How have your aquariums changed?

So here I’m going to write out every aquarium I’ve had. Feel free to add yours.

First, I had a 5g aquarium with two male guppies, a bronze cory cat and a mystery snail. Not ideal at all, but not the worst set up in the world.

Then, I moved those fish to a 20g high, hit a couple more cories and some kuhli loaches.

I set up a shrimp tank that was 1 gallon and filtered

I set up my old 5g for a betta

I moved the shrimp to the 5g and the betta to a new 10g

I set up the 1g for a new betta (don’t kill me, at the time i thought it was a 2.5g)

I divided the 10g for my bettas

I got a 29g so moved one betta to the 20g and the community to the 29

My cories had babies so I put the fry in the 1g

One betta died so I put the fry in the 10g

Second betta died so I moved the fry to the 20g

Re homed fry so I moved shrimp to 20g

20g leaked so I moved shrimp to 1g

Set up 10g with a new betta

Replaced 29g with 45g today


That’s my tank history haha. In the last year and a half. I know I don’t have the best track record with bettas

 

A long time ago I kept african dwarf frogs but other than that my first tank was a 10g.
I got it and got all supplies at lfs. To cycle I got two asian stone catfish and frog, which died.

I gave up on that stock, and tried some rams, but those didn't do so well, and neither did two guppies.

It got overrun by snails, which I got an assassin snail to take care of (it did a wonderful job) but now now the ramshorns have been replaced with either mts or baby assassins.

I'm keeping their numbers under control and my plants are doing pretty good, nothing but snails for now but planning on male guppies, pygmy cories, and crystal red shrimp, and maybe getting a CO2 system.

I kept a shared tank (8g) early on with a few corydoras, greenfire tetras, and bolivian ram, but we couldn't keep it for too long.

I also kept a rcs 1.5g tank, which thrived for a while but also got shut down. They loved the moss though.

And lastly last summer we set up a 40g saltwater aquarium, and stocked it with a beautiful clownfish pair. We later got invertebrates, a few of which died. And the current stock is my two clowns, a nerite snail, and peppermint shrimp. Planning on goby, blenny, and cardinals, and maybe more shrimp.

 

My first "official" tank I had a 29 gallon back in college. I had a female Betta, emerald cories, rainbows, cherry barbs, and assassin snails. I tried to make it planted but I didn't do a very good job. I eventually gave up the hobby due to school needs.

I dipped my toes back in a few years ago with a 5g betta tank and an apple snail.

Then just recently invested in a 16 gallon tank and currently have some pygmy cories, RCS and MTS. I also have some celestial pearl danios that are on order coming in this week. I plan to round out the tank with a honey gourami once the danios get situated.
I feel like on this tank I have finally mastered the beginner level of having a successful planted tank- so at least one goal has been achieved!

Not sure if a bigger tank is in my future but I have really enjoyed getting back into the hobby with this one!

 

My first aquarium was a 20 gallon (currently my empty quarantine/grow out tank). I had Mollies and Guppies with some live plants.

Shortly after, I upgraded to a 60 gallon and transferred everything from the 20 into the 60. I added more plants and some more fish, including one Angel Fish. I can't remember everything I had.

1 year later, I decided to shut down the tank. I got really bored with these fish and the work involved with a planted aquarium was just not worth it for me so I quit.

About 4-5 years later, I decided I wanted to start my tank (60 gallon) back up again. I attempted to retry the planted community aquarium but quickly scrapped the setup again.

I really wanted to keep larger, more aggressive fish. Because let's be honest, everyone I know keeps Guppies, Mollies, Cories, Tetras, etc.

So I decided to keep African Cichlids to start. As my work place at that time was close to the Georgian Bay Lake in Ontario (Canada), I picked up a lot of nice rocks and driftwood pieces for my tank.

Most of my livestock I get second hand for cheap or occasionally, for free.

Then several months later, I decided I want to get into American Cichlids. I mixed my tanks with both Africans and American Cichlids. I read a lot of articles online about how aggressive some Cichlids can be, but I really think these articles are over exaggerating and make keeping Cichlids harder than it looks.

Few months after that, I decided I really wanted a Jaguar Cichlid. I've also gone dark from the forums for about 1-2 months and I've rehomed a lot of my fish. Now as previously stated, I don't really buy into most of the articles online about fish aggressiveness. So the search for a Jaguar Cichlid resulted in me getting an 8" little monster for free! Unfortunately this time, I've underestimated how aggressive these guys can be. The Jag took up about a third of the tank in my 60. It just looked so unnatural.

Fast forward today, I've upgraded my old tank to a larger 90 gallon tank for the Jag. I'm hoping to rehome some more of my fish. With an understocked tank, it'll be less work for me.

EDIT: Forgot to mention. My Jaguar Cichlid actually killed one of my fish today (5" Red Shoulder Peacock). I really need to rehome some of my fish before my Jag turns serial killer.

 

My first tank was when I was four years old. It was a small three gallon hexagon tank with purple gravel and three black neon tetras. My dad was a serious fishkeeper back in the day, so my parents let me set it up in my bedroom.

Very shortly after that, they allowed me to upgrade to a 29 gallon. I had angelfish, platies, danios, a betta, and some cories for a few years. Then, my parents got me a 40 gallon long for my birthday. I started keeping more difficult dwarf cichlids like rams and curviceps. I also had a spotted headstander that I loved. I miss him!

I got fish fever and my parents let me set up another tank in my room and a bunch in the basement. I think at one point I had five tanks.
I remember always finding tank stuff at garage sales.

When I was in middle school I finally dove into saltwater. I found it very difficult. I had bubble algae issues. Between that and getting into my teenage years, I lost interest and took down all my tanks but one. I kept two chromis in a tank downstairs. I still think about it and subtones have nightmares that I killed fish. It was a ten gallon tank. I barely fed them and they starved. I feel bad that I was so careless.

After college, I moved out and started a saltwater tank. It was a great tank, and I had some really nice looking corals. But, I got a job in Chicago. One weekend I was visiting there. It got really hot back home, and I kept the AC off. I came home to almost everything dead. It was very upsetting.

When I moved to Chicago, I set up a 20 gallon freshwater tank. It was actually really fun not having kept freshwater fish for almost ten years. I then upgraded to two bigger tanks.

Now here I am, still loving my Angelfish and planning to set up another reef tank. I still feel like I have a ton to learn, mostly with aquascaping and algae. Otherwise, I love the hobby. I really miss my old LFSs though.

 

My first tank was a 20 gallon goldfish tank. I was really young then, so I was more of the 'helper' with my parents being the actual aquarium caretakers. It is now a family goldfish aquarium.

My first personal aquarium was a nice little glass 10 gallon aquarium with black plastic trim, from at least the years 2008 to 2011. I had a glass aquarium heater, a glass aquarium thermometer, and a HOB Marine filter, but no aquarium lid. I had it in front of a north-facing window and did get a little green algae in it. I think I had Engeria Densa plants for a while, with the 'pest' acute bladder snails. I had it full of lots and lots of male and female guppies.
When all the guppies 'just died off', I lost interest for a few years and the tank was stored in the attic. I was unable replace the silicone to reuse the older 10 gallon tank since.

I set up a new 10 gallon glass aquarium kit on November 2016, which came with a black plastic lid with two cheap led lights inside. I ended up buying a new aquarium heater. I initially used my old Marine filter, but I had to replace the old filter sponges with disposable polyester pads. This time I positioned it away from any windows and let the aquarium run for two months for a fishless cycle. I sloped the gravel to be slightly deeper in the back to give the illusion of a larger aquarium. This time I keep the guppy population lower by giving away my extra guppies, down to about 3 females and one male guppy. I added some marimo balls. I had some Engeria Densa for a while until it died one hot summer week, I also had some 'pest' acute bladder snails again until they died off.

I ended up having to finally replace the HOB filter after a power outage and my forgetfulness to manually prime it once. I finally switched to the new internal Whisper filter that came with the aquarium kit. I switched from using disposable polyester pads to reusable sponges, to use both internally and to cover up the filter intake. I finally grew a little green algae on the back tank glass. I left in fewer tank decorations in favor of convenience when vacuuming the gravel.
I 'played around' with making and temporarily putting in plastic canvas items into my aquarium.

I was also given a tall acrylic 3 gallon tank, which is now my quarantine/hospital tank. Unfortunately it didn't come with the bottom grid for 'undergravel filter', just the big plastic tube.