I finally decided to start a journal. I thought i would start out with how I got into this hobby and what it was like early-on. I hope you enjoy my rembrances of things past.....Linda
Today’s aquarists are lucky in so many ways: Affordable aquariums, filters and heaters, a wealth of fish species from which to choose. Most have no idea how it was before any of the above. How it was before the Internet and Forums. When you had to read book by researchers and breeders or find a mentor with years of experience to glean information.
I began my aquatic adventures in 1959 when my Father used my 10th birthday as an excuse to get the aquarium he had always wanted. That birthday present cost him nearly $600 in today’s money. Now you see why he needed an excuse! As a Navy Chief Petty Officer his pay wasn’t all that great and we lived in San Diego, CA where the cost of living was high.
What did my birthday gift include? A 10 gallon Metaframe aquarium with slate bottom, gravel, a net, food, a ton of plants and three Guppies, three Mollies and three Swords…one male and two females of each. There were no affordable heaters for smaller aquariums and my brain has forgotten if it had a filter…but I don’t think so.
One of the tenants of long-ago aquaria was the “One-inch of fish per gallon of water.” This 100-year-old belief was developed when there were no filters to supply oxygen or maintain water quality. Although with today’s technology that rule no longer applies many still perpetuate it.
Speaking of plants: From the aquatic beginnings an abundance of live plants was a “must.” Even in the 1800s aquarists rightly believed that not only did live plants provide oxygen but they also maintained water quality even before the advent of filters. Ask aquatic experts and you will find many who believe some of today’s fish sicken more often than ever before because too many aquarists use maintenance-free fake plants and thus deprive their fish of the benefits live plants provide…which is why my birthday gift came with a lot of plants.
In 1959 there was no “instant cycling” bacteria. The aquarist did weekly water changes of 50% no matter how many fish were in the new tank. We didn’t lose a single fish during the “breaking in” of the aquarium as amateurs called it. As a matter of fact, we didn’t lose any of them in a cross-country trip to my Father’s final assignment in Florida. With no Interstates, if memory serves, it took a week; maybe a bit longer. Can you imagine? A week driving across country in a Nash station wagon with two kids (aged 10 and seven), a parakeet and an aquarium with nine fish?
My Mom carried two jugs for water and when we arrived at a motel she would fill the jugs. The next morning right before we left she would dip out some of the tank water and fill the tank with the water that had been setting out overnight. Back then you didn’t need “conditioners” because they didn’t add all that stuff to the water supply that they do today.
We maintained that tank until we left Florida for Tennessee in the summer of 1964. We gave it to a friend. When we reached Tennessee, we bought a 20 gallon which we kept until I left for my last two years college in 1968.
Today’s aquarists are lucky in so many ways: Affordable aquariums, filters and heaters, a wealth of fish species from which to choose. Most have no idea how it was before any of the above. How it was before the Internet and Forums. When you had to read book by researchers and breeders or find a mentor with years of experience to glean information.
I began my aquatic adventures in 1959 when my Father used my 10th birthday as an excuse to get the aquarium he had always wanted. That birthday present cost him nearly $600 in today’s money. Now you see why he needed an excuse! As a Navy Chief Petty Officer his pay wasn’t all that great and we lived in San Diego, CA where the cost of living was high.
What did my birthday gift include? A 10 gallon Metaframe aquarium with slate bottom, gravel, a net, food, a ton of plants and three Guppies, three Mollies and three Swords…one male and two females of each. There were no affordable heaters for smaller aquariums and my brain has forgotten if it had a filter…but I don’t think so.
One of the tenants of long-ago aquaria was the “One-inch of fish per gallon of water.” This 100-year-old belief was developed when there were no filters to supply oxygen or maintain water quality. Although with today’s technology that rule no longer applies many still perpetuate it.
Speaking of plants: From the aquatic beginnings an abundance of live plants was a “must.” Even in the 1800s aquarists rightly believed that not only did live plants provide oxygen but they also maintained water quality even before the advent of filters. Ask aquatic experts and you will find many who believe some of today’s fish sicken more often than ever before because too many aquarists use maintenance-free fake plants and thus deprive their fish of the benefits live plants provide…which is why my birthday gift came with a lot of plants.
In 1959 there was no “instant cycling” bacteria. The aquarist did weekly water changes of 50% no matter how many fish were in the new tank. We didn’t lose a single fish during the “breaking in” of the aquarium as amateurs called it. As a matter of fact, we didn’t lose any of them in a cross-country trip to my Father’s final assignment in Florida. With no Interstates, if memory serves, it took a week; maybe a bit longer. Can you imagine? A week driving across country in a Nash station wagon with two kids (aged 10 and seven), a parakeet and an aquarium with nine fish?
My Mom carried two jugs for water and when we arrived at a motel she would fill the jugs. The next morning right before we left she would dip out some of the tank water and fill the tank with the water that had been setting out overnight. Back then you didn’t need “conditioners” because they didn’t add all that stuff to the water supply that they do today.
We maintained that tank until we left Florida for Tennessee in the summer of 1964. We gave it to a friend. When we reached Tennessee, we bought a 20 gallon which we kept until I left for my last two years college in 1968.