What do you do when you lose interest?

echoofformless

echoofformless

Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
Oct 1, 2005
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Phil Uh Del Feeya
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I assume most of you don't go through the periods of disinterest that I go through. (I'm a person of far too many hobbies and interests for one person; so I go through up and down periods with each in order to concentrate on this, that, etc from time to time.)

But in the case that you do suddenly find yourself bored and disinterested with the hobby - seeing your normal maintenance as a nuisance that must be kept after, and having little to no desire to think about new projects, purchases, etc, what do you do?

I don't want to lose interest in this hobby. I've put so much time and money into it.

If I ever become one of those people who's selling off their tanks on ebay and craigslist, remind me to smack myself silly. So :help:
 
i know EXACTLY how you feel.....

I have the same problem, Last year i spent $900 on a 50 gallon setup for a tank i had sitting around for 9 years with nothing in it.

It sat for a year, and now a year later, Im getting back into the swing, and hopefully this go around i will be able to get this tank setup and get some fish in it.

Once I have fish, it should keep me happy enough to stick with it.

otherwise my list of "projects" is huge.... each project relating to a different hobby.... all unfinished :)

my problem mostly is money, if i had the cash, id be persuing all of my hobbies at once.

money is the limiting factor for me.
 
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Yeah, I went through a down-time of about 2 1/2 years. It happens. The best thing is to sell off your fish, break down the tank, and just literally forget about it for a while. Then when you eventually get the 'itch' back, your setup will still be there waiting and you can stock it with whatever fish suit your fancies this time around and that way there is minimal cost involved.

I doubt I'd ever completely sell off all my things unless I had them sitting around for more than 5 years. I love the hobby too much. I'm actually thinking of making it into a career if I can ever figure out how to. :P
 
I don't think there is a cure for your condition, it is called being human. I don't have any specific advice for you but I can tell you what works for me.

In the past I have reached out to friends and showed them pics of my set ups, talked about what it took to set them up, and how much I enjoy them once they are up and running. I now have four of my closest friends with aquariums in there homes. It used to be that when we got together Bass fishing and hunting would be tops for topics of discussion, now aquariums and fish keeping tops the list.

I guess what I am trying to say is involve your friends in your interests, that way you don’t need us to slap some sense into you when you list your aquariums on eBay.

P.S. Any good AC member would try to sell his aquariums here first!!!! LOL
 
Personally, I just stop my usual regime of overfeeding, and just do occasional water changes. My convicts have been neglected most of their life and are just happy healthy lil guys. ;)
 
I just try to make sure that when I'm not feeling particularly super-interested in my tank that I'm not completely neglecting it. My first tank was back when I was in high school, and being an irresponsible kid who wasn't ever home anyway, I let it be neglected/ evaporate out to the point where the tiger barbs I had in there (that hadn't killed each other) were swimming in who knows what kind of toxic goo. This is pre-internet, and in the days of undergravel filters, too, so I bet it was terrible. Oh well. Didn't know any better, and I just shared that story because I remind myself of that now when I get complacent about my tank. The critters in it are living creatures, and even though they don't interact quite as much as my dog (at least they don't jump all over me and chew on me, though), they deserve just as much care, or at least enough not to have to live in terrible conditions while I am being lazy or disinterested.

Last week, I cleaned the tank out completely, scrubbed all the decorations, shocked the plants in ice water treated with Had-a-Snail, split my Java fern, and put some new mondo grass in the back. That only took about an hour, and the tank looks lots better. I do a little bit of that kind of stuff now and then to stay interested.
 
wrigh003 said:
I just try to make sure that when I'm not feeling particularly super-interested in my tank that I'm not completely neglecting it. My first tank was back when I was in high school, and being an irresponsible kid who wasn't ever home anyway, I let it be neglected/ evaporate out to the point where the tiger barbs I had in there (that hadn't killed each other) were swimming in who knows what kind of toxic goo. This is pre-internet, and in the days of undergravel filters, too, so I bet it was terrible. Oh well. Didn't know any better, and I just shared that story because I remind myself of that now when I get complacent about my tank. The critters in it are living creatures, and even though they don't interact quite as much as my dog (at least they don't jump all over me and chew on me, though), they deserve just as much care, or at least enough not to have to live in terrible conditions while I am being lazy or disinterested.

Last week, I cleaned the tank out completely, scrubbed all the decorations, shocked the plants in ice water treated with Had-a-Snail, split my Java fern, and put some new mondo grass in the back. That only took about an hour, and the tank looks lots better. I do a little bit of that kind of stuff now and then to stay interested.
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Umm. Why did you do that? Tanks don't need to be completely cleaned like that and it just messes up the bacteria that are living on the decorations and the gravel. Mondo grass isn't a true aquatic and will die. And why did you shock the plants in ice water? Or put Had-a-Snail on them? High amounts of copper are not good for plants.
 
How about we don't attack people for the sake of attacking people.
 
I refer to myself as having "soccer-mom" syndrome...:rolleyes:

I have WAY too many activities and hobbies in my life, but that's what I need and what helps keep the spice of life fresh and new! I am a Forest Ranger, volunteer EMT, (Dad's a Pastor) so I help out a lot w/ the church, I have an OLD House (did I say old already - CIRCA 1805) whihc keeps me very active with the "honey-to-do-list", I build and sell PCs on the side, I do finish cabinetry on an ad-hoc basis (I will post pics of my tank stand shortly), I rasie Koi w/ my dad, sell Flys to the local fly-fishing shop, am an avid fly-fisherman!, and just love doing outdoor activities -- oh, AND I have a Wife!!!:thud:
I go through the ups and downs, and each hobby gets my full attention at times, but most get the passing attention. Although the fish and the wife demand constant atention! :Angel:
 
I guess I misspoke:

I'm trying to get the snails (tough little boogers) out of the tank, and so that's what all that was about. It's not like I cleaned out the tank by flushing it out with boiling water- the substrate stayed in. The filter sponge/media/whatever is also still there.

At this point I don't really give a rip about the bacteria living on the decorations, or about the plants in general. I'm trying to kill off the snails living on them.

The mondo grass is a new addition, if it dies, hey, live and learn. The hornwort I had before took over, so I was looking for something a little less aggressive- the petsmart fish person (who seemed relatively knowledgeable) mentioned that mondo grass needs lots of light, so I should make sure I have fluorescent lighting. Since I do, and they cost $3 for what I need, I decided to try them out.
 
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