What was your very first tank? or Fishbowl :)

FaviaFreak · Mar 6, 2009

Mine was a homemade tank made by some older kid who lived up the street from me, I was 9 at the time and this was in 1979. The tank was made from 12" PVC pipe with a hole cut in the top, clear 1" plexiglass siliconed on the ends for viewing and two 1" pieces of PVC pipette glued onto the bottom for feet...LOL talk about homemade!! I kept baby black tiger Oscars and from that point and forever more I was hooked....

So what was your very first tank? and no lying even if it was a goldfish you won at the carnival and kept in a fishbowl

SaraB · Mar 6, 2009

Mine was a standard 10 gallon freshwater tank back in something like 1980 when I was ... oh nevermind that part

I kept neons, mollys and swordtails. The bug for freshwater stayed with me for over 20 years and I took a 4 year break when I got dogs. I jumped into saltwater in 2004.

JuniorMC8704 · Mar 6, 2009

Here was my first FOWLR, and that kept me happy for about a day...

here is a pick of my first reef.

Can ya tell i got slightly better at taking pictures? =)

Cool thread!

FaviaFreak · Mar 6, 2009

Nice Guys and Gals!!! this soooo funny I love it!!!

Jr. it so cool that you were documenting back then and yes your picture taking skills are off the hook now, no doubt!

pakora · Mar 6, 2009

My first "tank" if you could call it was an olive jar. We used to get some string tie it to a bent safety pin and put it in the water where the minnows and other tiny fish would swim. Quickly yank on the string and pull in some fish. Poked some holes in the top of the jar and bam. I dont remember if they died or what not but it was my first experience with fish looool.

Chris22582 · Mar 6, 2009

My first tank was a 20 gal freash water about 4 years ago and lost interest fast. Seemed to easy then I started a 24g aquapod about 2 and a half years ago and been hooked since. They should have a 12 step programs for us. lol

softiegirl · Mar 6, 2009

I would say my very first would be a styrofoam coffee cup with some tadpoles in it on the bumper of our camper when i was a kid..... could never figure out where they went after a week! musta turned into frogs and hopped away! now if i can only figure out how to go back to those days..............

ahayes13 · Mar 6, 2009

my first tank was a 10gallon freshwater tank with those colored pebbles for sand and some fake tank decorations and had a teeny tiny lil puffer fish. it didnt last long.....

dtpollard · Mar 6, 2009

Mine was a 20L w/ metal stand I bought from a relative in 1979 for $20 to keep minnows alive for fishing.

Ladipyg · Mar 6, 2009

When I was 10 I would go fishing daily to the local park that had a pond...pretty much caught everything...carp, bluegills, crayfish, minnows, baby bass...everything. My father was mad at us for something and we got banned from using the swimming pool in the back yard. Just a regular pool, no filter or anything but it was huge...10 feet across and 3 feet deep. The water turned green so none of us were going to go swimming cause it meant WE'D have to clean it...not happening. I began bringing my catch of the day home and throwing it into the pool. Days when I couldn't go to the park I fished in the pool. My parents laughed at how cute it was, they had no idea. Being a typical kid...I never asked if I could do this...I JUST DID. Come fall dad goes to empty the pool and when he gets to about a foot of water left, he is STUNNED at the sheer number of fish in the pool. Close to 200 total...I'm standing there screaming my head off his can't kill my pet fish..so we spend the rest of the day schleping fish in anything that will hold water back to the local pond. As a way to calm me down over the loss of my fish, he goes out and get me one of those aquarium kits, 10 gallon tank with a metal frame, NO flourscent light (big upgrade in those days) corner box filter... And I've been doing this ever since...Started saltwater when I was 16...there was a place in Chicago called Coral Reef...I bought a Green Sea Turtle for $15.00, that was a lot of babysitting cash back then. I had it for 5 years...it got so big we were keeping it in the basement in a pool with a filter. Finally we took a trip to Florida to release if off Clearwater Beach (hey, it was 1976...we know better now) But that was it, my father started me on this addiction and I love him for it.

softiegirl · Mar 6, 2009

too funny ladi! too bad you didn't have a camera for the look on your dads face! :neutral:

Ladipyg · Mar 6, 2009

I'm lucky I didn't get a spanking...there were no "time outs" when I was a kid...just dad's belt..mom saved me...she came out laughing and pretty soon my dad saw the humor in it too. Until he died, we shared so much, I was blessed. Fishing, aquariums, car repair (yeah, I was a total grease monkey..had grease under my nails until I turned 15 and LOVED it)

socalreefer78 · Mar 6, 2009

My first tank was a 100g FW. It was my dads actually but it was like "both of ours". Since then I've had a 30g, 60g, 100g, 72g, and now a 90g! One day it will be 300+!

ReefRunner · Mar 6, 2009

Ladipyg said:
When I was 10 I would go fishing daily to the local park that had a pond...pretty much caught everything...carp, bluegills, crayfish, minnows, baby bass...everything. My father was mad at us for something and we got banned from using the swimming pool in the back yard. Just a regular pool, no filter or anything but it was huge...10 feet across and 3 feet deep. The water turned green so none of us were going to go swimming cause it meant WE'D have to clean it...not happening. I began bringing my catch of the day home and throwing it into the pool. Days when I couldn't go to the park I fished in the pool. My parents laughed at how cute it was, they had no idea. Being a typical kid...I never asked if I could do this...I JUST DID. Come fall dad goes to empty the pool and when he gets to about a foot of water left, he is STUNNED at the sheer number of fish in the pool. Close to 200 total...I'm standing there screaming my head off his can't kill my pet fish..so we spend the rest of the day schleping fish in anything that will hold water back to the local pond. As a way to calm me down over the loss of my fish, he goes out and get me one of those aquarium kits, 10 gallon tank with a metal frame, NO flourscent light (big upgrade in those days) corner box filter... And I've been doing this ever since...Started saltwater when I was 16...there was a place in Chicago called Coral Reef...I bought a Green Sea Turtle for $15.00, that was a lot of babysitting cash back then. I had it for 5 years...it got so big we were keeping it in the basement in a pool with a filter. Finally we took a trip to Florida to release if off Clearwater Beach (hey, it was 1976...we know better now) But that was it, my father started me on this addiction and I love him for it.

Now that is a great story. No one will top that as their first tank

I had two tanks, a 20 gallon mixed freshwater and 10 gallon freshwater with oscars only when I was a kid. I started with saltwater back in the mid 80's when you used dead coral and Magnum filters. Now we have a 600 gallon system that includes a 280 display and a 40 gallon Infinity Edge tank.

Robin

FaviaFreak · Mar 6, 2009

these are some teriffic stories, I relish this stuff it is classic!!!

cherokee_dude · Mar 6, 2009

I lived in the city so this is a city boy's starter. I actually kept a pair of painted turtles (About 5") in one of my mom's large aluminum mixing bowl for 3 months. No water changes, just kept adding water and feeding them lettuce

She finally discovered my pets, came into my room covering her mouth and drove me down to a pond to release them. I was 13 at that time.

cephalopod · Mar 6, 2009

55 gallon fw community as a kid. Now I 'm on my first salt set up 75 gallon reef. Learned a lot with over the last 2.5 yrs, like I don't think I could ever walk away from it. Always have loved aquariums.