OT: Just how did you become Marine Aquarist? :) - Page 2

I had FW for years and everytime we went to a pet store I would just set and stare at the SW livestock. I loved the way it looked, nothing like it. One day my girlfriend said I should try to make the switch. I had heard all the horror stories before and was very hesitant. But after much thought I began to buy books and began to read anything I could get my hands on. I started up a reef tank and have been loving the choise every since. Just hated to sale my Cichlids but got a really good price for most of them. Had all of them for over 6 years. Growed quite attached.

I've kept freshwater tanks since I was very young.. recently i've gotten a job and the almighty tax return money came to me.. I was wondering what to do with it... Maybe it was time to revisit Las Vegas?

Anyways my brother took me into a fish store one day that he had found... I seen coral for the first time.. (I never knew you could keep corals in a fish tank). About a week later I started saltwater.

I have always loved marine life - so shortly after we were married, my Husband and I took a trip to the new "Adventure Aquarium" that opened here in New Jersey (it replaced the state aquarium.). As we walked through the exhibits I became...enraged. I'd picked up some things about keeping fish during my passing interest in them, and I just KNEW that this aquarium was being grossly negligant.

I decided to write a letter and went online to do some research....then I found SWF.... and now you'll never get rid of me

...plus...I've always had a secret crush on the Volitan that Captain Piccard had in his office on the enterprise :joy:

Dang... who dug up the 3 year old post?

AZocean

well as for me the movie NEMO

i started when i was first born i was born in a fish tank no just kiddin but i have loved fish since i could remember

beat me to it



anyway...........we were at Shedds Aquarium many moons ago with our daughter. She fell in love with a certain clown fish..... she called him BOZO..... ***)
A few moons later after many pleads from her for her own Bozo fish, we ended up in salt :joy:

Dang...! this post is 3 yrs old??? LMAO...i was just bored out of my mind and strted typin!! LMAO...it is good to hear how everyone gets started....seems most of the time it is on accident!

yeah... finding nemo did it to me... i saw that movie and said "i have to have a tank exactly like that doctor". after a lot of research, i was highly disappointed to find out i couldn't have that tank, but i still loved clownfish, so took the plunge.

I guess I'll jump in. If you're going to bring up a 3 year old post, this is as good as any to resurrect. I had a FW tank with a Manganese Cichlid. We bought him when he was about an inch with a few other fish which he quickly disposed of. Maybe 18 or so months later (can't remember back that far) he was a beast. :scared: I mean this thing could put away 20 feeder fish in five minutes and if he wasn't hungry he'd at least bite their heads off. This got pretty old fast - he would rip up the tank, splash when someone walked by. It all just got old. I couldn't find anyone to buy him until I finally had to convince a store to LET me donate him. When I took him out I measured him and he was roughly 10".

Anyway, my girlfriend told me that her father had a SW tank when she was growing up and once its setup it is easy to maintain. I soon found out that she thought it was easy to maintain because her father wouldn't let her anywhere near it! Either way, she got me interested, I did a little research, found you guys and now here I am.

My first tank....

I was given (left on my porch in some nasty arse water while I was on vacation) a 10gal w/ an Oscar in '91 that ate steak, car keys, even a plastic worm (passed it 3 days later) anything you held over the tank he would jump out of the water and get even bite your finger too..traded him to a LFS for credit and bought a 55gal w/ peacock bass(grew from 1" to 12" over 4 yrs) and a redtail cat(grew from 6" to 27" over 4 yrs) which I move move them into a 200gal when as they grew up....at the height of my obsession my roommate and I had 12 tanks in a 2 bed 1050 sqft apt that ranged from 30gal reef to the 200 gal fresh predator we had 5 reefs(varying in size) 2 fowler, 2 fresh live plant (Discus) and 3 fresh predator tanks....all 12 tanks made it thru 4 earthquakes (I live in SoCal so that is something we have to deal w/ when setting up our tanks/stands...btw I'm rethinking the headboard tank idea for that reason) after 6-7 yrs I got burned out and got rid of all my tanks and equiptment.....for the past couple years I have been thinking of getting back into the hobby(obession) but steered clear til 3 months ago a Dentist I'm building an office for gave me a 60gal fowlr complete w/ fish for free(they are having a new tank built for their newly remodeled office pics to come later).....so the OBESSION begins again....not 3 months after setting up this free tank I have decided I need to build another tank or two.....I blame the internet for my obession this time...seeing all your nice tanks and reading how much everything had changed(technology) just gets me all exictied....you know how it is....

For me, it all started when I won a goldfish at the fair. I was 17 or 18. Now I am 36.

I took several years off from the hobby, and boy did things change while I was gone. What???? No more UG filters?????

My girlfriend had bought her uncles 140 about 6 years ago. I have only been with her three or four years now. She was using it for magazine storage........It sat empty till I discovered it. Seemed like a waste to me...my dad talked me into doing salt and that was history.

I went to Curacao this summer and went diving for the first time. It was a special event for me because I'm scared of the ocean. It's very vast, and we're quite low on the food chain there so that has always scared me

Anyway, went diving right off the beach, about 40 feet down or so and there was the most amazing reef. I was terrified yet amazed at the same time... it definitely took my breath away. It was probably one of the most beautiful things I'll ever see in my life.

So, before that I didn't really have any tanks, I had inherited a ten gallon freshwater tank from a friend that same year (which ironically succumbed to a ich outbreak while I was in Curacao) So when I came back, I bought a tank and took the SW plunge. This site definitely saved my life because I think I would have given it up by now otherwise!

I have always been fascinated by aquatic life. I had been keeping fw tanks for years, but one day I just kinda said, "Hey, I am gonna start a sw tank!" then I immediately looked for as much information as possible. It was like one full week, on the computer, constantly starting threads, checking threads, googling. I absorbed so much info it was amazing! :joy:

We saw a dog face puffer in a lfs and I HAD TO HAVE HIM. My local store, Ocean Gallery II of North Plainfield on Route 22 helped me out. They are great folks. We now have our baby and things expanded from there.

Plus, we love the ocean and any ocean life. I am hooked....big time.