how do you keep fish in the old days, anything changed?

[fishorama]

I don't get it.

am I the only guy who kept tanks in the 70's that understood that tank had to cycle?
I learned from the local fish store that the tank had to cycle.. tho it wasn't referred to as the nitrogen cycle.. but that bacteria had to be in the tank to cycle the tank. the diff was we used fish to cycle the tank..usually the cheaper fish like live bearers.
I had a ugf run by air pump and a state of the art whisper filter.
we had diatom filters too.
to polish the water.. tho water changes were more once or twice a month.

We had a 1975 Golden Guide to Tropical Fish (still have it) that explained the nitrogen cycle. But like everyone did, we added fish a few at a time, really several every week, to get the good bacteria. The only test we did was pH but my husband was a chemistry major so if the "ideal" pH was 7.3 by goodness it was! Even if we had to add acid or base to "fix" it each test! Poor fishies!

We changed water, all of 10-20% every 2-3 weeks & were considered by other fish keepers we knew to be "really into our fish".

 

[tanker]

You are all just kids. I was keeping fishes in 1960(s) and I remember having a Silent-Giant air pump--full of gravel and Super quiet!!

A metal frame 50 gal tank with a heater and a "Dyna-Flow" filter, and another 50gal tank with 2 (two) "Lee" under gravel filters running on another Silent Giant. Jungle Brand de-clorinator and food.

Was breeding zebra danios in a 10gal.

 

[IceH2O]

I remember my dad had a guppy tank back in the 70s. Thinking back it had to be a 30 gallon or so. Had the corner filter with floss and carbon. Never changed the water just top offs.
Incandescent light, gravel color I don't remember but I do remember building a model pirate ship and messed it up so sank it to the bottom of the tank. No fish died so I guess the model cement glue wasn't toxic. Had to be over 50 guppies in that tank.

 

[gagaliya]

it's amazing that after 4 pages, almost everyone had very similar setup/methods back then. Very interesting stories. Makes you wonder what fish keeping will be like 20 years from now...

In the foreseeable future i can see led lighting becoming the norm, and canister filters/heaters all going digital with lcd displays.

 

[gonsouth]

way back in the early sixties I had a twenty gallon tank with a mated pair of angel fish, breeding kribensis a few head and tail light tetra's and some green cories. the filter was a hang on with fiberglass and bone charcoal. The tank was stainless steel and so was the incandecent reflector. two 60w bulbs lit the tank. I had a live amzon sword plant, a crypt and some cabomba No ferts, no water changes other than siphoning out mulm and replacing evaporated water. The angels laid eggs on the swordplant. They hatched but none of the babies survived. The kribs laid eggs on a rock and 2 of the babies managed to survive. I did feed live tubifex worms several times per week and live daphnia every other week. I don't remember what kind of dry food I fed.

 

[pinkertd]

am I the only guy who kept tanks in the 70's that understood that tank had to cycle?QUOTE]

That's cause you really started keeping fish in the 50's so you had year's of library research on the rest of us!:rofl:

 

[BettaFishMommy]

although i was only born in 1980 and can't relate to 'the old days', my dad had a 10 or 15 gallon metaframe tank in the kitchen with some neon tetras in it. i don't know exactly what kind of filter he used but it did run off a little blue air pump that made all sorts of noise. never saw him do water changes and i was always 'helping' to feed the fish.

come to think of it, i think that tank is still in his basement somewhere. i ought to ask if i can have it!

learned not long ago that fishkeeping is in my genes, lol, found out my dad also had a 55 planted tank when he was in his 20's. told me the stand was plywood and cinderblocks. so that would have been in the early 70's. i'll have to ask him about the filters, etc he used 'way back then', lol.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

Yeah, get that metal framed tank from dad, Im sure he would be happy to see it set up with neon's again. Wow born in the 80's makes 57 sound like ancient history LOL. But I still can out wrestle my 24 year old son if I act like im hurt then do the counter move lol.

 

[koipoloi]

I just recently got back into the hobby but in the early 80's I had a 10gallon with airstone powered ugf. I had sword tails, neon tetras, zebra danios and angelfish. I would consider it overstocked now but back then I was ignorant. The biggest difference as was said before was lack of knowledge. If you wanted to learn about fish keeping you had the advice of your LFS, magazines, and books at the library that were likely 20 years old and next to worthless. Hooray for the web and aquariacentral.

 

[Rbishop]

Most all my tanks had the corner box, in tank filter and UGF. As noted, the Dyna filters with "J" tubes was the major upgrade. Always a blast to see how many tubes you could stuff in one.

Thought I was really on top of the world when I got my first Vortex diatom filter. Woot!