why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the hobby?

[finfan]

i was pondering today, why am i in this hobby?  what got me into this and what keeps into it?  i also see some posts that say getting out of the hobby and i wonder what triggers it?

for me, i've always been fascinated by animals of all kinds and fish is one of the few that can be contained relatively easily and kept at home and so i've had fish since i was in early teens, i had to get out during college due to money/time and slowly got back into it since i started working, sometimes i also ponder if all the time and money i spend is good use of my time and money, but can't quite answer it, i do get a lot of enjoyment out of it, if i get out of the hobby, it will be because of time and then money

share your story

[Zulaab]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

I returned to having fish after a 22yr hiatus.  I kept 7 fish tanks in my room when I was a kid anywhere from a 42G down.  I was so happy when my dad bought me the 42.. (100cm x 40cm x 40cm = 160L).  I kept all sorts of SA from then on.  I got interested in Cichlids when someone I bought a tank from had cichlids and was using their fry as feeders.   I wanted to save some of them from him and didnt know what I got into when he gave me the last 5 feeders (they would turn out to be convicts)  I had babies with them, and I thought wow, its so cool they took care of their babies.  Then I tried to give them to my LFS for credit when I was told they where worthless to him.  I was kinda upset about that because he had some fish I wanted I was hoping he would trade me.  I ended up buying them when I had enough money.  They where firemouths.  Over time I had Rams, Angels and a ton of other fish, including brown discus.

When I was 16 we moved to the USA and I promised myself once I bought a house I would get back into fish.  After 22yrs of waiting I bought my first home.  I got a tank 6 months later.  This has now grown to about 6 running tanks, and two in storage, for when I get ready to grow out fry.
Why do I enjoy fish.  They relax me and it makes me have something to think about every day.  I love to just kill time by looking at the fish and see them interact.
I hope one of these days to get some big tanks so I can start some real colonies of different fish :)  Time will see

[PhishPhreek]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

The First time I got into the hobby, I was in Jr Hi.  I used to go to the Grocery store that had a tropical fish section and buy the baby livebearers for 5 cents each.   I loved to watch them grow up and have more babies.  I kept trying live plants and they kept dieing.   Then in 62 Hurricane Carla tore down my Dad's house and smashed my fish room and all my tanks.   The second time I got into the hobby I was just married and my wife & I shared our hobby.  It was great, we joined the nearest aquarium society and started a local club.  But when we got divorced she kept the aquariums, the house & the uranium mine.
But I started over again and had more aquariums that my apartment manager liked, so I cut back.  Then when I got married again and we had children I cut back to just one community tank.  It moved around with us for 20 years and then as my children began graduating from High school and moving out, the insanity started again.  I would find a used tank at garage sales every 3 or 4 weeks and they added to my collection untill I had to turn the game room into a fish room.   My wife complained but as long as I kept the tank in the living room clean, she was happy.   She gave me a blue pet store betta one summer.  One of her students had given it to her. I bought a blue female and spawned them.  Then I found a Double Tail cambodian betta (my fovorite) but I couldn't find a male until one day I did and internet search.  I found bettas, betta clubs, local betta breeders & betta shows.  A breeder in the local club bave me some show quality red bettas and other members gave me some of there fry.  We applied for and became the Houston Chapter of the IBC and hosted an international show where I won Novice Best of Show Male & Female and with my wins in other shows I became the #1 novice breeder that year.   The following year I became the #4 breeder in the Nation.   I love breeding & verifying genetic theories & shipping my fish to showes all over the country.  But most of all I like sharing fish experiences with other breeders.

[edmlfc]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

My fater bought my first fish tank when I was a teenager. I was so excited. He saw that I was taking great care of my fish so he built me a shelf with a light attached to put my tank in. It was a 10 gallon and the shelf was a 7' tall bookshelf with a perfect spot for my aquarium. After I moved out I upgraded to a 100 gallon. Then I added a 20 gallon saltwater tank to my new collection. Got a divorce and my exhusband got the tanks. After I got remarried and had a child I had no time for my tanks. I was out of the hobby for about 12 years. After my dad passed I started thinking about lots of things including my first fish tank. So the christmas after he passed I purchased a tank. I got 3 oscars and accidentally killed 2. Now I had one loney oscar (Al). Well Al lived through alot, including 10 days with no electricity during hurricane Rita. Shortly after that in April 2007 he passed. I'm not sure what happened, he just started breathing heavy and quit swimming around. It was before I found the fish forums. After Al passed I waited about 2 months and did lots of research on fish. I decided to go with African Cichlids. I purchased the africans and put them in Al's old home. Then I found some Green spotted puffers and put them in the 10 gallon qt. The water quality was so bad beacuse these fish needed a larger tank so I went out and purchased a 29 gallon and moved them. It was alot better. No more daily water changes. I purchased a 160 gallon for my africans and cycled the tank with a fishless cycle. Moved them into the 160 after it was cycled and purchased more africans. Now I had an empty tank. So I turned it into brackish and moved the GSP's in it. Then I purchased a pair of apisto's for the 29 gallon.
They were spawning so much I needed a tank for fry. I purchased a 20 gallon and moved the fry. This is when I decided my GSP's needed another larger tank. Started searching the want ad's and found a 120, turned it into saltwater and moved them in. After moving the GSP's I turned the brackish tank back into a freshwater tank and purchsed some Koi angelfish & blue
german rams. Still living in the same tank.
In Feb. 2008 I picked up a porcupine puffer and added her to the 120. Then while at the fish store one day found a stars and stripes puffer that the guy no longer wanted. I felt sorry for the little fellow so I brought him home. Now my 120 is a puffer reef. During this time I found some Dwarf puffers and they were so cute. So I purchased them and put them in the 10 gallon. But I wanted a larger tank for them with lots of plants so I got a 28 gallon bowfront. Moved them in. My africans started holding so I took the mother out and as soon as I did she spit. I put her back in the 160, moved the dwarfs back into a 10 gallon, moved the apistos into the 28 gallon and put the fry in the 29 gallon. I just gave away all the fry last night to a very excited lady. Last week I moved the dwarf puffers from the 10 gallon to the 20 gallon. And last night my 29 gallon became empty. I will probally be moving the apisto's back to the 29 gallon tomorrow and moving the dwarfs back into the 28 gallon. One of these days I will decide what I want to do and I won't move them anymore (maybe).
I purchsed the 160 in August of 2007 and it all exploded after that. I just could not make up my mind which kind of fish I wanted so I got all of them. My husband swears if I get one more tank me, the fish & the cats are going to live on the patio.
I currently have 8 tanks running in my home and 1 tank running at my job. This is my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Philbert]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

edmlfc
Great stories following great stories! I'm exhausted from reading and following the progression of each person fron a 10 to full blown MTS.
I am, of course, different from everyone else.
When just a young lad I lived between Hillcroft and Fondren (Fondren was a shell road and the city limits of Houston, 'cause one side there were cows and the other side were new houses). As I grew up I began to haunt the bayous with a homemade net made from a stick, coathanger, and a fruit bag tied to the hanger.
I caught minnows, some cats, and the occasional Sailfin, and kept them with a few Black Mollies I had in a ..ta-dum...10 gallon.
Soon, I got interested in Sailfins, very hard to catch, and had some fun with my tank.
Years later, I was in my mid twenties, I once again had the bug, I got a seine net and went hunting, and caught Sailfins in the bayou at Allen Parkway. Some Sailfins were Black Marbled and some were green, very cool.  [*********skip to: traveling the world, many adventures,etc**********]
In my mid 50s I promised my 6 year old either a tank and fish or skates for her birthday. We couldn't wait on the skates (and I don't like rollerblades as it turns out, but she does), so at b-day time I got her a 20 gallon at WallyWorld, and went shopping at Fish Gallery.
And here I am, she has gone home to her Momma, and I am on my 8th tank with...yep...Sailfins! Marbled, Platinum, Dalmation, Green Lyretail, Black, Green, Mottled, velifera Green, and Grey Marbled.
Not to mention the many Plecos, Corys, O Cats, Platys, Cardinal and RummyNose Tetras, Roatan Island Mollies, Rasboras, and awesome Angels I seem to have living happily in my tanks.
See what I mean...I'm not like you other guys.    I have Sailfin Mollies!

[finfan]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

very interesting stories, i remember my first tank, it was something between a 15 and 20 gallon, very low-tech, tank-water-fish, not even dechlorination!!!!!  i didn't even learn about that until much later, started with swordtails, tetras, danios, and goldfish, the next tank was a 30 gal long, added some other types of fish, it was out in the balcony and i added live plants (if memory serves, it was amazon sword and cabomba), the plants grew like wildfire - i guess all the direct sunlight, so did (hate to say it but almost meadow grasslike beautiful) green hairalgae, and then onto a 80 gallon that had all kinds on incompatible fish and some turtles, but somehow all did well and some even had babies - sometimes ignorance is bliss!

[rickykline]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

i got into the hobby thanks to a former boss who had a saltwater reef tank that i had to maintain cuz he didnt know what he was doing and i was tired of watching him kill 100s of fish.. so i started researching and made him buy all the proper equipment and then a new employee started and the new guy sold my boss a 135 gallon freshwater tank for the lobby. i then started taking care of that tank too... i eventually bought my self a ten gallon tank and a couple commuity fish.. then i got into live plants.. then i got my gf a tank.. which is our cichlid tank.. no we have a 3 some of bettas we are currently trying to breed.. its a money hungry hobby but its so relaxing to me.. i love it.. i dont know that ill ever get out.. fish first then bills..lol

[finfan]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

rick i know what you mean, i tell myself every week that i won't spend any money they week, but i inevitably do,  now i have this bug to get a larger planted tank, i want an ADA 65 gallon planted "showtank" and stand for our dining/living  room, of course it will need expensive lighting, filtration, substrate, driftwood, rocks, plants, and fish!  but i can't stop the urge and my wife wants it too, so i have no excuse

[PhishPhreek]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

I don't know what you are complaining about.  I buy aquariums and equipment at garage sales.  I grow my own food and I trade my juvies for meds & parts.
Most years I break even.....  Try that with golf, boating or hunting  

You guys spend more on auto parts on a weekend than I spend on my fish all year.  :aua:

[edmlfc]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

Looks like I need to follow you when you hit those garage sales.

[dblondfemme]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

I have always had at least a 10 gallon since I moved out at 16.  Occassionally I would have more than one at a time....but it was mostly community fish.  I had a jack dempsy for a while then went back to community.  I became a fish-aholic when I decided that my classroom tank (another 10) needed  some sprucing up.  I came on here and VIOLA! I now have 15 tanks up and running not counting my 3 betta tanks.  Each tank has something different.  Each tank has a sort of theme.  I totally relax with my fish.  I love seeing the whole circle of life thing.  I hate losing even a single fish ...but i have some to realize it happens.  My favorites right now are my buffaloheads, my shrimp, and my crayfish.  I'll let y'all know when I have some blue babies lol.

[djmatthewblack]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

I found a 10 gallon tank by the dumpster.  Someone just throwing it away.  It was the ugliest little tank you've ever seen.  Bright pink gravel, perhaps some little girl owned it.  I started with it, some bright guppies, and plastic plants.  I became so interested I ripped out the gravel and put in ADA soil and live plants and added some x-ray tetra.  I've just kept doing new things, by new tanks, fish plants.  My tanks are an artistic outlet for me.  I've learned many things and look forward to trying new things like a marine tank.  For as much as I have learned there is still things to find out.  

I doubt I will ever stop keeping fish tanks, I've always loved animals.  In my third floor apartment a dog would be impractical.  I am alergic to cats and I hate hamsters (had one as a kid).   With my new job well, hopefully I can get a house soon and get a big tank I won't have to move around.  But right now, my 36 gallon south amazon river tank keeps me pretty happy.  Some nights I rather watch it than watch television.

[CichlidFan]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

I think most of us have a natural instinct to accept and admire water and the creatures that live in it.

Fascination and or appreciation.

CF

[rrocket2002]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

Its a government conspiracy to brainwash us into the fish hobby so we don't pay attention to what's going on in the world.  Big Brother in action.   :lupe:

[CichlidFan]

Re: why are you in the hobby? why did you get out of the ho

laff it up fuzzball......

CF