Step 1: Decide what you're doing.

November 7th, 2011. 
This is the day upon which AquaticAdventurA was born.

The Name?
A collection of A's makes for an easily abbreviated title. AAA.

The Reason?
I have been an enthusiast of the home aquarium for many years. When I was a child in grade school it began when my parents let me take home some guppies. The guppies were from another classroom's fish tank and the fish were being sent to "good homes" at the end of the year. I was very excited at the time. I took my two new friends home in a 1 litre pop bottle that I'd rinsed out for the occasion. Prior to this moment, I had always been fond of "bugs" as a child, and I was prepared to envision and create a habitat for these guppies.

As it turns out, I was so concerned about giving them the BEST possible situation to live in, that I changed their water daily. I performed 100% water changes religiously for over a week before the poor things died. I, of course, had no idea at the time that I had been the source of their demise. My parents gave me their condolences and I was left to think about what had happened.

While I had lost the guppies, I had gained something else - a strong desire to keep fish. It would be a few more years before I would be able to get my parents to give in and let me get a 2 gallon tank. It was hexagonal, used an under gravel filter system and came with right red "rocks" to put in the bottom. At this point I was in grade 5 and playing baseball in a local league. My parents and I agreed that each time I hit a home-run, they would give me credit towards buying fish. Unfortunately, I wasn't particularly adept at hitting home runs.

As time went on, I got my first "job" as a paper delivery boy and this, combined with some good behaviour and  a few home runs gave me enough resources to get a second tank. This one was much bigger than my last, coming in at 10 gallons. Between these two tanks I kept and gained experience with a variety of species - Cory Catfish, Chinese Algae Eaters, Guppies, Red Tailed Sharks, Tetras, Bettas and Cichlids, among others. Unfortunately, I was never a fan of goldfish.

Today, I keep a 75 Gallon, 30 gallon, 10 gallon and 5.5 gallon stocked with various fish and turtles. I'm beginning to realise that this hobby keeps betting bigger and bigger.. and I keep finding myself interested in fish and ideas that are becoming increasingly difficult to find information about on the internet. So that other aquarium enthusiasts need not find themselves in a similar situation, I am beginning this blog to document my ideas, their implementation, their revision and/or maintenance over time, and to provide feedback on products and services I use to achieve the results I'm looking for. 


Cheers,

Adrian.