F i s h y
2nd In Command.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2020
- Messages
- 10,298
- Reaction score
- 62,444
- Location
- Indiana
- What state or country do you live in
- Indiana
The journey to this tank started years ago. I have my dad to thank for my love of aquariums. I was in 3rd grade when I set up my first tank. A 29 that my dad wasn't using, filled with fresh water, a tadpole, a crayfish, a bluegill and some minnows from the river at the local park.
He always had beautiful freshwater tanks with pretty angelfish and live plants, and I would get lost watching them.
I remember early on having an immense desire to learn everything i could to take care of each species i owned.
As the years went on i moved into tropical freshwater fish and began breeding easy species such as swordtails, guppies, mollies by the time I was 10 or 11.
Ironically about this time my dads passion for fish was coming to an end. And i quickly picked up pace.
In high school I worked for a pet store. Easy access to at cost equipment grew my hobby in aquatics and small animals. I quickly went to saltwater, owned and bred lizards and snakes, birds, and amphibians. My bedroom was wall to wall aquariums and cages.
When I went off to college my mother became the zoo keeper. I was 2 hours away at school and came down on weekends and breaks when I could, but it quickly became apparent my zoo needed to become much smaller.
I set up a 26 gallon bow front reef in my dorm room, and... an extra large Rubbermaid stock tank that housed a shark that I hatched from an egg. I quickly became known as Fish... the name has stuck to today and I answer to Fishy now.
After leaving school the addiction continued and i set up a local reef club, did tank maintenance on the side, and bred some basic saltwater fish like clowns and cardinals. I loved fragging and swapping corals, and had a large system in my garage.
One of my favorite memories was a tour of the facilities of Newport Aquarium in Newport Kentucky shortly after they opened with my reef club. The grand aspirations i had after coming home can't be described.
Most recently I've been out of the hobby, life changes, children, marriage, and divorce have shaped my life, moves and career changes. But I have the itch again.
I find myself looking for a house to buy and one of the deciding factors is how much room do I have for a tank and hopefully a fish room.
I have begun research on my dream build. Or one of them. A custom acrylic mixed reef. The tank will measure 72 inches long, 30 inches wide, and 24 inches deep. Ive already started to purchase equipment and i have an estimate on the tank i designed from glasscages.com. Shout out to @Joe Glass Cages.
So many things have changed since I was in the hobby, the vast amount of information is overwhelming. I hope to provide some insight into my journey in this thread. And hopefully inspire some people to think outside of the box and question what is commonly accepted as mainstream.
I also hope to inspire additional new reefers like my best friend @cmiller5617 who now has the dreaded saltwater virus. She has thrown fuel on the fire by deciding to jump right in and purchase a tank too. Her tank will be what keeps me going until I can set up mine.
This thread will chronicle the QT setup we have, the set up of her 75 gallon reef ready tank featuring her favorite fish a toby puffer and eventually my 225.
Thanks for reading.
He always had beautiful freshwater tanks with pretty angelfish and live plants, and I would get lost watching them.
I remember early on having an immense desire to learn everything i could to take care of each species i owned.
As the years went on i moved into tropical freshwater fish and began breeding easy species such as swordtails, guppies, mollies by the time I was 10 or 11.
Ironically about this time my dads passion for fish was coming to an end. And i quickly picked up pace.
In high school I worked for a pet store. Easy access to at cost equipment grew my hobby in aquatics and small animals. I quickly went to saltwater, owned and bred lizards and snakes, birds, and amphibians. My bedroom was wall to wall aquariums and cages.
When I went off to college my mother became the zoo keeper. I was 2 hours away at school and came down on weekends and breaks when I could, but it quickly became apparent my zoo needed to become much smaller.
I set up a 26 gallon bow front reef in my dorm room, and... an extra large Rubbermaid stock tank that housed a shark that I hatched from an egg. I quickly became known as Fish... the name has stuck to today and I answer to Fishy now.
After leaving school the addiction continued and i set up a local reef club, did tank maintenance on the side, and bred some basic saltwater fish like clowns and cardinals. I loved fragging and swapping corals, and had a large system in my garage.
One of my favorite memories was a tour of the facilities of Newport Aquarium in Newport Kentucky shortly after they opened with my reef club. The grand aspirations i had after coming home can't be described.
Most recently I've been out of the hobby, life changes, children, marriage, and divorce have shaped my life, moves and career changes. But I have the itch again.
I find myself looking for a house to buy and one of the deciding factors is how much room do I have for a tank and hopefully a fish room.
I have begun research on my dream build. Or one of them. A custom acrylic mixed reef. The tank will measure 72 inches long, 30 inches wide, and 24 inches deep. Ive already started to purchase equipment and i have an estimate on the tank i designed from glasscages.com. Shout out to @Joe Glass Cages.
So many things have changed since I was in the hobby, the vast amount of information is overwhelming. I hope to provide some insight into my journey in this thread. And hopefully inspire some people to think outside of the box and question what is commonly accepted as mainstream.
I also hope to inspire additional new reefers like my best friend @cmiller5617 who now has the dreaded saltwater virus. She has thrown fuel on the fire by deciding to jump right in and purchase a tank too. Her tank will be what keeps me going until I can set up mine.
This thread will chronicle the QT setup we have, the set up of her 75 gallon reef ready tank featuring her favorite fish a toby puffer and eventually my 225.
Thanks for reading.
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once the tank is cycled and the puffer is ready, it will be the first in. Here is the tank with the royal blues on at the lowest possible level.... (its nighttime)
