Do Aquariums tend to be a short lived hobby?

[Karnaaj]

Whenever somebody drags up an old post I am always struck by the names of people who no longer post or even visit the site any more. Threads from two years ago that have 15 or 20 responses from posters I have never even heard of before. Some of these people had some pretty impressive post counts too. Where do they go? Did they lose interest in the hobby? Maybe found another forum they liked better? Do they still have tanks and just got bored with posting anymore? Makes you wonder about the longevity of this hobby among individuals. Anybody else think about this?

[reiverix]

Maybe they lost interest in the internet. Doubtful though. It's a goldmine.

Some people just move onto other things I guess. I kept coldwater fish for about 8 years. Then had several years without tanks because my lifestyle at the time was too busy with other stuff. Now I'm back at it for the last 2 years but with tropical fish and plants.

[Rebgen]

My initial response would be that, yes, it is a short lived hobby for most people. The ones that jump in on impulse due to kids or whatever. It's not surprising when you consider the fact that many people don't think they need to research how to successfully enjoy this hobby. Bad advice from typical LFS complicates it even more.

I count myself in that group. I grew up in the seventies with the typical 10 gal. guppy tank with snails...complete with a clear plastic filter box with floss/charcoal in it, and air pump with UGF, and a cool looking deep sea diver with bubbles shooting out the back of his head. Unfortunatley, water changes, minimal feeding regimens, and a lot of other things never entered our mind. The "hobby" usually lasted around 4-6 months or until the last fish died...whichever came first.

About three years ago I decided to repeat the cycle by getting my five year old son an aquarium for his birthday. I bought an Eclipse 12 from Petco and set it up. After cycling it for 24 hrs or so I decided that should do it and dropped in some tiger barbs and a chinese alge eater. Amazingly, they didn't do too bad, but eventually problems surfaced when water changes were something I considered only if the tank needed to be completely torn down and washed out. We decided to let it sit empty for about a year until I decided to learn how to do this thing the right way. This is where a lot of people put the tank in a garage sale. I think this is the route a lot of them take.

I stumbled across this forum shortly after setting up the tank again. This time with 2 Silver mollies, 1 Sunburst platy, 2 ADF's, and 2 oto's. Fortunatley they survived my cycling ignorance. I added live plants soon afterwards, along with a master test kit. Last Thursday my platy gave birth to 20 fry.

With all this fun I decided I wanted to get a larger tank, so I bought a 55 gal. on sale a couple of weeks ago and am cycling it now. Once someone takes the time to do it right I would think this begins to be a life-long hobby. I check into the forum daily as I continue to climb up the learning curve. My wife looks at me a little funny but I'm having a blast so far. Can't wait to bring my gouramis home!

Sorry about the long post. :eek:

[Harlock]

I'm guessing a lot of folks come here to learn, like me. My post count has risen rapidly mainly because I enjoy the research aspect of answering questions for people, as it -- you guessed it -- helps me learn. I suspect a lot of these folks still have tanks, but feel like they learned the basics and may only come back when they have a problem or want advice.

[jonathan03]

I'd say it depends on the person rather than the hobby. Even hobby has people who try it only for a short time.

There are lots of people who buy fish like piranha and oscars too who don't think things out. Soon enough they need a bigger tank and they don't want to pay for food. These can be great fish to have, they just need a little extra care that some people are willing or able to give.

[kveeti]

It’s always fun to have a new toy. Sometimes that’s what Aquaria Central is but then the euphoria wears off.

Could be posting burn-out, too.

Let’s just take “salt” for an example. Somebody comes on asking about it. Someone new often as not posts “…but only use aquarium salt because….” Then comes the posts correcting this mis-information. After setting the record straight a few dozen times, it just might get tiresome.

[aknif]

My guess would be that it must be for a lot of people, based on the numbers of fairly new tank set-ups I see being put up for sale all the time!

I bought my solid oak, custom made stand and canopy, a 135g tank and a major filter (which I then sold on e-bay for $100) for $400 from a guy who's wife wanted it OUT! We then bought a new 125g tank, because we were nervous with a used tank that big being put in the living room... :eek: The 135g is still in my garage right now. We plan to get another stand for it sometime and make a big terrarium in it.

Then, luckily for me, my uncle had been in the fish hobby for about 4 or 5 years, and he was just over it. He had as many as 7 tanks running in his house at one time. My brother happened to mention to him that I just purchased my 125g and he told me not to buy another thing until I went through all his old stuff first... you have no idea. 3 giant rubbermaid tubs full of heaters, filters, plants, decor, nets, foods, meds... etc. Nearly every single thing in my tank right now is from him.

I think there are a lot of people that either get into the hobby and don't realize the costs involved or don't realize the maintenance necessary... and they bail out. It's unfortunate, but their loss is our gain!

[Matak]

I was explaining to a nonfishenthusiast co-worker that an Eheim is worth the extra money as they will last decades as opposed to years. He replied: "will you still be as interested 20 years from now? Good question.

I hope so. :)

[RTR]

Well, a few of us have been in the hobby a heck of a long time. Most however only last a short time, especially on the web. I admit I have to do radical changes in the way I keep fish and the fish I do keep every so many years, or I am in danger of burnout. Without challenges, anything gets old. After you have done just so much with community tanks, with Cichlids, with catfish, with salt water, you have to find new interests to keep your enthusiasm. If you are not interested enough to seek out new horizons and challenges, sooner or later the tanks are garage sale items.

And on the web in particular, there are some questions I just cannot respond to again at anything like the rate at which they reappear on the boards. At lot of formerly active posters burn out on this aspect of the hobby due to that, as it is very frustrating when so many folks want to be spoon fed detail, or only want magic bullets which can be purchased and dosed and forgotten. Very few of us are really interested, or want to invest the time to understand semiclosed systems. The few who do are worth paying attention to for me - like teachers in class, you learn to spot those who want real info, and who then use it and expand on it. They are the payback for me, and sufficient payment for the hours on the boards.

Plus the bonus points of always learning new things - not constantly, but offen enough to help keep my interest alive.

[jethangar]

What you described is probably very typical of many internet forums. I bought a new bicycle a couple years ago...a very fancy Eddy Merckx. I was addicted to bikeforums.net while shopping for that bike and a few months after buying it. But, now I hardly ever visit anymore. That doesn't mean I've stopped biking, though. (Just waiting for the snow to melt, actually). I guess the point is that forum visiting comes and goes like busboys in a restaurant. But, the hobby itself keeps going regardless of how much one chit-chats on the 'net. Of course, I guess the main point of chit-chatting is to resolve a problem. I've kept aquariums my whole life (on and off). Now, I'm "on" again and have just discovered this forum because of the rekindled interest. I imagine I'll be addicted to this forum, now! :D

[pjfish]

It's like any new hobby. A certain percentage of people will not stick with it because they don't really like it or there's too much work involved. Others may drop off this forum after they figure out the basics and don't need advice. Some experienced people enjoy helping newbies like me, but others just get bored with the same old "newbie" questions over and over.

It might be interesting to see if the people who responded to this thread are still active members in a year or so.

[skippy2]

I think people stop posting because they get out of the hobby. i.e. I met an older lady who bought a 50g from her son-in-law. I gave her my # if she had any questions. She called me last week and asked 1 ques. and spent the next 45mins. complaining about all the work involved. By the time she hung up the phone I knew she would be out of the hobby in a month. She called me yesterday and said she is done. It is too much work for her and she thinks she is being slowly poisoned by everything in the tank. She is a definate nut case. Anyway, her loss, my gain. I am going to check her tank out and see what type of corals she has. I get first dibs on everything. I don't have the room or I would buy the whole tank.

[Max]

I've kept for myself or have been around a fish tank pretty much since I was born. Some of my earliest memories involve me setting in his lap and looking at fish. Except for a very brief break when I first moved out I've pretty much always had fish in one way or another.
Not trying to go too far off topic but, how many of us have pretty much always had a tank ?
Chris

[gonefishin]

it is very frustrating when so many folks want to be spoon fed detail, or only want magic bullets which can be purchased and dosed and forgotten.
I was on Z-car.com for a while and they used the term Spooner, or Spoonie to describe these people. You would see every hour or two "how do I change my oil" or "what is the proper gap for my spark plugs". Not only can these questions be answered by the owners manual, they had been answered in the forrum 100 times before. All one had to do was use the search tool and type"spark plug gap" and they would find thier answer.

Mabey we could help "poster burnout" by using thier method. You get one person to say rudely..." hey spooner, look it up yourself :mad2 " Then someone else come in and says nicely " Although the above post may have been rude, this question has been askes 10 times this month. You should use the search function to see if the question has come up before, and you might find all the answers you need." kinda like good cop bad cop.

[Matak]

RTR & others suffering from 'poster burnout':
You could probably narrow the most asked questions down to about a hundred or so. Why not do the cut & paste thing from a database? You know that most people won't search it out for themselves.

[RTR]

Because many of the biggies I do have articles on, and have noticed that after I post the URL for those, that a high % of the time within a couple more posts the original poster will be back repeating the original question in different words- which means they never bothered to read the ref. This of course means immediate reclassification of the "spooner" (I like the term! :) ) and no further responses from me in the thread. Those who want to learn what and why deserve all the help we can give. For those who want the least possible thought and effort on their part, I am not the right person to offer help.

[Kasakato]

How do you like it
<---
and my sing.

[gonefishin]

hazaaaah for kasakato!!!!! We should all do the same. "k" You mind if i do?

[Kasakato]

Sure, this will be cool :P

[mishi8]

Being a newbie myself, I'm very conscious/concerned about repeating questions. I hung out here for a while before posting, and did searches on my queries before finally posting my first question. And I hope that the posts I have made since haven't been (too) repetitive!:)

One thing I have noticed, however, is a lack of easy-to-find general posting guidelines and of a FAQ specific to freshwater issues. I noticed there is a FAQ for Brackish Water, and Reef...which weren't easy to locate at first. I also have checked out the "How to Help Us Help You" archive. Additionally, I found the articles section which does list a number of topics that seem to be commonly repeated questions in the forms.

Are there info/links I'm missing? Is there a need to develop more FAQs and guidelines to which a poster can be directed, and ease repetitive questioning? It would be nice to see something that stands out more, and is accessible on the main page and on each forum page. Something that says: "Please read these posting guidelines first." And within those guidelines have a link to FAQs and/or articles of the various forum topics.

mishi8

[gonefishin]

there is the simple search function at the top of the page, "search this thread". Its just like a regular search, it will find any and all words you put in. so don't use "the, and, it, but, ect." There is some good info deep in the annals of this site...

[mishi8]

there is the simple search function at the top of the page, "search this thread". Its just like a regular search, it will find any and all words you put in. so don't use "the, and, it, but, ect." There is some good info deep in the annals of this site...

Don't know if your response was directed towards my comment or not, but I'm very familiar with the search function. As I mentioned I used it before choosing to post.:) It is a useful tool, but only as good as the terms you choose to search for.

[Kasakato]

Theres a link in my sing.

[mishi8]

Sigh...thanks a lot. The "anti-spooner" sig, BTW, may be seen as offensive to some...especially if you're posting in the Newbie Forum. You may want to rethink the message you're sending with it.

[Kasakato]

Ok, thanks for that ;)

[StreetCypher]

Kasakato, you spelled "forum" incorrectly

[Kasakato]

*Bangs head on keyboard* Woops, I fixed it, thanks.

[Watcher74]

Actually, I believe I've 'seen' RTR do the cut/paste quite a number of times. But even that gets to be too much of a hassle after a while.

I don't post on here, near as much as I did for the first half year. But I'm still in the hobby and expanding. I flip through the boards all the time. I just don't post that often anymore.

But I'm still 'watching'. :rolleyes:

[Kasakato]

So your lazy. J/K, J/K. I think that this place will always be here and people will come and go. After a while it gets boaring and people move on. Like after 5k posts I think Id be tired of clicking "post reply".

[flyingfish]

I'll look it up for myself! :p That's why most of my talking is done on the chit-chat board. I think this is probably a 50/50 long term/short term hobby. Although only one person was short term out of the 7 people I've known to keep fish. Also - You may just not recognize the names of people from years ago. I've actually been a regular on this board before (probably 3-4 years ago). I think my name was Greenlady, but my computer got really slow and gave out on me, and I didn't get a new computer 'till a year ago. When I finally found my way "home" :rolleyes: I wanted to update my name etc. I wonder how many others are like that?

[StreetCypher]

So your lazy. J/K, J/K. I think that this place will always be here and people will come and go. After a while it gets boaring and people move on. Like after 5k posts I think Id be tired of clicking "post reply".
Sorry bud, i'm going to sound like your teacher here. It's "you're" (you are) not "your" (possessive). Also its "boring" not "boaring". I know you're younger, so its best to catch it then. I can't stand adults making the same spelling mistakes, its a pet peeve.

[Spikor]

well i'm a noob to this forum and something of a spooner too probably! i come here for good info and some laughs. i do take a fair amount of time and try to answer any questions that i can too. but now that i am 'taking the training wheels off' i don't come here quite as much as i did when i was in constant need of reassurance and help.

i think that a lot of people are just going to come here when they need something (and i can't fault that! it's a tremendously helpful and FAST service here).

i do agree that there does seem to be a little bit of a problem with people not searching for general questions like salt or cycling. i'm sure it'd be great if there weren't always the same questions being asked. but the great thing is that you don't have to answer it! leave it to some of the others! there are lots of people out there who can answer the 'easy' questions or instruct them to do a search.

it is too bad about burnout but let's not blame the rookies! yeah they require a lot of energy, but there are a lot of people here to give!

i feel...so off topic now....lol

in conclusion. in less than 2 months, i have gone from no tank...to one 20G long, to a 20G long and a 29G planted and an Eclipse 6. so i could see myself burning out and stopping but i hope i don't! there are tons of 'hidden' costs involved but i think it is worth it.

[Kasakato]

Sorry bud, i'm going to sound like your teacher here. It's "you're" (you are) not "your" (possessive). Also its "boring" not "boaring". I know you're younger, so its best to catch it then. I can't stand adults making the same spelling mistakes, its a pet peeve.

I dont have all the time in the world to edit :bowing: My spelling sucks :sad

[gonefishin]

No I think you meant your, as in he possessed laziness, and boaring, as in ...umm ACTING LIKE A BOAR... uh yea, that's it.
Spike, You are right that some people will answer the easy questions, and I agree it can be fun, but when someone is never tought how do find the answers.......
There was one guy a few weeks ago who posted the same question in 3 different forrums and every 2 minutes he would post "anyone, hello" or "please help". A quick google pulled up 5 sites with his answer, but I let him suffer a while before telling him that.

[Kasakato]

Ya, that was annoing. The question was in GF, and NF plus the same topic was posted in both of thoes a few time. Then to top it all off he would post "help", "hello?", and what not, every 10 minutes or so. Also when people wont listen to what we say and keep on asking questions pisses me off :mad2

[kveeti]

Sorry bud, i'm going to sound like your teacher here. It's "you're" (you are) not "your" (possessive). Also its "boring" not "boaring". I know you're younger, so its best to catch it then. I can't stand adults making the same spelling mistakes, its a pet peeve.

In 3 out of 4 cases:

Its = possessive
should be it's = it is

[anonapersona]

I do remember how easy it is to be totally freaked out that you may have done something that will kill the fish you just selected and brought home. I'm sure I posted some of those panicky "help me now" posts. I also spent HOURS reading the archives, hours that did not endear the family to my newest hobby.

Eventually, I tried to pass along the stuff I learned, before I forgot it all! But, life intrudes, and when you add more and more tanks, with more demanding fish, you get to the point of needing to back off of the time on the forums and/or take down a tank or two.

Anona, off now to work on my taxes....joy, joy