I found it!!!!!

I have been looking for a while for this picture. It was taken Aug. 10 1993 and shows the begining of me and my hobby. I was 10 years old, and it was the day after my birthday (the tank and stock was my present from mom). My stock list was 3 cory cats, 4 neon tetras and a male swordtail. My mom said I spent hours everyday with my face in a book about fish or with my eyes gazing into there artificial world from that point on. Well we have the internet now so, most of my info now comes from the internet, although I still have a lot of fish books. And now I gaze into 6' tanks. Anyway I followed it up by a picture takin on my 28th birthday so 18 years later. Enjoy.

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I'm just older, same kid though. Not much changed.

Cool story and picture! Dude your old!

There is so much I could do with a big tank like that .... Ahh but alas the wife and the floors won't handle it too well ...

Oh and he is not old just well aged.... (not that I have room to talk)

I'm 90!

I'm still in my 20s... the very butt end of them, but 20s none the less. I do feel older then I am though. I have 3 kids (10,8,3) and a mortgage. I also "hang" with older people (most of my friends are in there 40s or 50s), because I find them more relatable. My body is still young though.

Thanks for the nice words. My mom had know clue what she started when she bought me that fish tank. When I was 16 I got a 55 gallon and that was the first time I had ever owned a cichlid (thorichthys meekii). My mom wouldent allow me to go any bigger. But now she keeps a 120 gallon tank with an oscar as a wet pet in florida. Its so strange looking at that picture, and remembering how the hobby was then and having the chance to watch it evolve to what it is now. When I first started keeping fish I was tought that the water was equal to gold and the only maintnance required were top offs and scrapeing of algea. We dident do water changes back then, dumping "gold" water was unheard of. Wow, what a great hobby this is. My fondest memories as a child were focused around an aquarium. I used to get made fun of in school because I would never stop talking about or reading about fish. The name I was called most was "fish boy".... it kindda stuck because now all the guys I work with call me "fish".

Btw spyral I heard your not 90.

Very nice. Really cool story and pics. The tank looks great.

I didnt start my own tank till I moved out. My dad was cheap, and if it was something he wasnt interested in, then neither should me and my brother.

Now they both have tanks also. (except their tanks could swim in my tanks)

Lol, I dident have a dad. I was the man of the house, I was helpfull so my mom was generous.

Nice tank! Really makes me want a white sand tank again!

Thanks, its a pain to clean if you want it perfect. But I'm a big fan of natural, so I let algea grow on decorations and the back of the tank.

Cool story and pics. I can't imagine having such a large tank. I'm a bit envious. But at the same time I think I'd have to slowly work up to the larger tanks, just to make sure I could handle it.

Thanks, and it has takin me a long time to get to where I am in fish keeping. Gradual is fun if your patiant, but if not then just go out and buy a big set up. Its not tough just stick to what you know and apply it to a larger scale. I find larger tanks are easier to maintane then smaller ones because if something goes wrong it takes a lot longer for it to become a big problem where as if something goes wrong in a small tank it goes wrong really fast. That's why they say if you plan on doing saltwater the best thing to do is start with a large (50+ gallon) tank, because it leaves a little room for error. I say go with it set up a 75 gallon that's a really good size.