I have been in this hobby for about 2-3 years now. At first I was so into this thing that every time I went out shopping I had to go to my LFS to check out the fishies and imagine how they would look in a tank at home. I would go crazy just seeing the fish they got at my LFS, which I should say is quite a lot of them, both fresh and salt water.
But now I have been giving second thoughts on whether or not I really like this hobby as much as I thought I did.
Right now I have 2 tanks, one is 60 G and the other is 10G (the one that dragged me into this thing). I think one of the top things which has brought me to think second thoughts about this hobby is the money aspect, which can be quite a lot, especially if you don't control/stop yourself. I mean the other day I was thinking of how cheap a 10G glass tank can be without anything in it. Then you have to buy a filter, after the filter comes a heater (if you want to keep tropical fish), after that you have got to get yourself some gravel because of course you don't want to leave your tank with no gravel/substrate at all, everybody that's in this hobby wants to have a nice looking tank, so if you did that (left ur tank with gravel) it would only defeat your purpose. Then again there are some more fishing touches to make your tank look nice/natural. Those people that like a natural look will opt to have the tank planted with live plants. That costs money. And last but certainly not least, you have to buy the fishand food for your tank if you don't want a liveless tank.
Now you add all of that together and your lil small 10G will take a quite sum of money from your pocket.
Another aspect of this hobby which has got me thinking is the difficulty involved with it. I think I read a post just the other day which asked if this hobby was easier would if be less interesting. I have no idea what the answer to that is, but it sucks to have to control all these aspects of water to maintain your fish alive. And then when you think that everything is fine you do one of your regular water changes and you lose all of ur goddamn fish(12 neon tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, 14 gosht shrimps, one sailfin molly). All because of a water change, (can it get more frustrating). Then you have to feel bad because you feel like murder, when in reality you were only trying to make their environment better.
I don't know what I am trying to say about this hobby, I apologize if I am wasting your time. But it seems to me that this hobby can be such a pain at times. I'm also thinking that this hobby is only for old people because it requires too much patience (water changes, water checks, fish died look for a cause, fish die buy more fish, put fish in tank some disappear, daily tank cleaning, fish food), something that the young generation doesn't have.
-Yuri
But now I have been giving second thoughts on whether or not I really like this hobby as much as I thought I did.
Right now I have 2 tanks, one is 60 G and the other is 10G (the one that dragged me into this thing). I think one of the top things which has brought me to think second thoughts about this hobby is the money aspect, which can be quite a lot, especially if you don't control/stop yourself. I mean the other day I was thinking of how cheap a 10G glass tank can be without anything in it. Then you have to buy a filter, after the filter comes a heater (if you want to keep tropical fish), after that you have got to get yourself some gravel because of course you don't want to leave your tank with no gravel/substrate at all, everybody that's in this hobby wants to have a nice looking tank, so if you did that (left ur tank with gravel) it would only defeat your purpose. Then again there are some more fishing touches to make your tank look nice/natural. Those people that like a natural look will opt to have the tank planted with live plants. That costs money. And last but certainly not least, you have to buy the fishand food for your tank if you don't want a liveless tank.
Now you add all of that together and your lil small 10G will take a quite sum of money from your pocket.
Another aspect of this hobby which has got me thinking is the difficulty involved with it. I think I read a post just the other day which asked if this hobby was easier would if be less interesting. I have no idea what the answer to that is, but it sucks to have to control all these aspects of water to maintain your fish alive. And then when you think that everything is fine you do one of your regular water changes and you lose all of ur goddamn fish(12 neon tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, 14 gosht shrimps, one sailfin molly). All because of a water change, (can it get more frustrating). Then you have to feel bad because you feel like murder, when in reality you were only trying to make their environment better.
I don't know what I am trying to say about this hobby, I apologize if I am wasting your time. But it seems to me that this hobby can be such a pain at times. I'm also thinking that this hobby is only for old people because it requires too much patience (water changes, water checks, fish died look for a cause, fish die buy more fish, put fish in tank some disappear, daily tank cleaning, fish food), something that the young generation doesn't have.
-Yuri
