Frosty Latte
Active Member
Winter, 2012: Not the movie, but the year I jumped ship and added salt to my aquariums.
It started with the want for something more challenging, something different, something small.
I went onto Craigslist, like every other broke college student--I was searching for a small salt water system that I could hide in my apartment with my girlfriend (who is now my wife) and our two cats, Jynx (aka Darkenss &/or Sunshine) and Doodle (aka Yankee Doodle Man Dangle Nation). All three of them approved of my freshwater hobby, and were willing to jump ship with me on over to the NaCl side of things.
I had everything--from guppies to angels to discus to fully planted aquariums--but that wasn't enough.
While Googling my life away, I read nano aquariums are very difficult to keep. I always enjoyed a challenge, and I couldn't afford anything much larger anyway--so the search was on.
Getting lucky, within the first month someone posted a JBJ XD 12 gallon nano aquarium stocked with live rock covered in coraline algae and 2 clowns. I'd done research prior to reaching out, and took a trip over to the guy's house to check out what he had. His water was a frigid 60 degrees and the fish were clinging on for dear life.
I felt bad for the 2 clowns--I knew 60 degrees was far too cold. I bought the whole setup, but I never really intended on keeping those "starter fish", except they sorta grew on me as time went by and are still with us now.
Since then, I've learned a lot: I've done TONS of reading on forums, in books, and online. I've been to a lot of fish shows and to many different "LFSs." Here's my tank and its travels:
It started with the want for something more challenging, something different, something small.
I went onto Craigslist, like every other broke college student--I was searching for a small salt water system that I could hide in my apartment with my girlfriend (who is now my wife) and our two cats, Jynx (aka Darkenss &/or Sunshine) and Doodle (aka Yankee Doodle Man Dangle Nation). All three of them approved of my freshwater hobby, and were willing to jump ship with me on over to the NaCl side of things.
I had everything--from guppies to angels to discus to fully planted aquariums--but that wasn't enough.
While Googling my life away, I read nano aquariums are very difficult to keep. I always enjoyed a challenge, and I couldn't afford anything much larger anyway--so the search was on.
Getting lucky, within the first month someone posted a JBJ XD 12 gallon nano aquarium stocked with live rock covered in coraline algae and 2 clowns. I'd done research prior to reaching out, and took a trip over to the guy's house to check out what he had. His water was a frigid 60 degrees and the fish were clinging on for dear life.
I felt bad for the 2 clowns--I knew 60 degrees was far too cold. I bought the whole setup, but I never really intended on keeping those "starter fish", except they sorta grew on me as time went by and are still with us now.
Since then, I've learned a lot: I've done TONS of reading on forums, in books, and online. I've been to a lot of fish shows and to many different "LFSs." Here's my tank and its travels:
