why?

[Witfull]

i was born in hawaii. had a passport at 14days old and moved to american samoa. lived there and pango pango untill i was 5. i was diving before i could walk. like paul b i saw the turtles bound for market,,,it made me cry. after moving to hawaii at 5 (so i could go to american school) i began collecting tidepool fish and keeping them for a week in tanks.....i got older, the tanks and fish and everything else got bigger. i supplimented my needs by breeding freshwater fish (the big money in the islands) i bred neons and angels and catfish,,,,but salt water was the love. by 1975 i was keeping liverock tanks as suggested by J. C. Delbeek (a client of my fathers) and the rest is history~

[BarbMazz]

Originally Posted by Witfull

i was born in hawaii. had a passport at 14days old and moved to american samoa. lived there and pango pango untill i was 5. i was diving before i could walk. like paul b i saw the turtles bound for market,,,it made me cry. after moving to hawaii at 5 (so i could go to american school) i began collecting tidepool fish and keeping them for a week in tanks.....i got older, the tanks and fish and everything else got bigger. i supplimented my needs by breeding freshwater fish (the big money in the islands) i bred neons and angels and catfish,,,,but salt water was the love. by 1975 i was keeping liverock tanks as suggested by J. C. Delbeek (a client of my fathers) and the rest is history~

I like your story. Do you remember living in those beautiful places at all?

My story; my brother (7 yrs older) was a fish nut, but only kept FW. I was his assistant, I suppose you could say. I took over his tanks when he left for college. After high school I moved to FL, so the tanks were dismantled and sold. In FL I learned to dive (lived in Lauderdale in the late 70's early 80's. It was kinda wild) and spent most weekends out on a boat snorkeling, diving and fishing and even spent some nighttimes diving (WAY cool).

Years passed; moved back to Ohio got married and set up a FW discus tank. When I had the twins I didn't have time for the tank so I sold the setup. No tanks since then.. 27 yrs! I've always loved seeing SW setups, and especially reefs as they became more popular. Taking the kids to the zoo I wanted to hang in the aquarium building, but everyone else was bored. Boo hiss!

Recently, when my back got really bad I began seeing a pain management guy, and the office across the hall has a beautiful reef tank. Going there week after week I fell in love with it. I had been searching for something to keep my mind going, and was feeling pretty depressed. One day I stood in front of that tank for 20 minutes and KAZAMMM had a lightbulb moment. I thought "I can DO this for ME" and here I am.

[goldenmean]

While in college a roommate and I moved into a new apartment. The previous tenant had graduated and moved back to China and she left a 40g tall hexagon tank set up. Being young punks we thought Pirahna would be cool so we bought a half dozen quarter sized red bellies. My roommate graduated and I inherited the tank. 2 of the fish lived over 6 years and the last Pirana lived to be over 8. I stocked with some other fresh water fish then after about 10 years the tank sprang a leak. I tore it down and did not repair or replace it. Two years ago, after 17 tankless years, my better half asks what do I think about a 12g nano saltwater tank for xmas. I said yes.
I now have a new addiction

[ReefGuy69]

Well here is my story. Grew up with a bubble eyed gold fish. Was a goofy looking thing to say the least. Then moved up to a 29 gal and had a few Electric Yellow Cichlids and a few Guaramis. They were nice. Then i came across a huge empty tank at my job (Rental Manager). Someone left the tank and moved out in the middle of the night. I took it home and didnt know what to put in it. Then after visiting the LFS i asked a few questions on what i would need to get one of these going. I checked out a few forums and got it up and running. I ended up moving out of the apartment i had and eventually bought a house. I tore down that tank and put it in storage and a few years went by. My wife bought me a 55 gal pre drilled. And well... here i am cycling my tank ready to get back into it.

I think i like it so much because ive always loved water for some reason. Swimming, Snorkeling, Fishing. Its all fun. i can do anything if its out in the water. I also appreciate the ocean. So i want to bring a piece of it into my home and replicate it the best i can. Then i eventually hope to be able to frag corals, maybe breed some fish, so that i can sell them to the LFS or other hobbyists so they dont have to put more of a demand on the ocean.

[cracker]

I think it was a grade school field trip to the Shed Aquarium. I didn't get into salts until I came to Florida in the mid 70's. I had smaller local fauna tanks with crabs & damsels or whatever I could collect much like Miss Lynn. It's been a very interesting venture ever since. witful. what a cool place & time for a kid to growup . Have You returned to those places? How has it changed?

[Koda2007]

When I was 9 at school and there was a book club where you could buy books. The only book I could afford was about tropical fish, so I bought it. Took it home and read it and read it. (still got 35 years later ) I pestered my parents for a tank and for my 11th birthday I got one. I bred fish from 11 years ols which were exchanged for equipment, fish ect.
At one point I had 30 tanks going ranging from 2ft to 6ft. When I got married most of these had to go but have always had at least 2 tanks going.
Found out a couple of years ago that my grandad who died young kept fish and was fanatical about them. You never know it may be in the genes

[zy112]

When I was a young kid the lady that cut my hair had a freshwater tank and I always was checking it out while my brother got his hair cut. From that time on I always wanted one but was told I couldnt take care of one. Then my junior year in high school I finally got a 55 gallon for Christmas and it was salt from the get go. After the age of about 10 I never liked freshwater... thought it looked stupid and plain... I still have those views lol and will always have a reef.

[althea2you]

welll, my dad had tanks for a while, and his lst one was a 300g and that was a LONG time ago... but have ALWAYS been interested in this stuff.... then my husband got a 90 for hihs office and well, i have been hooked ever since! wanted my own for a long time! now, here i am!

[michael_cb_125]

I have always wanted a SW fishtank. I used to beg my dad to get me one. He always said that they were too difficult to maintain. Once I was able to buy my own I did. Now I am hooked.

[SaltwaterGeek]

Growing up I was a fresh water "crack head". Living on the second floor, my bedroom had a: 125g, 75g, 55g, 2x 30g, and a 10g... all in my bedroom.Working at a fish store as a kid fueled the fire. I could order all the exotic fish I could ever hope to have..

I had to take a long hiatus, for the United States Marine Corps wouldn't allow me to bring family when I traveled..LOL. Anyway, the itch never subsided, and I always anticipated the day I could get back into the hobby in a big way.

My thoughts were changed forever when I did some snorkeling overseas. I could never own a fresh water tank again. So I guess its back to being a "crack head" again.

Right now a 12g NanoCube Dx has remotely scratched the itch... I'm working on my 144g. I can't wait!

Thanks,
Chris

[CAVINCA]

Need I say more?

[JoJo]

Dad had SWFO, i've always had FW, got bored with it & my dad got to busy for his so i took over.

[ragvette]

I grew up as a child with an aquarium, first a 10gal then moved to a 29gal fresh water aquarium. When I got my own place and I purchased a 75gal tank for the living room. I started out with fresh water and decided that it wasn’t that colorful with the fish. I switch to cichlids to get the better color selection (because saltwater was so complex I thought at the time). About 3 months after the cichlids tank was up and running I decided to setup a 10 gallon saltwater fish only aquarium on my kitchen counter. My thinking at the time was if the Damsel lived for more then a week then I would get into the saltwater hobby. Well the damsel lived and I was hooked into the salt water world.

Purchased a 90gal aquarium and started my salt water fish only tank. Well I had that for about 3 months when stupid me I ask the LFS owner “what is that?”. He told me it was living corals. Well after much discussion and learning I switched the 75 gallon cichlids (sold the cichlids) tank to a reef aquarium and never looked back from that point.

[PEMfish]

It dates back before my time.
My grandpa ( who I never met ) had a 10g tropical. This was when it was a low tek hobby. When he passed on it was let go, so his son took it down but never got rid of it. Somewhere around my birth my older brother set it up. After a few years he got sick of it!!! It moved to the basement and my dad took care of it. My brother moved out, and my dad. I had some experience, so I took care of it. I was moving and never thought twice about it. Even though nothing changed, it really felt like mine. Year or two passed And ENOUGH!
Mr.29 replaced that little thing. Being addicted the 10g sat empty only a week. I went with two dwarf cichlids. They died in a few months, an incurable disease.
I always liked the bright saltwater fish. I had the tank, had conquered FW, why not? You can read more about it in my catch up chronicle.
Now I have a strong want, this desire, an urge, for more, bigger, tanks. A 150+/-g reef, a 150+/-g cichlid, and 150+/-g planted. And a 4000+/- gallon something. Not to forget the 30 tank breeding op.

[prow]

i dont know how got so in to it. one day i went to sleep, woke up and found out the fish fairy visited and left a reef tank in the house. didnt want to upset the fish fairy so i kept the tank. every since that time, there has been a reef in the house