whos addicted? Im not addicted! :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

Here it is, how to get hooked in one day.

Listen to your daughter complain about how her one gallon fish tank will only support one little fish and how she wants a bigger tank.

Go to the petstore with 5 crisp new one hundred dollar bills in your pocket because you forgot to deposit them in the bank.

On the way to the aisle with the ten gallon tanks you pass this really cool looking 54 gallon corner bow tank

Need I say more?

Any guesses on how many hundreds were left in my pocket when I left the store?

Bryan

 

[Anonymous]

Negative 700?

Wait...... How long ago was it??

Ahhh, nevermind, you'll be there soon enough, even if it was just yesterday! 8O

 

[Anonymous]

Believe it or not, I have about 1200$ invested in the tank. The stand I made myself and you could not buy a stand like that for under 500$ and that doesn't even count the livestock

I should have stuck to collecting rocks

Bryan

 

[ReefMon]

It's all Jacques Cousteau's fault....

 

[Anonymous]

HA!

I'm not even a year into my first reef, but I already know from what I've heard here that it'll get ugly.. I started right out with saving all my receipts so that some day down the road I can prove that I could have had a shiny new Ferrari.

 

[ReefRian]

I've had my tank set up since October and my boyfriend built my tank stand. I've probably already put atleast $4,000 into it.

Rian