What First Pulled You Into Reefing?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

There's something that pulled each of us into this hobby…maybe a reef tank caught your eye, a particular fish or coral you had to have…or saltwater seemed like the next step deeper into the hobby after fresh.

What first got you interested in keeping a reef? And is that still the part you love most?

BONUS POINTS: Tell us the story of how you got started. What was the moment you knew you were hooked?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

For me, it was seeing tanks that had a bunch of corals and fish in them. I thought," That would be neat to do at home," and here I am.

 

[X-37B]

1989 wife bought me a 55 hex because I was reading a freshwater magazine.
I went to the lfs for a stand, saw the marine section, went home and got the hex and traded for a 55 corner overflow.
Still at it today, lol.

 

[13rodo]

There's something that pulled each of us into this hobby…maybe a reef tank caught your eye, a particular fish or coral you had to have…or saltwater seemed like the next step deeper into the hobby after fresh.

What first got you interested in keeping a reef? And is that still the part you love most?

BONUS POINTS: Tell us the story of how you got started. What was the moment you knew you were hooked?

My kids’ cartoon had a pistol shrimp episode. I didn’t think it was a real thing. Upon googling one of the first posts was an r2r post about keeping them and their symbiotic relationship with gobies. Naturally I started a tank and have a goby/pistol shrimp pair.

 

[DeepDiver55]

Was a landlocked scuba diver and enjoyed warm water diving - reefs etc. I needed a fix. In 2002 I wandered into a great lfs in Portland, Or. with plenty of used tanks for sale. Bought one, they plumbed it (wish I could do such a good job). I found out the original pre-plumbed aquarium was the cheapest part… Took it home, set it up and here I am. On my 3rd & 4th ones now.

 

[MizzouMark]

I was an avid scuba diver living in Chicago. In 2010 I decided I wanted to have a piece of the ocean in my home year-round and starting my reefing journey with a 225 gal tank.

 

[MC Blowfish]

My original tank was FOWLR. I was working at Petco, and was in charge of the aquatics area. I was working with saltwater for a few months before I decided to jump into the hobby.

When that tank crashed, I gave up. Last year, my family and I went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. They have a saltwater area, and I remembered why I loved saltwater.

I started an aquarium with the sole purpose of being fish only again. Then I started looking at people's tanks here, and decided that I wanted to try corals.

 

[exnisstech]

When I was a kid I saw a Picasso trigger in a store and always wanted one. A few years into the hobby I added a small one and it was total jerk. The fish was about 3" but a total terror. It would defend the nori clip against tangs twice his size. I lost a 30" zebra moray when the trigger started nipping at it anytime the eel came out. The eel eventually stopped eating and died. The trigger ended up getting eaten by a large green haddoni. Good riddance.
2 lessons learned, Picasso triggers don't play well with others and don't add a haddoni to a tank with fish unless they're clowns. I also lost a powder blue tang and a foxface to the nem.

 

[Baldyreef]

for me it was constant trips my uncles sailboat in San Diego, i would catch blennies from the side of the dock and keep them with a hang on back filter in a small tank some sea water rocks and and some macro algae,tunicates and other little critters I would find, then years later a lfs opened up near where I lived and they had Wyoming white clownfish, and that's what got me formally into the hobby

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Awesome stories! For me it was a vacation to Naples, FL where I picked up some fighting conchs and a couple of queen conchs from the beach and decided to set up a tank for them. That was 2012...

 

[13rodo]

Awesome stories! For me it was a vacation to Naples, FL where I picked up some fighting conchs and a couple of queen conchs from the beach and decided to set up a tank for them. That was 2012...

The first thing that went in my tank was a strawberry conch. Awesome creatures! Sadly my turd of a halloween hermit decided to eat it recently :-/ He had a whole corner of big shells to pick from, but the conch's shell was what he had to have...

 

[Jstan84]

Got my first freshwater tank as a birthday present when I was 10, I liked it but like any other 10 year old I didnt keep up with it or know what I was doing. In '97 when I was 12, I moved to Louisiana and a buddy of mine down the street had a 30 gallon tank with crushed coral and coral skeletons for decorations. He just had damsels in that tank, but I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. For my 13th birthday my parents got me the worst 55G tank and stand money could buy. Started with crushed coral and an undergravel filter and a 2 bulb standard T8 light fixture. Eventually I upgraded that system to have a 2 bulb VHO system alongside the T8's, Live rock and live sand, and the engineering marvel known as the Skilter. I had that tank throughout high school.

Since then I have been in and out of the hobby several times, have had probably a dozen different tanks, worked at an LFS, had systems taken out by hurricanes, snorkeled in the caribbean, and built a family and hope my fascination and love of reefs passes on to my daughter. I love how the technology, research, and information in this hobby has grown, but I absolutely hate where the livestock economy has gone. If I could go back in time I would love to slap Steve Tyree and whoever named the first mutant clownfish for attaching designer names to corals and fish.

 

[jonelder68]

First dive in Cozumel, Mexico. Then finding Nemo

 

[christinna77]

Going back to Maui every year just to spend pretty much all day every day underwater. Then coming home and experiencing severe withdrawal every single time. Eventually I figured I just needed my own little piece of the ocean at home lol.

 

[RichReef]

I've had some form of fish tank since I was five.

It was just a natural progression to the pinnacle of aquarium keeping.