Clueless
I'm late to this thread because I had trouble figuring out why I do this!
My interest in sea life started when I was stationed on Guam many years ago. I spent the better part of 18 months snorkeling around very colorful reefs and abundant creatures in crystal clear water. I used to bring down hot dogs or bologna to feed the Moray Eels. With food, you could coax them out of their cave and pet them. I'd heard horror stories of what happens if they bite, but I was young and foolish.
I was not involved with our family's first brush with fish keeping. Five kids each picked up a goldfish at a fair. They put all of them in a 1G bowl with untreated tap water; fortunately they didn't suffer long.
A couple weeks later a daughter talked me into walking through a pet store. She immediately went to the fish wanted a couple black moors. Luckily the lady at the LFS talked her out of it and sold us a couple of black mollies instead. I got the 30-second briefing on how to keep fish, bought some food, and was out of the store having spent less than 8 bucks and 20 minutes. Ignorance is bliss - for a little while.
The next morning my daughter was very excited; we had nine fry. I imagined how my daughter would feel seeing those fry belly up. So I started researching here and other sites. Once I research something, I often get carried away. After a week, I budgeted about $200. I wasn't even close. I bought a 29G tank with a RFUG filter and a HOB filter and started a fishless cycle. I bought a 10G tank and did a 30% change nightly. I decided that we'd do some breeding, so I picked up a couple more 10G tanks. Then it was the canister filter, more powerheads, plumbing to hook the tanks in series, some fancy hifin lyretail swords, decorations, live plants, glass shrimp, etc.
It just doesn't stop... but why?
I justified it by demonstrating the life-cycle to the kids. The entire family enjoys babies and watching them grow (we've been in diapers for 15 years). But that wasn't the core reason why I wanted to keep fish.
I really want a few male endlers and a shrimp in a small tank at work. Why? So I can be distracted from what I should be doing?
A couple weeks ago I started cycling a 50G tub in the back yard. I claim that I'll sell enough hifin lyretail swords to recoup some of my aquarium expenses, but I don't really believe that. I'm excited about starting the summer with a few fish and ending with a tub full. I wonder how big these females will grow. Logically, I can't figure out why I want to go through all this work. Then I just stare at my fish some more.
It's a good thing I don't drink or do drugs.
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