# What was your first setup.



## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Just to get some general fish talk going. What was your first tank and what did you keep?


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

I thought this would be nice to see how much everyone has grown in the hobby. I will start it out

My first tank:
10 gallon.
The fish:
2 Chinese algae eaters
4 Headlight tetras
4 Rummy nose tetra
1 betta
6 cardnial tetra
equip:
Undergravel filter
Bubble wand
Air pump (undersized for the bubble wand much less than airstones for the UGF)
Plastic plants
Black gravel
Neon deocrative stones

Overstocked and Underfiltered But overall not a bad mix of fish if the tank would have been twice the size.


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## BIT01 (Jun 18, 2006)

I used to have goldfish and plecostomi in a little hexagonal tank but not sure what size then I had a betta in a vase.


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## Guest (Jun 23, 2006)

I had the 10g kit:
4 zebra danios
2 dwarf gouramis
2 chinese algae eaters

bubble wand
multi-colored gravel
plastic plants
ugly decorations

One dwarf gourami eventually killed the other. One CAE died and the other killed 2 of the danios by sucking on their slime coats. I then added 3 more danios and gave the remaining CAE to my ex-bf.

Here is a picture (it was only 2 years ago):









And here is a picture of the same tank now...alot has changed, but it isn't very pretty:









It will be getting an overhaul soon and a nice aquascape.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

I once heard someone describe the flouricent gravel mix that you use to have as "clown vomit" I laughed when I heard it and have never been able to use anything even close to that in my tanks since then. LOL

It is amazing though how much people advance when they learn more. Your tank is now somthing many envy and yet you still feel room for improvement. 

That is what I love about this hobby. Always room to learn and grow.


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## Guest (Jun 23, 2006)

> Always room to learn and grow


Definitely. I learn something new every day...many times just by reading posts.

I hope people don't envy that 10g live plant picture. It is a mess! Everything is just kind of stuck in there. I'm upgrading the lighting soon to 4wpg and adding a good piece of DW. Then I'll plant it heavily and get a pair of Apistos! Wow, I have way too many plans in my head....


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## msdolittle (Mar 4, 2006)

My first is the one I have. Its a 30 gallon I started for my son's birthday. 3 BS tetras, 3 swordtails, 3 mollies, one rubberlip pleco, one clown pleco, 4 cories and 2 khuli loaches. I have fake and live plants, lots of creek rocks and some wood. 

When I started it I had 3 gouramis, no clown pleco, no rubberlip, no khuli loaches and no cories. I knew nothing of cycling till I came here (thank GOD I found you guys). We got some nasty ich in the tank from introducing and removing about three other kinds of fish (did the clown loach thing, skunk loaches and neon tetras..........all HUGE mistakes). But then I learned more........and now we have what we have. We only lost the 3 gouramies (I'm thinking the major ich explosion and they helped cycle the tank is what did them in sadly) but everyone else is doing great.

I also have the little 10 gallon that was originally a quarantine tank. But then I walked into a pet store that had the biggest snail I'd ever seen in a store and I had to have him.........so I made the quarantine tank into his home. I now have fry in there too. Soon that tank will be for my cories after the one little one heals (in the 5 gallon hospital tank currently).

I wouldn't be able to do anything I've done without you guys. Now I know how to cycle a tank quickly for emergencies (I keep spare filter media IN my HOB on the 30 gallon so I can take one out if needed in an emergency), I can recognize earlier when they are sick so I can minimize losses (just because their fish doesn't mean I love them less than any of my other pets), I know NOT to put salt with cories (whoa that was scary) and I know to quarantine anything new that I buy (well, sorta learned that one on my own). I even try to tell my friends the right way to do things.......they still have the fish are expendible so who cares if they die attitude. No cycling tanks, overfeeding like crazy, leaving moldy food in tanks, never cleaning tanks, putting horribly wrong fish in a tiny tank...........you name it. I try to help, but some people are bullheaded.

Someday we want a big saltwater tank........but that's years down the road.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

My first setup was about 20 years ago.........(whew didnt realize it was so long ago!)
10 Gallon with about 15-20 mollies, guppies, and platys.
Blue standard aquarium gravel
Air pump
HOB filter
I fed them twice a day what they could eat in about 20 min.
The tank sat right in front of a bay window


I've come a long way in 20 years.


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## Guest (Jun 23, 2006)

> I fed them twice a day what they could eat in about 20 min


Sorry, I just had to laugh at that. I did pretty much the same thing. I kept feeding them more and more. Its amazing that we learn so much about things. Fishkeeping seemed extremely easy to me in the beginning, boy was I dumb though.


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## Guest (Jun 23, 2006)

My first set up was a 10g with 4 black widow tetras, it was a science project but I was supposed to use 4 goldfish but luckily the guy that worked there new something about fish and recommended me to get black widow tetras instead as they don't get as big and are hardy for new tanks. Then after the project was over soon after my friend gave me a blue gourami and then shortly after that I got a common plec and I kept starting the tank completly over 3 times because either the water would turn cloudy or green then I'd get everything new. And I still have those black widow tetras and that common plec. I never knew fish were that hardy. It's wierd how it seems almost everyone starts with a 10g.

The equipment I used was:
1 whisper power filter 10, I upgraded to a whisper power filter 20 when my water went green again
a UGF filter
blue gravel
fake plants
1 heater


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## Pac-Man (Mar 18, 2005)

Well, I'll share my first I guess.

5 gallon Half Hexagon Acrylic Tank

Undergravel Filter

Aqyaclear mini filter

5 feeder Goldfish

A few of the goldies died after a few years, but one was five when it died. I was too young to know any better.


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

MY first tank was a 55 gal with an Oscar and a common pleco - that was about 20 years ago


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## northfacehiker (May 31, 2006)

Way back in the day it was a betta in a bowl. Then it was Japanese Firebelly newts in a 5 gallon acrylic tank. My first actual aquarium that was mine (parents had one previously) is the 3 yr old. 30 gallon tank that I have now. First set of occupants were 7 tiger barbs, 2 pictus cats, a striped raphael, and a common pleco. It had fake tree roots and a ton of plastic plants. It also had a 28 inch bubble wand that covered the entire back wall of the tank. I have a digital pic burned onto a cd somewhere. I should go look for it.

Here is the same tank now... It has come a long way:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g319/internetusertoo/137_3761.jpg

And now I have a 55 gallon that I'm re-sealing tonight and will be building a planted tank out of. I can't wait to have two tanks to sit in my recliner and fall asleep watching my fish. It's a great way to unwind after a long day at work.


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## Ron the handyman (Jan 18, 2005)

Pac-Man said:


> Well, I'll share my first I guess.
> 
> 5 gallon Half Hexagon Acrylic Tank
> 
> ...


 Pac-man your back or I haven't see your posts Welcome back. R.


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## Ron the handyman (Jan 18, 2005)

My first was a 75 Gallon planted with (tetra's, Black, Diamond, cardinal, neon, Lemon) Golden white clouds German Blue Rams, Danios, Otto's, Koolie Loaches, Planted with swords, java Mose, and some others I still don't know there names. R.


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## wildtiger (Jun 8, 2005)

Ok, this is going to be bad...

100 yrs ago I started out with a 10 gal tank that had an undergravel filter. Can't remember what color the gravel was can't even remember what decorations I had although I'm wanting to think I had a white ceramic skull. The only fish I remember having in that tank was angelfish. I know for a fact that the tank was never cycled properly, never cleaned as it should have been cleaned and I must have made every mistake imaginable with that first tank.

Geez, I'm embarrased now...lmao


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## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

Hmm about 25 years ago, I was envious of my dads tanks so I got my very own 20g for my room LOL. I guess I was in about the 4th grade or so because by the time I was in 6th grade I was doing maintenance on the 55gallon in the school library. Oh and I was hot stuff with that gig too *laugh* 

I kept a pair of angels, trio of swordtails, about 4 neons, 1 cory and 1 kuhli loach. Over the years I swapped out swords with guppies and went back to swords. Oddly enough, I'm still infatuated with the very same fish LOL. And uhh, we won't discuss the stocking level LOL. For decorations, I had a little stone pagoda a nice piece of driftwood and one of those air driven skeletons. No idea how I fit all that + plants in there! At one point I had the little shipwreck too. Oh yea the UGF was the thing... but I also had a box filter which eventually got changed to an aquaclear mini at some point back then.


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## Ajreoandoeka (Aug 11, 2005)

Mine is a sad story. I kept a betta in a "tank" smaller than the average drinking glass.

My first official aquarium as I'd call it is what I have now...a 5 gallon that has (hopefully) cycled on it's own as I never did anything to it and learned about cycling after I had had the tank for a long time. 

I hope to get a bigger tank and cycle it soon!


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

2 gallon bowl, little cave thingy, some rocks and a few fake plants with a red betta.
that was over 5 years ago so i cant really remember


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## Guest (Jun 24, 2006)

I found a pic of my first set up, except that it has different fish in it with this pic because I had moved the fish that were in it to my long 20g at the time,







I have now replaced all the plants with new ones, removed the cave, and replaced the gravel with a natural colored gravel.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Its truly amazing to see how far we have come. From overstocking and not cycling to patiently waiting a month before adding fish using the fishless cycling. From UG filters to RUGF to HOB to Canisters. Not to mention selective breeding.


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## Ron the handyman (Jan 18, 2005)

Simpte said:


> Its truly amazing to see how far we have come. From overstocking and not cycling to patiently waiting a month before adding fish using the fishless cycling. From UG filters to RUGF to HOB to Canisters. Not to mention selective breeding.


Was that selective breeding of humans or was that fish, I'm so confused     R.


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## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

My first fish came in a plastic bag and was handed to me by a carny on the board walk at coney island.


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## Sprite42 (Mar 10, 2006)

My first tank was 10 gallon with one of those in tank plastic filters that run off of an air line. It had cotton batting and loose charcoal in it and wouldn't stay at the bottom of the tank, it would float! It got it as a kit. I used the *barf* colored gravel and a cave of the same color (neon pink & yellow) and added about 3 plastic plants. I promptly plopped in 1 white skirt tetra, 1 black phantom tetra, 2 painted glass tetras, and one pristella tetra. These fish were all recommended at the LFS. Needless to say it was hideous. I set it all up in front of my sliding glass doors on the south side of the house. The fish got a wonderful sunlit area in which to swim.


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## girth vader (Apr 24, 2006)

LOL. 15 yrs ago, 15 gallon with 2 pink convicts m/f. Laid eggs like crazy but never produced fry. Had that for 6 months and bought a 100g and housed convicts, jack dempseys and 2 oscars. they lived for about 8 yrs. I was devistated when they died. Took a cpl yrs off and have been keeping fish since.


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2006)

harif87 said:


> My first fish came in a plastic bag and was handed to me by a carny on the board walk at coney island.


What kind of fish was it?


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## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

Durbkat said:


> What kind of fish was it?


a gold fish


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