What Made You Go Salty?

Never had the intention of making it a hobby but this guy who lived near me had a fish tank with an eel in it and i thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then he wanted to sell the whole setup for 200 dollars (know now i over paid) and i said id take it without knowing anything about fish tanks priod! Now im an addict.

 

Hey what kinda slug is that in your avatar IHAVEMTS?

 

have kept fresh water for years and just always want the color and vibrancy of a salt tank so when I had enough money I took the plunge and have love it since. + they said it was hard

 

I have always had fw fish since I was like 8 years old. when I moved in 2001 my wife was pregnant and I convinced her that a salt water tank will assist in calming a crying baby. It worked and I bought an 125 gallon tank. That was 9 years ago. Is there many LFS's where you are in Tenn? my mother in law lives in Kingsport not many around there.

 

I work in the River Journey gift shop : However, I have some pretty close contacts throughout the River Journey, and know almost every square inch of it. The only tanks I haven't been above are the Nickajack Lake, Cichlids, and Amazon Arapaima tank (sp?). I have a close contact who is a lead herpetologist there. She is in charge of the River Otters as well as the reptiles, and has a key to anywhere. She's the main reason why I've been through almost every "Authorized personel only" door My name tag gets me almost anywhere, but her key gets me every where else.

Sorry about the quality. Taken on my cell phone.

See? Here's a picture of the corner of the 88,000 Gulf of Mexico exhibit in River Journey (the only permenant saltwater tank in the RJ building)


And here is a pic of the two protein skimmers powering that tank. They're about 8 feet tall and 3 or 4 feet in diameter. My contact was amazed that I knew more about protein skimmers than she did


I'm also working on becoming a volunteer scuba diver for the aquarium. I'm about to buy my own gear (probably), and then I just need 16 more logged dives and I'm good to go.

 

Started out with freshwater about 7 yrs ago. Family bought a 50 gal for living room, and (2) 30 gal tanks for my room and sisters room. Well long story short.. i ended up taking care of all of them! Brother in law had a 55 SW and i always admired it for the color, starfish, inverts, and everything else that is so much cooler than FW! So I Started my 30 gal SW 4 months ago, then upgraded to 55 for the last 2 months, and now have a 120 on order! Hopefully this is my final move!! lol. Currently, I have 50 gal FW still in the living room, and maintain a 30 FW at my moms office. After my 120 gets up and ready, I'll have to find a place to put the 55 up.

 

I too started with freshwater and raised angels for a while and a few months ago after having them for 11 yrs my two angels I used for breeders died, old age got to them....female died and then about two months later male died.I then had an empty tank and always liked the beauty of the salt tanks so I decided to take the plunge.I like a challenge and always heard salt tanks were hard to keep so here I am With a healthy 55gal saltwater tank and have a 240 long that is set-up and working on getting equipment ($$$$....) for it. "Hi I am a saltwater addict and my name is Geoff", I think we should have counselors on 3reef......wife says I'm obsessed....I'm no longer in denial,I'm a reefer :thumb_up:.

 

started cold and fresh, then tried some warm and fresh, then went warm and salty.
i had a coldwater guppy tank as a child, it was a bowl that had one lone guppy a friend of mine caught fishing. also i remember watching my fathers koi pond after my guppy died as all childrens pets eventually do that arent secretly taken care of by there mom. eventually i started back up in highschool, first with goldfishes then some gouramis. eventually when i was browsing a lfs i noticed some saltwaterfish in two of there only salt stock tanks. I was so intrigued by the fish in that tank and captivated by its beauty i did some shuffling of tanks and converted my 55 tropical tank into a marine before the end of the month. that fish i saw in the store that started it all was a simple maroon clown.

 

Ha ha - my husband says the same thing! He just doesn't appreciate all my little "children" like I do!

I love the stories! Keep 'em coming!

 

stories -
I was given a 2ft tank with a Shubunkin and a goldfish by a next door neighbour at the age of 15, I had looked after their tropicals and pond fish for 2 weeks per year while they went on holiday and when they moved house , they gave me the tank and 2 smallest fish from pond

I kept this for 12 months, (then some other stuff happened thats not suitable for this site and by 17 I was married)

after 2 years of marriage, I decided another fish tank was in order, and got myself anoter 2 ft (1st one had long been forgotten) but this time with UG filter, (I note they are making a comeback?) and heater and had Neons, glowlights, guppies, Zebras etc and generally stuffed as many small fish into that tank as would fit ( I would have saved a few bucks on electric, if I had just gone with a tin of sardines I suppose)

then I bought a book , realised that fish dont read, and left it in the toilet for periodical perusal

to cut a long story short


Steve