Mine was a 5 gallon or maybe it was 6 gallon eclipse setup that I got about... 10 years ago when I got my first apartment. I had rainbow colored gravel, a "no skinny dipping sign", the filter that came with it, a heater, and a bubble decoration which I think was a treasure chest that opened when it got full of bubbles.
The fish store sold me a severum, common pleco and a banded leporinus to go in my 6 gallon setup.
I got home, plopped them all in and thought... wow, that looks small... kept them in there (alive no less) for a few weeks and saved and scrimped my pennies to buy the biggest tank I could afford (30 gallon tall - or maybe it was a 29 gallon, but advertised as 30). Again, somehow kept these things alive - probably the daily water changes that I was doing because thank goodness someone told me water changes were good. I didn't know how often was good, but I did them every day - 5 gallons a day, and they survived.
Finally upgraded to a 55 gallon a few years later. The severum died when the leporinus went beserk one day and mauled the crap out of it. The leporinus died during a vendetta against roaches. And the pleco at 19" was re-homed along with the 55 gallon tank because I was getting ready to move again and couldn't move either with me, and I knew at that point that the pleco needed more room.
I still can't believe all three of my original fish lived for multiple years after what I put them through since at that time I was a complete fish noob. The only experience I'd had with fish prior to that were a couple of goldfish bowls that my parents got us as kids. Definitely not great experience.
