How did you get into the hobby?

[Raul-7]

I'm curious, what got you into the hobby? Was it a picture or video? Seeing a beautiful coral/fish in person? A gift (ie. nano tank)?


5 years from now: do you plan to continue or is it much more difficult than you assumed? Or simply losing interest?

 

[Alexraptor]

Finding Nemo!

And I'll never stop, it's my raison d'etre!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

My parents had a tank when I was young, and I remember always loving the different fish they had in it. Well fast-forward a bunch of years later, I have friends and family who are in the hobby, and they wanted me to dive into the hobby as well. So I got back into the hobby and I don't regret it!

 

[Reefer Matt]

I first got into reefing in 2005 when I was at a local pet shop. I saw the saltwater section and was hooked. Though I didn’t stay in it long (due to the economy), the reefing bug came back in 2018. Now I have the time and means to make reefing a large part of my life. I call it my “Corvette” to my wife. I am middle aged, and chose reefing as my crutch in my “midlife crisis”.

 

[DIYreefer]

I got into the hobby originally in the mid/late 90's. Fast forward about a decade and I jumped back in after a simple conversation I had with my wife. I was telling her about all of the beautiful fish that I once kept in an aquarium. I took her to the LFS to show her (with no intentions of setting up a tank again) and saw my first AIO tank. It was a 24g AquaPod and I was blown away. Everything needed to sustain a reef tank in one asy package, lol.

Needless to say, I bought it. My wife and I agreed to a $500 stocking budget. Yeah, that didn't last long. I've had many tanks since then, spent many 10's of thousands of dollars, and now have a room in my house dedicated to growing coral (in addition to my display tank in a different room). I love this hobby and will never quit unless something happens that won't allow me to continue. Oh, and yes, I still have my wife, too. Lol.

 

[littlefoxx]

I'm curious, what got you into the hobby? Was it a picture or video? Seeing a beautiful coral/fish in person? A gift (ie. nano tank)?


5 years from now: do you plan to continue or is it much more difficult than you assumed? Or simply losing interest?

Ive always loved fish! My mom hates tanks (loves looking at them but maintaining them is what she hates). I wanted a saltwater tank growing up but she was very against it (because of the work and me being a kid) but I finally convinced her to let me get a freshwater tank! Just stuck with freshwater as thats what I was comfortable with until I saw my cousins 140 gallon tank full of corals and fish… I knew when I was done with college and didnt live in an apartment anymore I was going to have a reef! And boom finally got into it and I love my fish. Very relaxing to watch them and helps my anxiety

 

[nickm]

Always wanted to get in SW. Finally made the plunge even though I thought it was harder than what it really is.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

Not to brag, but I think I’ve got the best story.

I had freshwater as an kid and always wanted saltwater but never had a motivating factor to make the jump.

Then, while clamming in the waters of Long Island NY, I found a crab of the species calappa flammea. My background as a scuba instructor was the only thing that let me ID the crab. They’re native to the Keys and the Caribbean, so the obvious question becomes how the utter [BLEEP] did I find one in NY?

It’s pretty well established that North-bound currents sweeping up from the Gulf bring juvenile tropical fish with them, a local reef near my house gets spotfin butterflyfish every summer, and local spearfishermen (including myself!) frequently see tropical strays ranging from damselfish to sheepshead to tarpon! But the same phenomena is rarely, if ever, observed in crustaceans. To my knowledge (and I’ve done dozens and dozens of hours of digging) I am the first EVER recorded case of that type of crab being found in NY waters. I can honestly say that the chances of me finding him WERE “needle-in-a-haystack” proportions, I had a one in a trillion find.

I found him in October 2022, the genus Calappa are endemic to equatorial waters of around 70F and I found him in like 55F (and dropping). I ended up setting up a tank to keep my rare find alive! Named him “Cal” for Calappa.

Unfortunately he has since passed away shortly after a cross-country tank move, but I had him for like 6-8 months and he molted twice, from juvenile to full adult size, under my care. Ultimately, I fell in love with the hobby as everyone who knows me suspected I would, and even post Cal I really enjoy it! Im now in the process of planning out a bigger build to transition away from my older AIO so as to better support an Acro-dominant mixed reef!

 

[BanZI29]

When we moved here to Florida, We started homeschooling our Daughter. She liked ocean critters so we said, let's get a aquarium and make it part of her science course. She helped start it, recorded testing and monitoring and then got our first set of corals. She did great and made an awesome study report. She learned alot.
When she was done, we did not want to just get rid of it, and it looked great in our house so, we kept it and we have been growing it ever since. 3 years now.

 

[00W]

I came home in 1989 for my buddy's wedding. While staying with him, I slept in his living room next to his 100 gallon with under gravel filter and I was hooked immediately.
When I went back to college after the wedding, I found a tank behind the salvation army. Back then, fish and supplies were in a section of the hardware store.
I got what I thought I needed, grabbed a clamp on light with a regular light bulb and went for it.
Eventually I moved back home, my buddy helping me move all my fish in coolers, tank and trickle filter bouncing around in his mini van for 3 hours.
Everything made it and I've been doing it ever since. Everything from custom stands and hoods to making protein skimmers and doing plumbing.
Would do it for a living if it made money, or I lived in a bigger city and I couldn't imagine not having a tank.
It's really my peace of mind.

 

[q8cyu]

Many factors played into me getting in saltwater (I had a fresh water tank around 7 years ago) but seeing a flame angle in person is what fully made up my mind about a year or two of research/waiting for the right time and I got my current tank. And the flame angle and a bunch more fish/inverts.

I definitely plan to keep on going for as long as I can.

 

[littlefoxx]

Not to brag, but I think I’ve got the best story.

I had freshwater as an kid and always wanted saltwater but never had a motivating factor to make the jump.

Then, while clamming in the waters of Long Island NY, I found a crab of the species calappa flammea. My background as a scuba instructor was the only thing that let me ID the crab. They’re native to the Keys and the Caribbean, so the obvious question becomes how the utter [BLEEP] did I find one in NY?

It’s pretty well established that North-bound currents sweeping up from the Gulf bring juvenile tropical fish with them, a local reef near my house gets spotfin butterflyfish every summer, and local spearfishermen (including myself!) frequently see tropical strays ranging from damselfish to sheepshead to tarpon! But the same phenomena is rarely, if ever, observed in crustaceans. To my knowledge (and I’ve done dozens and dozens of hours of digging) I am the first EVER recorded case of that type of crab being found in NY waters. I can honestly say that the chances of me finding him WERE “needle-in-a-haystack” proportions, I had a one in a trillion find.

I found him in October 2022, the genus Calappa are endemic to equatorial waters of around 70F and I found him in like 55F (and dropping). I ended up setting up a tank to keep my rare find alive! Named him “Cal” for Calappa.

Unfortunately he has since passed away shortly after a cross-country tank move, but I had him for like 6-8 months and he molted twice, from juvenile to full adult size, under my care. Ultimately, I fell in love with the hobby as everyone who knows me suspected I would, and even post Cal I really enjoy it! Im now in the process of planning out a bigger build to transition away from my older AIO so as to better support an Acro-dominant mixed reef!

Now thats one really cool crab!!

 

[KrisReef]

My kindergarten teach, Mrs Slot had a bowl of guppies and at the end of the school year she gave all the kids who wanted some a fish or two.

Turns out her family was running one of the giant importing operations in LA, "The First fish is free."

Mostly a true story.

 

[DarkReefer]

I'd thrown around the idea in my head for 10+ years on and off for keeping fish. I remember (barely) having a pretty decent sized fresh water tank in the house when I was a tiny kid.
As an adult I've wanted to keep fish on and off. When I first moved into my own place, I wasn't allowed to get a larger tank for memory because I was renting and the place has carpet everywhere and it was too much of a risk according to the landlord.
I ended up keeping a single betta fish in a small tank next to my bed for a while.

I'd kept another couple of betta a couple more times small tanks on my desk at work but then about 3.5 years ago I ended up getting around a 40L fresh water tank that my gf and I set up and started to enjoy. We'd sit and watch it fairly often despite it being small.
One day at a fish store my gf saw some clownfish and said it would be cool to keep a nemo. I thought so too and thought about all the pretty colours corals can be etc and I went down the research rabbit hole.
A month or two later during the Christmas break (or possibly just before) we'd sorted out a Waterbox 70.2 to begin the journey.

 

[taricha]

around 2008, I had a planted tank and bought a "freshwater" puffer fish (green spotted puffer) at Walmart.
Then I learned the puffer was actually brackish, and then I realized it was hard to keep a planted tank brackish, and that the puffers were fine at full salinity and I could do a reef tank instead of a planted tank.
so here we are.