Where My Ladies At?!

revsgirl · Nov 2, 2011

R2R Ladies rule! Eat your heart out guys!

denihogan · Nov 3, 2011

The key...(if you husband is just tolerant) is to make sure your husband's hobby is more expensive than ours!

revsgirl · Nov 3, 2011

^ so true!! Although my husband obviously has depth in the hobby, I have learned with other things, as long as he is getting to spend money where he wants, it's only fair to spend some on what I want! ;)

revsgirl · May 27, 2012

:bump: for some new ladies! ;) Where you at girls?

BarbH · May 28, 2012

My first experience in fishkeeping started at the end of my 6th grade year when one of the teachers who kept a fw tank in their classroom gaveaway the goldfish that he kept in the tank at the end of the school year. I came home carrying a bag with a goldfish with no tank to place it into or my parents having no knowledge of the fish until I got home. That night we went out and picked up a 10 gallon setup that had the old box style filter some gravel and set the tank up and placed the fish on in it. I had that fish for several years in the 10 gallon along with a pleco that we had picked up to clean the algae. After the goldfish passed away I was without any fish for several years until I got a beta which I had for several years. During this time of my first experiences of keeping fish I had no idea about the nitrogen cycle or even using declorinator for the water.

While I was living in Lansing I had seen my first saltwater aquariums, these tanks where corals only but I feel in love with they way they looked and the movement of the corals. Last year I set up my first "large" aquarium a 50g long that I set up as a fw planted tank featured around angelfish. My interest though really was in keeping a saltwater aquarium, which I thought at that time would be too difficult to keep. Over the past year I had spent a lot of time reading about sw aquariums and started to make plans for my first tank which at that time I was planning on doing a 29g tank. During that time I moved and plans for doing a sw tank got put on hold. This spring I decided to go ahead with my plans but I decided that instead of doing the 29g tank that I was going to convert my 50g over to a saltwater. Started spending more time on one of the local forums and I came across a good deal for a 72g bowfront with stand along with rock and substrate. I am the one responsible for everything on the tank, although the boyfriend has helped me out with installing a gfci near the tank. He also has shown interest in the tank and when I have added anything to it he wants to come over to see it, hard part it trying to get him to understand that with my fish once the lights have gone out they head to their sleeping places for the night and don't come back out until morning, even if the lights are turned on for any reason before that. I am slowly however working on converting him, he has a fw tank at his office that we are sometime going to be moving my angel fish over to. He has an interest in saltwater tanks, I just now need to convince him that it is not as hard as he thinks :D

catran · May 28, 2012

I started out with guppies when I was 12. I lived with my grandparents and my grandmother loved freshwater. Flash forward a few years and I started getting bigger tanks, 55g's and breeding chiclids. I sold them when I had to get my condo remodled and swore that the next tank I got was going to be a saltwater tank!
I started with a 15g tanks because I was intimidated by the hobby and wanted to be sure I could commit. Then, it was a 20g high, then I took the leap and got a RSM 130d. I was pretty hooked by the time I decided to buy the RSM 250, bare bones, tank only. I collected all the parts and finally got that set up. I had swapped the 20g high for a 29g. I also bought a 24x24x8" frag thank. I won a 28g nano cube at a frag swap and set it up in my office.
Just recently, I turned the 29g into an Anemone tank. I haven't set up the frag tank since I'm waiting for the GHL Mitras light (hopefully). Now, I'm trying to decide if I really want a 24 sq. or 36"sq frag tank, lol! My RSM 250 is overflowing with all my frags now. A 24" sq might not be enough room.
In the meantime, my great friends Matt and Devon built me an awesome tank. Matt gave me the tank- and painted it too! Devon cut an awesome overflow, drilled the corner of the back and installed the overflow and bulkhead. Oh, Matt even set up the inside elbow for the drain! I'll use the 40b to replace the 29g. My nems will be in heaven!
Other than the really great help from my friends with the new tank, I do all the maintenance on all my tanks.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

revsgirl · May 28, 2012

Awesome stories guys!! So glad our community of ladies is growing!! David said he would have some t-shirts just for us ladies on the site soon!! :clap2:

revhtree · Aug 29, 2016

Bump for lady reefers! :p

ReeferBob · Aug 29, 2016

Doh! After 4 1/2 years?

mmw64 · Aug 29, 2016

I'll play. Latest tank was set up May, 2015. Hubby helps with tough stuff but every day stuff is mine.

DeniseAndy · Aug 29, 2016

Oh gosh. What got me into it? Beluga whales and clownfish. Saw a Beluga at the Minnesota zoo when I was a wee lass. Fell in love with marine animals. Then by college, I got a small 20g and kept clowns for a while. Then a long hiatus. Began again with full blown reef 14yrs ago.

My hubby helps build what I tell him to and how. I do everything else. He likes to look, that is it. He never wants to know cost. :)

I now reach out to schools with my non-profit to try to get kids to embrace the reef and sometimes they get that spark for the hobby too. :)

I too was too one of very few in the area. Now we have a few more women. I love to DIY stuff and I love the animal keeping part. Not so much the toys.

revhtree · Aug 30, 2016

ReeferBob said:
Doh! After 4 1/2 years?

Yep because we need more ladies here and in the hobby!

jenjen · Aug 31, 2016

My dad bread freshwater Angels & Discus when I was a kid, so we always had at least 20-30 breeding tanks and a couple of large FW displays. I was the only kid interested, and I helped out with everything, from plumbing to hatching brine shrimp. When I moved out I had various FW tanks. When I got married my husband suggested SW because he likes the fish better, so I decided to give it a whirl.

We walked into the LFS in 2008 and walked out with my first SW tank - 90gal bowfront. I had that tank for a year, then upgraded to the current 180gal. The hobby is mine and I do pretty well everything myself (which I love!), but my hubby & daughter enjoy the tank and spend almost as much time as I do watching it. They especially enjoy explaining what everything is to visitors, and picking out the occasional inhabitant.

Chrisfish · Aug 31, 2016

My first expierence with fish was a goldfish I won in a school fair. I kept Goldie in a 2 gallon fish bowl and she lived for 5 years, (please no comments about how wrong it is to keep them in a bowl, I was very young and we didn't know about those things ) and after that I have always had fish tanks if some kind. My favorite FW tank I had was a planted dwarf puffer tank, talk about personalities and they loved their planted surroundings. Then the saltwater bug got me, I've always loved them but was afraid to jump in. I did lots of reading and watching you tube videos and joined R2R and the fun began. My first sw tank was a 3 gal. Nano / pico reef it did really well so my confidence bloomed and I went to an 8 gallon reef, during this time I did it all on my own with no help from hubby but he was very encouraging with it all and actually very proud of me. So for Christmas I decided my Christmas present would be a 30 gal. AIO, since there were such great sales. So I now have a jbj 30 gallon reef tank that I love, I do all the maintance on it and read up on any problems that occur and ask lots of questions here on R2R . As one of you mentioned my husband loves to show off the tank and Bragg to his friends that we have a SW tank but that's where it ends. Now I'm looking at upgrading to a bigger tank , shhhh don't tell him.:D Oh and when the UPS truck delivers live stock he knows better than to ask how much.:p

Tahoe61 · Aug 31, 2016

Having been born and raised at Lake Tahoe I have always had an affinity and fascination with all things water. As a small child in the 60's I was collecting minnows and cray fish. My first SW venture as a young child was ordering Sea Horses off the back of cereal boxes and comic books.
As a young adult I moved to the Pacific Coast and was and still am in love with the ocean. I can spend all day in tide pools with ID books. In the early 80's I started my first true SW tank. I have never really been able to explain why I find corals, specifically acropora so beautiful, it's just something about me that I can not deny as evidenced by my long term involvement and devotion to the hobby.
A box of water even devoid of inhabitants is still a jewel to me, be it fresh or saltwater.

Eva Rose · Sep 2, 2016

I was born and grew up in Florida. My favorite hobbies centered around mammals, sea creatures and art. I loved having all types of furry pets & tried raising seahorses as a kid.
Fast forward to today - I have a reef tank geared toward peaceful fish and LPS. I am new to the hobby & R2R is a great place to learn. While I love beautiful coral , my fish are definitely passion - my babies! It is so exciting to see a tiny creature learn to trust you and get animated at the sight of you! 'Personality ' fish like gobies, hawkfish, jawfish and blennies especially steal my heart.
R2R has been so reassuring to have as a newbie. It has helped me learn and slowly grow confidence in my reefing skills.

cameronh · Sep 5, 2016

Chrisfish said:
My first expierence with fish was a goldfish I won in a school fair. I kept Goldie in a 2 gallon fish bowl and she lived for 5 years, (please no comments about how wrong it is to keep them in a bowl, I was very young and we didn't know about those things ) and after that I have always had fish tanks if some kind. My favorite FW tank I had was a planted dwarf puffer tank, talk about personalities and they loved their planted surroundings. Then the saltwater bug got me, I've always loved them but was afraid to jump in. I did lots of reading and watching you tube videos and joined R2R and the fun began. My first sw tank was a 3 gal. Nano / pico reef it did really well so my confidence bloomed and I went to an 8 gallon reef, during this time I did it all on my own with no help from hubby but he was very encouraging with it all and actually very proud of me. So for Christmas I decided my Christmas present would be a 30 gal. AIO, since there were such great sales. So I now have a jbj 30 gallon reef tank that I love, I do all the maintance on it and read up on any problems that occur and ask lots of questions here on R2R . As one of you mentioned my husband loves to show off the tank and Bragg to his friends that we have a SW tank but that's where it ends. Now I'm looking at upgrading to a bigger tank , shhhh don't tell him.:D Oh and when the UPS truck delivers live stock he knows better than to ask how much.:p

You never told me you had a 3 gallon!