This all started in 1978 because my landlord wouldn't let me have a dog... ...But before I get too ahead of myself, let me first welcome you to my website. My name is Michael G. Moye (more about me later) and I really hope you enjoy your time spent here because this is the most work I've ever put into something I couldn't actually date.
I began keeping saltwater fish back in 1978 when, living in Los Angeles, I decided I needed a diversion from the stresses of my job. Y'know, something that would be waiting for me when I got home that didn't shop. So I asked my landlord if I could have a dog. He said that pets generally weren't allowed (with the exception, of course, of his wife's little banshee of a cat) but he'd make an exception for fish since they were quiet and wouldn't befoul his verdant 1/250 acre of front lawn. Now, I'm not usually the spiteful sort but knowing full well by 'fish', he meant something small like a molly in a bowl with pink gravel, some marbles, and a plastic diver with bubbles coming out of his head, I came home with a 60g showtank complete with a cabinet, hood, UG filter, and all the decorative dead coral skeletons I could carry. I also made sure he was watching when I brought inside the Instant Ocean.
Of course, it wasn't as though I knew NOTHING about saltwater fish. I knew they had cool colors. I knew they had cool shapes. And thanks to the nice young salesman at the LFS, I 'knew' they weren't really any harder to keep than freshwater fish.
Needless to say, there were quite a few casualties. (Un)fortunately, the salesman wasn't one of them.
The third was it annoyed my landlord.