your first tank- when and what?

[mr_X]

i'm awful curious about everyone's very first experience with glass cages of any sort, and anything crazy you might remember about them.
mine is a story full of shame, and i cringe as i tell you ....

mine was a 29 gallon tank with a slate bottom and chrome frame.
i had a massive texas cichlid, another massive jack dempsey, a massive firemouth, and a couple massive catfish in that tank. i also had 2 full grown african frogs. i was very young(about 10 or so), but i remember the texas cichlid swimming about 6 inches, and then turning around 8O.


i also remember doing 90% water changes with tap water, unheated and right out of the faucet 8O . this, of course, was only after my mother would yell at me for stinking up the kitchen like a stagnant pond(we had the tank in the kitchen)
i used to go down to the local creek, and catch large crayfish, and throw them right in my tank. there was no acclimation for anything. a few sunnies and bluegills resided in my tank from time to time as well.

my filter was old school hang on the back filled with angel hair, or cotton balls, and an inch of charcoal.
the angel hair was changed when water would no longer flow through it.
the charcoal was never changed.

my feeding regimen was twice a day, or more. we used to keep boiled ham(lunchmeat) or i would take a meatball sized piece of ground beef and wrap it in tin foil and toss it in the freezer, and shave off pieces of that as needed. i remember the rainbow that would cover the waters' surface due to the oil slick during feeding time.

fish just seemed to be tougher back then! :roll:

i still tell this story to people and they look as though they don't believe me. am i the only one with a story like this?

 

[kydsexy]

actually mr. x, i think this is one of the greatest posts on any forum period. I learned from an old school fish guy, my dad, and he never changed his ways. Of course, I changed some of mine with time but for freshies, I still use old school techniques and in my opinion, I have the coolest, but least cool looking freshwater setup around. I just moved the tank so it's not up to par right now, but the infrequent water, charcoal, and angel hair hobs are still in heavy use in my home, rarely changing anything except what gets dirty. I actually prefer this.

I have 2 yellow bullheads (45 feeders/5days...savages!!) and a jack dempsey about 2 inches in a 29 gallon tank run off of a sponge filter and air pump, larger models. The water hasnt been changed in months, 0 ammonia 0 nitrites, 15 nitrates. no plants, inch or two of gravel. NO light and my fish remain beautifulby just rinsing the sponge ever so often. My fish are over 9 years old, the jack is about 2. I love old school techniques!!!!

 

[fungia]

my first tank is my tank right now, a 100 gallon reef tank. people told me go big so i went big. i dont count the little fish bowls i had when i was growing up.

 

[shavo]

first off Kydsexy lets not give X here too big of a head....
"actually mr. x, i think this is one of the greatest posts on any forum period"
I mean it's a very good post. Any forum period???? LOL, X your in your glory right now aren't you????? I am surprised that the moderators haven't thrown this thing into the sump already like they treated old george last week.

X, i had the same deal going on when I was a kid. I had Oscars, Snakeheads, WOLF FISH, lol carp, sunnies, bass, suckers whatever i could catch. I snagged a golden carp once and had that, I also caught a waleye out of the delaware river and had that for 6 months or so. they would eat scraps from my lunch. bologna & cheese, I even fed my oscars peanut butter and jelly and they ate it. I had the same rainbow water, kinda funny.
good post X

 

[mr_X]

lmao @ peanut butter and jelly!

 

[Len]

My first fish tank was a 10 gallon. I bought it because I won some goldfish (feeder fish) from a carnival. This was when I was about 5. I progressed to other FW fish until one day (in the late 80s) I saw my first reef tank and knew right then and there that I wanted one. My first reef tank was also a 10 gallon, and my first coral was a red and green open brain coral. After that 10 gallon, I was a lost cause

 

[kydsexy]

Ok Shavo! I actually would stick by my quote saying this is the best quote in any forum ever. i think this might drop this post into The Sump. The reason is bc my pops passed a while ago, and this just helped me reflect on the things he taught me. Kinda sappy but true. I kinda forgot the reason that i got into fish to begin with, but this really made me smile. Dont cry too much reading this, thanks for the post again Mr. X.

 

[trido]

20G oscar tank in the late 80's. I once caught my brothers fishing for my oscars with a couch pulled up to my 70G, they had a trout pole with steak tied to the end of the fishing line. Young country boys in the city. :lol:

I switched to SW 1.5 years ago.
I always want to go SW but never felt that I could afford it. I was right because now Im addicted to reefing..