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

[VFC]

When I bought fish back in the early 70s, they put them in Chinese-take-out type containers. They would start to leak after a while.

I remember buying Black Tetras from Hess's (original store) in downtown Allentown, PA. I was around 15 and walked 8 miles to the store. By the time I got home, most of the water had leaked out. The fish were floppy around in about an inch of water. It was winter time, so the water was very cold. I dropped them right into the tank; no acclimation period. Amazingly they survived.

 

[edlab03]

Am I the ONLY person here horrified at the question what did you OLDER FOLKS do in the OLD days- ya know, like the 80s. !!!
WTF?

Join the club. I had my nephews one day tell that I was old because I was born in the 1900's(I was born in 1980 they are all born after 2000:devil.

 

[archer772]

I remember keeping fish back in the early 70's with UGF's, air driven box filter's and then went all out and got a DynaFlow but I remember the one I had was the predesesor to the Whisper filters in design and then I got a Supreme Dyna Master that used the J tubes with a motor for return. I loved the silent giant air pumps. I use to spend alot of time with an Angel breeder back then and he did the same thing that gunner talked about as far as suspending an incandesent bulb into the water for heat and for his amazon swords that housed his angel breeders. I started breeding angels, rosey barbs and australian rainbows in the late 70's and early 80's. We got our first 55 in the mid 70's and my 90 in the early 80's and that was considered huge back then. I wish I still had some of that old equipment from back then because I would love to setup a tank with all the old stuff so some of my friends could see what we had to work with and that it did work.

 

[Star_Rider]

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:

hey deb:irked::raspberry:

I was born in the late 50's..1957

 

[foolishfish]

My first real place of my own, and my girl's, in the early 70's...macrame plant hangers, cinder block and board shelves spirited off of a construction site at midnight, a stray cat named Gandalf and the scent of patchouli everywhere.

Our first tank had the inside of the Led Zepplin album Houses of the Holy opened up and showing through the back of the tank and one side. The lady who sold me the tank refused to sell me any fish for several weeks because she kept insisting that I hadn't properly "seasoned" it yet and she sent me home with a book to read, I think it was something by Dr. Axlerod?

At any rate she kept shooting me down until I swore that I wouldn't over feed them and that I'd be religious in my maintenance.

I don't remember much else about what we were doing back then but I do remember spending many, many hours just staring at that tank going "wow, far out man, check out the trails...".

 

[BettaFishMommy]

.......... just staring at that tank going "wow, far out man, check out the trails...".

oh lmao! too funny.

 

[ghinksmon]

This is good.

I don't think many can appreciate the hassle of priming the HOB filters, or that when they upgraded the motors to do away with the lubricating ports it was modern.

I guess that's why priming my fluval doesn't seem to be a hassle.

I have a copy of "Encyclopedia of Tropical Fish" by Axelrod, (c) 1965. Many of the photos appear to be metal framed tanks but not stainless frames. They're black frames with light colored paint drizzled on them. I never saw one like this, how about you?

Speaking of Axelrod, essentialy the "father" of modern fish keeping (at least in the US) for those that don't recognize the name. What about when the TFH magazine was only about 5"x7" and all B&W.

 

[Jill-O]

Growing up (in the 70's - 80's), I kept the same two feeder type goldfish in a 1-2 gallon bowl for many years. I think I changed their water 2x a week. My entire family was proud of how long they lived, because we had no idea how much longer they could have lived.

Now my goldfish live in 2x 29g tanks, 1 55g tank, and 1 75g tank, all over filtered and heated to 71 degrees (I keep the house cold year round). However, I do still do water changes for them 2x a week

 

[BoCoMo]

I used to have to walk 2 miles in the snow, uphill both ways, just to do a water change.

One thing is for sure I didn't have to worry about chloramines, meds and hormones in the water though.

 

[AfroCichlid]

My dad kept Oscars in the 70's in unheated tanks with the box filters and aerators. He's told me before that he was aware of the nitrogen cycle but not the specifics. He knew the tank had to " age ", so he didn't do water changes. He did add salt though as many people did for salt's ability to make nitrite less toxic. Hence the Great Salt Debate.
As a kid in the 80's I kept shiners in large coolers for bait. I used an aerator and changed the water every week with lake water.
When I got my first tank in '89 it was a 30 gallon community that was cycled with goldfish. UGF. I did once a month maintenance: gravel vac and water change. I had that tank with most of it's original stock until '97.