Your Very First Tank

[Scuba Diver Gal]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

My first fw tank that I owned myself was a heavily, heavily overstocked 5 gallon that I bought with some money my parents left us when they went on vacation (ok, it was for food, but I wanted a fish tank). Boy did the LFS owners see me coming cause they loaded up this unsuspecting kid with a brand new 5 g and about 30 small tropical fish and sent him on his way (by bus) home to figure it out before he killed everything.

Fortunately, when my dad came back, he saw the tank, took me to Fraser Aquarium and bought me a new 33g. That was back when I was a weee little lad of eight years old.

My first sw tank was in the early 80s (around 1980-81) and it was a seahorse tank. 10 gallons with no live rock (what's live rock???) and I kept the wc seahorse alive for almost a year on live brine shrimp that I would cycle out to Main Aquarium in Vancouver to buy every week. Then there was a huge storm in San Francisco and all the brine shrimp that they usually collected for the petshop trade were washed out to sea and the poor little guy eventually starved cause I couldn't raise adult brine shrimp from eggs fast enough. 30+ years later, still traumatized (jk) but really, still remember that terrible feeling of hoping a new brine shrimp shipment would come in time and being disappointed each time.

My first two bigger sw tanks was in the mid-80s. Had a 33g for a Volitan lionfish (got it at 3" and raised to over 12" before he poisoned me while I was cleaning his glass and I sold him. The other tank was a 110g with a Passer King Angel, Smooth Horn Shark, Moorish Idol, and Snowflake Moray Eel. 110g was the largest tank you could get back then and I used to hand-feed all these fish with squid and smelts. Wow, that was 30 years ago. Ok, now I feel old.

Anthony

What an awesome story! I laugh at envisioning 30 fish in a 5g…and how you would be shamed for feeding strictly brine fish (cause there's no nutritional value to it)….fortunately there were no forums around back then
Well we just returned from ordering my son his new tank…Jumping in…hope I still have a husband when this is all said and done

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Scuba Diver Gal

What an awesome story! I laugh at envisioning 30 fish in a 5g…and how you would be shamed for feeding strictly brine fish (cause there's no nutritional value to it)….fortunately there were no forums around back then
Well we just returned from ordering my son his new tank…Jumping in…hope I still have a husband when this is all said and done

I was eight and naive back then. I trusted the LFS owner. First and last time Now I do my own research before I buy anything. Ask my wife, hehe.

As for the seahorse's diet, I was feeding the brine shrimp powdered baby fish food and also growing phytoplankton cultures on my window sill to feed to the BS before feeding them to the seahorse. I was able to keep my first WC seahorse alive on adult brine shrimp for about a year on that diet, which is not bad considering this was decades before the internet or Canreef or seahorse.org. There was also NO mysis shrimp for sale. I was in high school at the time, but nobody really knew much about seahorse husbandry back in the 80s. I was doing what I thought was logical with the resources available.

Anthony

[matt_C]

1-20g
2-40g
3-55g
4-90g
5-110g
6-90g
7-55g
8-65g
9-29g
10-90g
11-110g
12-145g
13-90g
14-90g (5 foot long)
15-135g
16-180g
17-90g
18-1200G

[Scuba Diver Gal]

Originally Posted by matt@concept

1-20g
2-40g
3-55g
4-90g
5-110g
6-90g
7-55g
8-65g
9-29g
10-90g
11-110g
12-145g
13-90g
14-90g (5 foot long)
15-135g
16-180g
17-90g
18-1200G

So I guess you like a 90G tank? I want to see that 1200 g tank some day! Still fish only?

[soapy]

Pretty sure my first tank was an ice cream bucket with minnows in it.

[gregzz4]

I killed my first goldfish when I was 7
When I was 10 I was breeding Betas and Guppies
Then no fish until I was 20 and had a 6' 120g, 2 20s and a 10g, with lots of boring tropical stuff plus my prized 18" pleco. He was buried in the back yard when he was done
Couple years after that the 120 was setup again as well as a 33g (both freshwater)
Couple years after that I was breeding cichlids in the 120 and the 33 was setup as a community 'tropical' tank in my parents' LR. Mom loved coming home to watch the fish
Things were moved around and sold
Then no tanks for 20 years
Another 125g freshwater with a 36g shrimp tank and a couple 20s for QT etc

Salt started when I became frustrated with stag algae that kept killing all my freshwater plants

[29Bio]

I first got into saltwater ate the age of 15 when I bought a fully stocked 14 gallon biocube. After a year of hard work everything was still alive and flourishing, the half dead hammer frag I got with it was 5 or six big heads, toadstool I didn't know was in the tank grew huge!
After I saw my success I upgraded to the 29HQI Biocube, kept that running for two years and then moved some of the live rock into a little 8 gallon rimless tank that I have currently.
I have just purchased a 90 gallon and dipping my feet into the larger reef world, man this is the best hobby ever!!!

So just three reefs in the past, probably 50 freshwater in the past as well. Currently just took down my last freshwater…spend a little more time reefing

[Reef Pilot]

Like many, I started off with FW when I was young, but was out of the hobby for many years. Then we bought a house 3.5 years ago with a 100g SW tank already in place. That got me started with the reef hobby. I added a 130g downstairs a couple years later. Both tanks are doing fine, but my original 100g upstairs tank is still my main show tank. Here is my tank journal for the complete history.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=102101

[Aquattro]

I started salt in 1996 with a10g. Moved to a 90g. Then a 45, upgraded to 75, then a 150. Downgraded back to the 75, then 90wide. Upgraded that to the current 180.
A bit of time trivia. Live rock was $20/lb when I started -lol But live rock came with corals on it, and all kinds of "live"

[Doug]

First was a standard 70g fresh water tank in 1972........first salt tank was a 110g long tank and my 70g tank in early 80,s. First reef tank was a 3ft. 60g style tank around 1989 I guess. Not enough room to list all the reef tanks since...