Keeping fish

[dory]

hi all,

I was just wondering, how long have you guys been keeping fish and who got u into them? Just thought it would be intresting to know

Cheers Dory

[katanaone]

on and off for about five years or more now,

the doc told me to get a fish tank for my insomnia but i think doin water changes keeps me up instead.

[Gav]

started with tropicals in 1986, my mate got me into them. got into cichlids about 1988. it was all down hill from there.....

[dory]

Intresting guys, thanks for sharing, anyone else?

Cheers Dory

[Serial-Cichlid]

I started keeping koi (not show quality just your cheapo Fairfield Market ones) in a pond I made with my dad in 1993. I bought them small and watched them grow to around 30cm+.

I don't know why but some people decided to steal them (on 2 occasions) around 1997-8 so I was pretty disheartened and got out of fishkeeping altogether.

I was introduced to African Cichlids just a little over a year ago by my housemate's little brother and another friend of mine opened an aquarium so I got back into fishkeeping from there on. It started with one measly 4x18x18 and now its grown to about 10+ tanks give or take a few here and there.

The experience has been very enjoyable and not very difficult either.

Cheers

Paul

[catcher]

Hmmmmm,

My son was going to try and do a salt water display tank late last year, (this is a son at that time was a 1st year apprentice and paying off a car). Just out of sheer coinsidence a friend of the family said she had a 4ft tank and cabinet she didn't want anymore, my son jumped at it. So then he got a instructional video on the salt water subject, and the cash register just kept ticking over in his head while he watched it. I had not had the slightest interest in fish keeping. He decided he needed to save a little longer, the tank sat in his bedroom looking great on the cabinet for about 2 months, and not a whole lot of saving was going on.

Then I stepped in and said I'll have a look at trying to do something, not knowing the first thing.

Someone, I can't remember who, said something about these Cichlid fish.

Chicklids, what the hell are they? Then I did a bit, (a very little bit) of research and decided to give it a go.

So, 8-9mths later.

Someone help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I now have the original 4ftr with Mbuna only, and a 6x2x2 with haps and peacocks, both are displays, then some of those damm fish went and got pregnant. So I now have a 3ftr in the garage with 3 females waiting to spit.

You know when someone says to you they are obsessed with something, I know exactly what they mean!!!

glenn

[Gav]

thats why I said

it was all down hill from there.....

started with one tank. ended up with 9 tanks at my mums place, including 3 in my bedroom. it actually got a bit out of hand to be honest, sounds familiar to many I am sure.

much easier now I have my own place with a partner who is just as addicted as me.... though sometimes I wonder if she might even be worse

still this forum and the cichlid society offer great outlets for us cichlidiots

[r.d.m]

started with a marine tank in 1972 , have had at least 1 tank ever since , igave up saltwater about 10 years ago, and i am still not convinced that(with a few exceptions) they can be kept stress free and live out there full lives , this is why i gave up its simply a waste of life. my high point was when my purcula clowns spawned in 1984, but my tank cracked across the bottom before the eggs hatched, believe me that is the closest i got to giving it all up. i have 2 tanks now 1african(no particular lake)and 1 american and i get great pleasure from these as most of the fish breed and its nice to give fish to friends, sell to lfs and doing my bit for the captive bred stock. my long term goal is to grow up my 9 fronties into a breeding colony--but then again-- who knows

[Ducksta]

Of my 4 older siblings 2 of them had tanks the entire time I was young. I shared a room with one, and thus became an active participant in my brothers betta breeding program (but not that active ) Once I moved from that room into a room without a tank, I stole one of my brothers 12x6" tanks and got some goldfish. I would have been about 5? I experimented with different coldwater fish and had a variety of smallish tanks at any point in time. I had some pretty cool setups if I do say so myself. When I was a bit older (but no idea exactly how old) I bought a 2' tank, which I went tropical in, angels bred in there, electric yellows bred in there, and brasiliensis bred like convicts in there (but all got traded when they grew to about 5") Still at that point the word cichlid meant nothing to me. I traded alot of fry to lfs, angel, yellows, brasiliensis and all manner of livebearer over quite a few years. Never even suspected they were ripping me off until another lfs opened and showed me how much they buy them for wholesale, and then started buying my stuff for better prices. Eventually decided I wanted aggressive fish some time in that stage adolescent boys go through, and bought a 4' tank. Then I began to research more on cichlids and ended up here spending too much time online with fish people. I think they started rubbing off on me and now I have a room setup just for a rack of tanks, and plans to convert my garage

[anchar]

Over 20 years (on and off) ....when I left 8 tanks behind in Victoria, I said that I would only have 1 here in Perth ....that was 6 years ago.

80 odd tanks later ....well, you get the drift..

merjo

[Sarah]

i kept tropicals in the early 80's for a few years while at highschool, even did my Y11 work experience at Reef Aquarium in Hornsby . My dad was keeping cichlids at the time , so i guess he was responsible for getting me started in the hobby . I got back into fish a little over 3 years ago.

cheers

Sarah

[Burek]

Ive been keepinmg fish for a year.

first my next door neighbour gave me a 20 inch plastic tank with one goldfish in it so i can keep fish because i saw his tanks and i liked it lol

Then the next day i told him to gimme like another 10 goldfish lol and he gave me them.

then he and i went to the aquarium and i bought my first tank that was a 20 inch glass tank with like 15 goldfish i bought at the same time( geez i really had a thing for goldfish) then 2 weeks afta i got anotehr 20 inch and put another 15 goldfish and some orange cap goldfish.

then a couple of days lata i bought another one but he told me to buy a heater and im liek huh.. why do i need a heater?? then he showed me all these mad azz fish and im liek i wanna keep them then hes liek then buy a heate then i bougth one then i bought some neons etc

thanks to him im in this hobby if it wasent for him i woudint be here

[Lepperfish]

About 8 months seriously, since getting my mbunas theres no looking back, th bug has bitten.. My girlfriend got me intersted in them..

[sab]

good topic!

My obsession started with a cold water 2 foot tank as a christmas gift I bought my girlfriend two years ago. Along with the tank I bought, i also got her an apricot paradise fish, 4 danios (leopard and zebra) and 2 hawaiian platys at the same time. Little did I know about cycling tanks and water chemistry (i did buy conditioner and treatments so thats something right! doh about the cycling scenario though! The paradise fish passed on to the big fishtank in the sky after a month - very sad! We also lost 3 of the danios. However there was a bright side… the platys were pregnant and we ended up with 15 fry! The adult platys have since passed on, but we do have the fry left – which really are a motley crew (all different shapes and sizes and all probably inbreed to the hilt). We still have two of the original danios!

My sister had a spare 2 foot tank that I “borrowed” to house the new platy fry. So we set that up. That neccesitated getting two golden algae eaters! I also picked up a gold gourami and a few glolite tetras and made the first tank into a tropical. The other tank has a few white cloud mountain minnows too. One of the golden algae eaters died… the first bullied it a lot and I soon discovered two in the one tank wouldn't work! I added a bristlenose a little later too. And about this stage I wanted to do something different – like a marine set up (no i wasn't inspired by NEMO as this was just before it was released! LOL!).

Then last september/october, a girl at work's husband was piffing a 4 foot tank and stand from his work place – the tank had a repair made to the edge glass which looked pretty dodgey - but the stand was fine and just needed a paint as was bare wood. I grabbed them both anyways as they were free. Then another guy at work said he had an old standard 4 foot sitting in his garage I could buy – stand, old canister filter, two heaters, air pumps, rocks, gravel, other bits and pieces – for $50!!! Tank was in really good nick too!! I organised a few mates to help me pick it up and put the tank in ones 4WD… with the bags of gravel sitting in the empty tank!!! Guess what happened… of course the base cracked when we went over a bump! damn damn! We ended up chucking the cracked tank as was too hard to repair.)

I then looked into getting the first free 4 footer fixed … worked out to be cheaper to buy a new one. So I did and chucked the free tank on large rubbish day! I found a marine set up would be too hard to do and too much $$ for an amatuer so ditched that idea! I was smitten though by the display tank of tangs at St Kilda Aquarium and researched my butt off for about 8 weeks about them and malwais! I was then taken by the amazing personalities and colours of the malwais… so i then focussed my research on them. This time I cycled the tank using BIO START and filter squeezings from one of the other tanks over a week… monitoring water chemistry and all! The tank was cycled (fishlessly!) in a week! I picked up 6 hongis, 6 e yellows and 6 cobalt blues. I lost 5 of the e yellows and two female hongis… but the tank has calmed down considerably now and everyone knows their place. The hongis and cobalt blues are breeding… so that required two 1 foot breeding tanks! I think my 4 e yellows are all males though.

So I guess it was the best christmas present I ever bought! LOL! But guess who gets to do all the water changes and maintenance on all the tanks now! The GF does enjoy watching them all though and I have caught her chatting to the fish too! LOL!

Tangs or shell dwellers will be my next step… and i really want to consolidate the two tropicals into a three foot tank one day too.

anyways - geez I waffled! thats my story!

cheers

steve

[mezzacam]

Been going for about a year now, maybe a little more?

I took my friends 2ft tank he didn't want and also took his yabby...

I then took my mum's friends hybrid fish and put it in there too... i decided i wanted the fish more so the yabby then went to another mate..

ried to figure out what the fish was at that point in time (thought it was a lombardoi) so i went on a mission to find more... lol..

Ended up finding the newcastle cichlid forum, Andy had a small male lombardoi, and when i went over to his house to get it.... I saw his tank set up and the beaut fish he kept (especially that sailfin pleco, i was amazed) i nearly passed out on the floor... And that was the moment i decided i was to keep cichlids.. lol.

So thanks Andy You've sent me bankrupt and didn't even know it

Cameron

EDIT: I didn't know i was so terrible at spelling words first time through.. I seem to just jumble up the letters.. Should learn how to type aye. lol.

[dory]

hey guys,

since i started this, maybe i should share my story? It all started when i was about 5 and my mum bought me a little golfish set-up for my birthday, i filled the tank then my mum put in the de-chlorinator for me and i left it for about a week, not knowing why. Then mum took me to the fish shop and i got 2 comets, a fantail and some danios, i had them for a while and fed them every day, i had heaps of fun, then they all died cuz my brother put washing detergent in the tank!i was disheartened and gave up the hobby at age 6. It was not until i was about 12 that i went to my friends house and saw his dads 5 foot discus set up, this blew my mind! I borrowed one of his fish books and had my head burried in it for days, the African lake cichlids immediately captured my heart and from then on there was no going back.About 3 weeks later i bought a 4 foot set up and my dad and i made the cabnet for it as my budget didnt cater for $600 cabnet and hood set ups. we finished it, put it in my room and filled er up. The next week was spent on the internet and in books looking at what sort of cichlids i wanted and what their rquirements were, i learned what pH was and was back at the lfs buying coral sand. About a week later i went to st george aquariums with my dad and bought a selection of fish:2 frontosa's, 4 e.yellows, 4 e.blues, 2 male aulonocara (forget what type) and the most intresting fish i had ever seen:a sailfin pleco!lol I put em all in and watched in amazement for weeks as they grew and quarrelled over territory. Over the years i got into shell dwellers and was particularly taken with A.calvus and compressiceps. Soon i wanted more and was buying another tank.Four years and about 8 tanks later, here i am!I still have my original sailfin who is about 30cm now friends think im crazy, girlfriend thinks im cute, my mum regrets my 5th birthday present with all her heart and i cant wait to get a new 5by3by2 display tank! If i had never been to my friends house and seen his dads tank i dont think i would have started this thread, i dont think i would be a member of this site and i think i would have a lot more free time!lol But its all worth it, fish are my passion and i will always keep them, cant wait to get my own house!

thanks for sharing all your stories guys, i would love to read some more

Cheers Dory

[Dark Morelia]

I don't really remember my first fish that well... i dont even remember how old i was.

The first fish i ever remember having were 4 Angels in a 2ft tank, and they lived under my bunk bed (it was a bunk with a bed on top, and a desk underneath)

I do remember that they were always spawning, but would always eat their eggs and fry.

I think i ended up somehow killing them after a while, LOL.

It wasn't until a long while after that (about 3-4 years ago now) that i got back into fish, with a 3ft tank and stand for Christmas. And what did i put in it ? a Murray Cod ! I thought they were the bee's knees, with their mottles. And then i realised that the dumb thing never came out of hiding, so a couple of months after i bought it, (it was still about 8cm) i bought a Barramundi. Result ? one dead Barra in the morning. I ended up taking the Cod back to LFS.

After that i kept a few other natives (mostly ones from the river, LOL) Bass, Tandanus, and stuff like that, until one time i managed (somehow) to bring home 2 10cm Spangled Perch from Hervey Bay, in QLD, that i'd caught while fishing. They both survived, that is, until they got into a 3ft tank together, and tore each other to bits, but the surviving one was a great little pet, took food from my fingers and everything. Eventually i took him to the LFS (by that time it was about 20cm)

And got my first ever Rainbowfish. I kept an all-male display tank for a couple of years, I remember i had a pair of Mesonauta festivus in with them, and then i got a 4ft and stand for christmas.... then i got a whole bunch of tetras (by this time i was working at the LFS) it was a fantastic planted tetra tank, and then after about 6 months they started dying one by one.... nothing stopped them dying, and i got that fed up, i went to Lam's at parramatta and bought a Trimac and put her in the tetra tank. I never looked back

I now have a Bedroom full of American Cichlids, and i recently got a 5ft which i have yet to find a spot for.... might hafta move the lounge a bit...... but then where's the 6x2 gonna go ?!?!

Andy.

[parrdog]

G'day All,

Here's my story. I had my first tank when I was 4 years old. I didn't look after it though of course. I had two goldies in it. Their names were Cake and Narnie. Cake was my fav food and Narnie was what I called my dummie. The funny thing is I still remember those fish really well.

The first tank I had that I looked after was an 18 inch tank I had when I was 10 years old. I kept an Axolotl in it that I named Orca. For the next two years I kept Axolotls in this little tank. I loved those little fellas.

When I was 12 I bought a 2 footer and put exotic goldies in it. At the same time I converted my 18 inch tank into a tropical community tank.

At 16 I bought a 4 footer and put marines in it. Man, did I think I was big time then. The marines weren't a success though, I didn't have the commitment back then. I lost heart then and didn't keep fish for a while.

A couple of years later I bought my first cichlid, a Gold Severum. I loved this fish and had it for quite a few years. Goldy lived in my bedroom through my HSC and Uni degree. She used to sit at the end of the tank closest to me and watch me do my Uni work. What a cool fish. I have been keeping cichlids ever since.

Next, I established an American Cichlid community setup in the 4 foot. My favourite of this tank being Toby the Oscar. As these brutes increased in size I bought a 5 footer and put them in that.

I had a break from fish for a while after those guys until a few years ago when I stocked my tank with Africans from Malawi and Tanganyika. The tank was stocked with such beaties as Aulonocara and Frontosa along with Marvin the Pleco. The time came this year though where my mixed tank was to give way for Tropheus. It was a sad moment for me and my girlfriend when Marvin the Pleco was to go to a new home.

A couple of months ago I bought a bigger tank for my Moops (nickname I have for my 25 T. moorii Mpulungu) to play in. They are extremely happy in there. The new tank is 5ft long, 20 inches wide and 24 inches high. My other five footer is in the garage waiting for the day when the Moops start doing the wild thing and spit out some bubs.

In my classroom I have a 3 footer that houses a couple of Axolotls. The kids named them T-Bone and Travis and they love 'em.

I'm 32 now and have kept fish most of my life, I don't see that trend changing in a hurry. I definately have my dad to thank for passing on his love of animals. Thanks mate!

Congratulations, you have made it to the end of my life story.

See yas,

Jamie.

[rick]

I have been keeping fish since 1995. Fish were the only pets allowed where I was living while at uni so I thought I would check out what they were all about. At first I started looking at the usual begineer tropical fish, but them I ran into one of the tutors at uni who talked me into getting some cichlids. I haven't looked back since

Rick