What was the reason you started a tank?

[Gumbies R Us]

I am wondering why did everyone start a tank? Is it because you always had a love for salt water fish and coral? Maybe you had relatives in the hobby and they convinced you to join. Or maybe you wanted to try something you had no knowledge in, and now you are hooked. Curious to see what everyone says!

 

[Gtinnel]

For me it was just falling in love with the brightly colored saltwater fish at a chain pet store that I used to visit as a kid.

 

[shakacuz]

i like the sea! also because when i moved in to my apartment, my landlord didn't allow dogs, so i wanted something to maintain/keep (i also had a crested gecko, and a western hognose snake enclosure. but sold them to better focus on my tank) landlord finally caved and let us get a dog, so i now have both

my GF's step father at the time did have an influence in my decision because he had a 125 reef ready tank but he kept poor care of it and would never hand over ownership to me lol. so i started my own to prove i'd be better at it than him. and i did

 

[Cthulukelele]

Honestly kinda private, but my grandmother passed away, and she always loved the ocean. It was a way for me to keep her memory going forward. She and I had the same birthday, so we always had a special connection.

 

[Coalminer]

I married into it. My wife's family had mostly saltwater tanks when she was growing up, and my father-in-law is a teacher who has a 300 gallon school tank maintained by students and teaches a marine science class.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

So...

One day a friend approached me (because all the best stories are a friend's fault) and said he had found a deal for a complete 125gal system and he knew my wife and I were looking for a tank in the 100gal range as we were in the freshwater side of the hobby at the time and wanted to make a Florida Spring Natives tank. ho contacts the seller, I send him the money, and he picks up the tank and drives it down to my house from Gainesville.

Sounds like a really good friend right?

AT NO POINT DID HE TELL US THIS SYSTEM WAS A FULLY OPERATING SALTWATER TANK. I mean, it had a fully grown snowflake eel, a green bird wrasse, a huge maroon clown, and a foxface in it. At this point my wife was terrified of eels (she already had an irrational fear of snakes).

So while our plan was to let the tank sit for a litle bit while we acquired the rest of the equipment needed to make the spring tank (chiller, CO2 doser for plants, etc) we ended up having to set it up that night.

Any now we have a 240gal and RS MaxNano at home, I have an 80gal lagoon and RS E260 at work...with no signs of getting out soon.

 

[mfinn]

Back when I was single in the early 80's, this hot chick that lived in the next apartment over, asked me if I knew anything about saltwater fish tanks. She knew I was into freshwater stuff so she asked me to help her get started.
I had seen some saltwater stuff up at a local store and I thought it was cool.
So when she asked me, I sure as hell was going to do anything I had to, to help her.
So we went up and bought 2 systems, and many bazillions of dollars later, here I am.

 

[DIYreefer]

Back in the mid 90's I started a 75g sw tank. It had corny walmart aquarium decorations and a bunch of damsels. I loved it.

Fast forward to the early 00's and I took my then girlfriend, now wife to the Texas State Aquarium. I had told her all about my old fish tank and how vibrant all of the fish were. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot of vibrant tropical fish at the Texas State Aquarium so I took her to an LFS to show her what I was talking about.

While there, I saw an AIO system for the first time and was fascinated by the idea of such a "simple" system. Long story short, I went home with a 24g aquapod and a $500 stocking budget. L.O.L. Needless to say, I blew far beyond that budget and quickly moved on from the aquapod. Today, I've got roughly 400g of sw that house hundreds of corals (mostly frags) and dozens of fish. I still love it.

I've always found generally all aspects of the hobby to be very therapeutic. It really calms me down. I don't foresee a time in my life where I won't have at least one reef tank of some sort unless I'm either physically unable to maintain a tank, or financially unable to keep up with one.

 

[crazyfishmom]

My five year old son is autistic and he is obsessed with dinosaurs so I thought maybe I could find something that we could learn about together that could become a joint hobby. A pet seemed like a good idea but he is kind of scared of dogs and our cat doesn’t really like anyone other than my husband so those were not options for us. One of his therapists recommended a fish tank and I’ve always loved the idea of a fish tank. I started doing research and I was hooked. Now we go to a couple of local LFS together and the guys that work at both know us by name. He has long conversations with them about different fish or coral species (he’s incredibly bright… too smart for his own good or mine). My daughter is 3, she is also on the spectrum but too young to get involved yet however she absolutely loves the fish too. She mostly enjoys trying to climb boxes so she can dip her hand in the water. It’s become a bonding experience for us as a family.

 

[saltcats]

I always thought saltwater aquariums had to be big so never considered it much. Then someone I followed on social media posted about their new tank which was a 6 gallon nano for hermit crabs - never knew there were tiny full aquatic hermit crabs either! The hermits were the first animals I added to my tank and the first ones I knew for sure I wanted to keep

... And then here I am 3 years later getting a "big" tank anyway lol

 

[aggrofish]

I grew up in Hawaii. A reef tank has always been a small piece of home

 

[CBonito]

I enjoy seafood and to get it fresh here I have to grow my own.

 

[bakbay]

Back when I was single in the early 80's, this hot chick that lived in the next apartment over, asked me if I knew anything about saltwater fish tanks. She knew I was into freshwater stuff so she asked me to help her get started.
I had seen some saltwater stuff up at a local store and I thought it was cool.
So when she asked me, I sure as hell was going to do anything I had to, to help her.
So we went up and bought 2 systems, and many bazillions of dollars later, here I am.

So……did she ask you to check out her pipes to make sure they were not clogged and her pumps were operational at all times? I’m super curious…

 

[bakbay]

I enjoy seafood and to get it fresh here I have to grow my own.

lol — you and I had the same thoughts!

 

[KrisReef]

I won a goldfish at the fair...

 

[i cant think]

I am wondering why did everyone start a tank? Is it because you always had a love for salt water fish and coral? Maybe you had relatives in the hobby and they convinced you to join. Or maybe you wanted to try something you had no knowledge in, and now you are hooked. Curious to see what everyone says!

I set up my nano as I have always grown up around salt (I grew up around fresh as well but preferred salt). I then upgraded to the nano I have now as I wanted to grow SPS and Clams to the best I possibly can.

My main tank which was upgraded from my first saltwater tank was set up as Ive always loved the inverts. It’s the whole reason I converted into salt. I also find in salt the fish behave much stranger whilst in fresh they tend to just sit around waiting to be fed.

 

[Nate Chalk]

All for an increase in my sex appeal

 

[Widdlyscudds]

Parents had a pond with goldfish when i was growing up and that snowballed into getting my first aquarium and went down the long and windy planted freshwater aquarium road, but every time I saw a saltwater display or fish online I always thought they had a look you just couldn't get in freshwater. Saw an over the top nano on youtube a couple of years ago and the colors just blew me away, I couldn't believe you could keep live coral in an aquarium at home and I was hooked the second I saw it. There is a very certain feeling you get looking at a marine display or a coral upfront that you just don't get anywhere else it's almost like looking into an alien planet.

 

[Dburr1014]

I was into fresh water but never found eye popping colors.
My brother-in-law had a reef so I thought, I can do that, and I did.

 

[littlefoxx]

This fish. Someday Ill have a tank big enough for one big adult!