What got you into this hobby? JW

[DoubleM 10]

Hey guys and women i was just wondering what made you get into this hobby? For me it was wehn i saw all the colors in the tank. Another reason is a saw a lionfish at the LFS get fed in front of the school of kids! from that monent on i was sold! How about everyone else on here?

[Paul_TheOctopus]

For me, it's mostly for my kids. I know this can be an expensive hobby but the smiles on their faces are priceless. :)

[stevejrnc]

My kids wanted a fish tank= my most happy addiction

[frozenreefer]

i was living in hawaii for a few years then moved back to the frozen north and missed all the colors of the ocean great hobby!

[RcToners]

My backyard made me want to get in the hobby. I dive the reefs here in the keys several times a week and I love it. I figured I would try to recreate a little bit of it in my own house.

[Reef obcession]

always loved the bright colors of salt water fish & coral

[dockery07]

My sister said "you cannot keep saltwater it is too hard"

Oh the money I would have saved.

[rayn]

My sister said "you cannot keep saltwater it is too hard"

Oh the money I would have saved.

Ditto, but it was my wife.
Also always wanted one.

[reelfishy]

Lil baby catfish from lake + 5 gallon bucket lead to my first freshwater tank which led to the reeftanks.

[Artes]

Setting up a saltwater tank has always been on my list of things to do, but I had never set aside the time and commit to doing the research. That changed in July when we snorkeled around Maui and Molokini. It was fantastic watching the various life forms and colors.

[B-Willz]

Had hip surgery when I was 22, laid up for 6 weeks and limited movement for 5 months, I was depressed from being stuck at home. My girlfriend at the time, now wife, said go get a fish. So I hobbled to the lfs and had them come set up the tank. She was on a business trip for a month when I did it. She came over, and says, I was talking about a gold fish, while looking at the 55 reef. 10 years later and she still hates that she ever said those words.

[GKill]

I've had fish since I was about 10 years old. That's 38yrs of water changes.... I guess it's what I do - collect fish and old beer cans. My 13yr old son enjoys the fish as well - it's a good father/son activity.

[jeff@zina.com]

The goldfish from Woolworth's...

Jeff

[crodger]

A friend of mine father had a 250 gallon SW tank 25 years ago, the first time I saw it I was hooked

[ka2zesmi786]

i worked my way up to it. i had bettas when i was in my mid teens. then to tetras and barbs. then from american cichlids to african ciclids. then when i pretty much mastered keeping all of those i got rid of everything and started saltwater tanks. i love the challenge. lol

[Lynnmw1208]

I've always had a fascination with fish when I was a little girl. I was always playing in our creek catching minnows and frogs and bringing them home. then I won some fancy goldfish at the fair. ever since then my mom had a 55gallon and then when I went to college I got a 10 gallon kit with some guppies in it. Then I got a 30 gallon. At some point I had a 10 gallon guppy breeding tank, a 2 gallon fry tank, a 20 gallon planted tank and my 30 gallon tank (all FW). my roomie decided that she wanted a 20 gallon SW and i saw all her mishaps and thought I could do this better lol. worked at petco for a year and now I finally have the time to setup a nice reef tank! still in the process of doing so right now.

For some reason I just love watching fish. I could sit and watch them all day! and SW fish are so much more intelligent compared to guppies :lol: I would say the yellowhead jawfish is what really made me want SW

[fatdaddy]

I was browsing craigslist and some guy had a large aquarium. I figured, why not?

It's been good. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn, and I ended up learning to scuba dive which opened up all sorts of new worlds.

[Fretfreak13]

I saw a Mandarin Dragonet in the store. Sold. XP

[auburngrad]

had freshwater for over 30 yrs. when the wife said she liked the colors of a salt aquarium i decided to move on up

[dmarkham]

Mine was Kids + Finding Nemo. It was not till they got older that they understood that it was not Nemo and his dad in the tank. LOL

[trb]

We made a bargain with one of my twin sons that if he was good in kindergarten, we would get him a fish tank come summer. So he decided to ask Santa for a fish tank, and got it early! We went from a 10 gal, to 20 gal, to 55 gal FW tanks over the next 3 yrs as the fish grew. Last year, he wanted an eel and the FW eels kept dying. So we dove into a SW tank just to get a snowflake eel. And it has progressed from there!

[AquaDiddy]

my stepson. Loving every bit of it.

[ccsuzy]

Husband and I have had many FW tanks in the past and always wanted a SW. Got out of having tanks after my oldest (just about 7 or 8 at the time) dumped half a can of tetraflakes in the 35 gallon tank full of baby convicts while we were in the Bahamas. Son is grown now and started his SW tank, a 29 biocube, about 8 months ago. When he recently upgraded, he gave us the 29. We're hooked.

[jasonrp104]

The owners of an lfs I worked for about 20 years ago had a fowlr and I always wanted to try it. About 4 years ago I got an overstocked 45 and started doing my research. After an outage wiped out the tank, I left it empty (but still running) for about 4 months and did nothing but read this site, and ask every question I had. Every aspect of it is interesting to me. The chemistry, the biology, the art...it's a perfect hobby for obsessive types.

[kv2wr1]

When I was between 2-3 years old (1979). My parents took me on vacation with them to California. We went to the ocean and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen with the waves moving and such. I saw the bigger kids jumping in the waves so I decided that I was a big kid too and give it a try. I started to walk out and got knocked down by a wave. I was laughing as I was under water and another wave passed over me. I had a mouthful of saltwater. My dad came and picked me up and I went out and did it again.

I remembered that but I didn't remember Disneyland at all. It's the earliest thing I can remember. That and my uncle had a saltwater tank in the early 80's which I thought was cool.

[milhous3er]

The fact that my Dad had FW tanks, and I always wanted him to start up a SW tank. He kept telling me it was too hard. So after I got financially stable, I started up my own SW tank..

[Agu]

The free goldfish my daughter brought home from the county fair.


:fish2:

[SuperNemo]

I also started when my kids wanted some gold fish. Then I went with kois and then decided I wanted to try saltwater.

I guess it sort of just happened for me. Besides, I needed a hobby. HAHA.

[dzfish17]

I dont know what got me started, but what I want to know is what would get me to stop. The addiction started with one small tank in 1980 and now I have a 600g tank in my living room. There has to be some kind of support group for people like me.

Dave

[Stroob]

Guy on my team at work bought a used tank. Second guy bought a used 29g. This convinced me to set my 75 gallon up as a saltwater tank. I debated fw vs sw for 6 months before this. 6 months into that the tank broke and I bought the 180 I was going to wait a few years on.

[SeaSpotSwim]

My fiance Chris has kept FOWLR tanks for 25+ years. I've been into FW for about 10 years. I was an avid gardener all my life, but since moving to Colorado from California 12 years ago, and the growing season here is so dang short, I needed a substitute for gardening to keep my creative impulses occupied indoors during the winter months. I also love the ocean... really miss it. Having a little bit of the ocean in our home is a delight. :)

When Chris and I first met and he told me he has three aquariums, I fell in love with him instantly!!! LOL He introduced me to the world of salt water aquariums and I am hooked. OOOH... ALL THE PRETTY COLORS!!!! :-o We already have a 55g, 72g bowfront, and 125g. We just bought a 225g and I converted an old 23g Eclipse into a nano-reef for my home office. We'll be decommissioning the 55g soon but plan on keeping all the rest.

Chris said to me the other day, "I love that when I want to buy something for our aquariums, you never say to me, 'Why would you throw your money away on that?'" He never has to ask my permission to buy something for our tanks! :-D He may have even created a reef monster... ;-)

[kendaroo]

LOL, my wife had the idea to start a saltwater tank for our son. Except she only wanted to put live rock in it. She said it would be a good pet that would be hard for him to kill.

Then she showed me some pictures of NICE reef tanks and we went nuts from there! 4 tanks now, another one in the works. :D

[lordofthereef]

Finding Nemo.

I didn't even know we had living things in the ocean before I saw that movie.

[fish77]

Went to the the Caribbean in a bay.. TONS of saltwater fish swimming all around me loved that.. thought about a reef tank. Had always kept bettas.. later here I am..Addicted :)

[paul26]

while living in okinawa japan me and my dad would go diving and it was breathtaking. and may have something to do with getting bit by a tomato clown for getting too close to its anemone. The churaumi aquarium is insane, we went there regularly and i just had to have a marine aquarium.

[greech]

Demons :)

Seriously, like a lot of others I have had fish for most of my life. Mostly cichlids but I probably had 4 or so tanks going at a time when I was young. That would be in addition to all the lizards, turtles, etc. Getting a SW tank was supposed to simplify things by only having one tank. Still waiting for that simple part.

[ninjamini]

Waisting time before a haircut I walked into a LFS. There I saw some clowns hosting an anemone...Had to have it. Got a 6 gallon eclipse which the LFS told me would be great for the pair....Never bought the anemone. Went from:

6 gallon to 12 nano cube for better lights.

12 to 55 for better water

55 to 90 for more room to house equipment.

I hope to go from 90 to 120 or 150 for 25" front to back and more room to house equipment underneath.

Aaahh the life of a reefer. One day I will house that anemone.

[khennig]

I have always fascinated by fish. My mom had a 10 gallon tank when I was a kid. When I was old enough, I took over. I kept tanks in my room through middle and high school, breeding beta's and angels. Added saltwater fifteen years ago and coral eight. Always had a small amount of regret regarding my career choice. I made financial stability my number one objective in choosing a major in school. That left quite a few choices off my list. But, it keeps the family fed, kids in college, and I can still have my tanks.

[lolgranny]

Made it all that easier to get laid :reading:

[dublo8]

I visit northern California several times a year. I got married in monterey and during some downtime I went and visited the Monterrey bay aquarium. Ever since then I have been hooked. I may be one of the only people that live outside of California to have a season pass.