Why I'm addicted to fish.

[red_wall]

Just thought I'd share how I got into the hobby (about 7.2 months ago)


It started when I was little, with bettas. By 14 I had a 10 gallon tank with and Oscar. Oscar got big, upgraded to 46 gallon. Bought him a few friends, those friends died.

So,
I had my 46 gallon with a full grown Oscar in it. (1'+! Beautiful fish, still sad I had to give him up :swear:) Every 2 to 3 months I would change the water, I would start off by putting Oscar in a bucket, then do a full 100% water change, scrub everything down, wash out my filter and everything with tap water, BUY 46 GALLONS of spring water from Walmart, fill her up again, and plop Oscar back in the tank.

One day I was browsing youtube, and for some reason I came across piranha eating some feeders, I had never seen what a piranha can actually do, so I watched it. At the end or the beginning, there was a credit scene for MFK. I thought "WOW! There must be tons of cool fish there! I can show off my oscar!" I went to the website and was fascinated by all the pictures of fish and amazing looking tanks.

Then I read up on cherry shrimp (still not knowing that my 46 was too small for my Oscar) and decided that I would want some to breed for my oscar to eat. I posted a topic on where I could aquire some cherry shrimp and if it would be okay to put a divider into the tank so the shrimp could live in peace within my tank.

Then I was told about my mistakes.

Then I read up on Oscars

I was horrified with myself.

I had been putting Oscar through all of that mistreatment his whole life, I felt terrible. Within 8 days, I had Oscar sold to a man with a 300 gallon tank.

I also found the glorious new idea of water conditioner - saving on a lot of money for spring water jugs :thm:


I then read up on tanks a little, but not on cycling though. I had New Tank Syndrome from scrubbing the tank out (I scrubbed the tank the day before I sold Oscar). I bought 11 Neons from my LFS and they all died within 2 days.

I asked on the forums why, and they told me to look up on "cycling"
I then realized what I was doing, and let my tank cycle.

Since I have read up on cycling, I have had in my 46 gallon:
6 hatchet fish, 1 albino rainbow shark, 12 tetras(1 death), 2 mollies (both died of parasites), 2 guppies (one died of a parasite), A lot of guppy fry (all given away :]), one molly fry (still have her), and 1 ghost shrimp named Alfred

I just want to express my gratitude to all those who have helped me with all of my stupid questions and overall - become a good fishkeeper and find a hobby that I TRULY enjoy, and will enjoy for decades to come!

Thanks guys!






Anyone else want to share their stories?

[cam191919]

thats a shame that you had to give the oscar up, but also his life saver. theres a lot of people who know the torture they put their fish through, and continue with it. its good to see someone who did the right thing :)

i had always been into reptiles, but fish wernt my cup of tea. until i saw two yoyo loaches.

so i bought them and threw em in an uncycled 2.5 gallon :eek:. soon i had about 5 fish and a fiddler crab in it :eek3:. i then upgraded to a 10 g, and later a 20. now i have 11 tanks :D

btw, the loaches lived for over a year. miracle er somthin :confused:

[red_wall]

thats a shame that you had to give the oscar up, but also his life saver. theres a lot of people who know the torture they put their fish through, and continue with it. its good to see someone who did the right thing :)

Yes, I think it's horrible how the "Pet stores" don't teach you proper care of fish. "Just throw them in, clean the water when you feel like it and you'll be good." Aggghhh!

[DarrylR]

My fish and shrimp do not die on a regular basis, so I keep them.

[red_wall]

Haha, that's a good reason!