What this hobby can do to you!!!

I go in cycles with my fish keeping. I'll have tank or tanks for 5 or 10 years, then I'll take 5 or so off until my interest renews. Right now I've got a 55 community tank. It seems to be doing well. Start up can be a little expensive. I was lucky. I got the everything but water and fish from my niece (after a nasty breakup with her boyfriend) for $100. I didn't care for the color of rock she had in there so I did buy new gravel and plants, but my wife likes it. She even let me put it in the living room. wooohoooo!!!! It's turned my oldest son onto aquariums though, so it's worth the cost. Last year for his birthday, we got him a 29 gal. He's in the process of putting my old 60 gal cube up. We didn't have room for it in the living room or I'd have put it up. So he's got two great tanks for little cost.

Later,
Dave

PS. Was I rambling. I'm very tired.
 
Yuri De Lima said:
But now I have been giving second thoughts on whether or not I really like this hobby as much as I thought I did.

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.
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...

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,... something that the young generation doesn't have.


-Yuri
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Yuri, thank you. You have described perfectly the downside of parenting children.
:bowing:
 
You can actually make the hobby incredibly frustrating and start to turn it into a job rather than something you do for fun. Sure, you spend alot of time changing the water, testing it, feeding them and making sure you are providing the perfect environment. The only thing that I have found expensive about this hobby is the initial start up cost. I have a great pet store that allows me to 'trade in' fish, per say, so it rarely costs too awful much to stock my tank if something tells me I want to try something else. That way the fish get a good home, and it allows me to 'change things up'. If you want to make your hobby more interesting, try something different. I started with oscars, and then went to barbs and eels, then loaches, then blood parrots, then cichlids, then angelfish, and now I'm messing around with tetras and bichirs. This is a great hobby with ENDLESS possibilities. It's one of the better hobbies that I have had that my wife actually enjoys (most of the time! :D). I do admit that I am tired some nights and almost dread having to get up to change the water, or feed the fish. But I muster up all the energy that I can and take care of it. My fish are more like my pets than a decoration. It means alot to me to make sure they have a nice environment to live in. Seeing my fish happy and active makes me want to keep fish even more.

I started with a 10 gallon and a betta or two. My wife and I had talked about getting an aquarium, a small one mind you, probably 2.5 gallons max. I decided I wanted to open our options a little bit, so I went with the 10 gallon. A little ways down the road I now have a small 15 gallon pond, working on building a 20-30,000 gallon pond, a 40 gallon breeder, and still have my 10 gallon. I'm wanting to get a 6 to 8 foot tank in the future, but again, thats way down the road. I admit, this hobby isn't for everyone, and one thing that it does take to make this hobby successful is time.

One thing that has really kept me in this hobby and made me a better fishkeeper are forums like this one and helpful members and LFS owners, as well as local aquarium keepers and breeders in my area. There are different hobbies for everyone, so if you aren't enjoying this one, find something that you do enjoy. Might as well find something that you can have fun at than try to keep something going that makes you miserable.

Good luck in finding a hobby!
 
Yuri De Lima said:
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
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young people can enjoy this as well as old. i am 25 years old and i have more then enough patience to keep a fish tank full of happy fish. most of my friends don't keep fish themselves, but like for me to keep them updated on the sagas of fish keeping...at least i talk about it whether or not they want to hear it....what exactly do u mean by young generation, anyway? what age group are you attacking?
 
No targets at all.

There absolutely no targets being attacked here. Those were not my intentions, as I've said it a couple of times already.

To put it in plain english you can say I shot the arrow aimlessly, the targets found the arrow, not the other way around. :sad:
 
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