Been in this hobby for 26 yrs now. Started out with the typical feeder goldfish won at school carnivals, then growing out common cichlids. But, I got hooked when a LFS owner walked me behind, where he had his "other" fishes. I bought a 3" Red Head Snakehead (micropeltes) for $30, and raised it in my 40G with my HOB Aquaclear, and green Ebo Jäger heater. I was only 13yrs old at the time, didn't understand much about owning illegal fish. But, this fish was quite the tank buster, always lunging to bite my hand from outside. Raised it to 18", feeding raw chicken I deboned and stored in the freezer. Had it for nearly 4 yrs, before it met its demise. Now..I'm more into peaceful community fish, all the chasing, killing stresses me out. LOL.
Ever feel like this hobby is taking over ur life?
- Thread starter SandNukka15
- Start date
Been in the hobby on and off since 1970. The trick for me is I always just kept 1 tank. Right now I have a vintage 80 gallon metaframe with real plants and some large shubunkins. Love this tank and had just about every fresh water fish at one time or another. When your hobby seems like work then you have to modify what the promblem is. Hobby should only be fun.
Oh dont get me wrong i absolutely love this hobby. It just sucks when theres so many fish you want to keep.....especially with diff growth rates and need to have multiple set ups
I think that is my biggest complaint bout this hobby is that big fish eats smaller fish. I have the 270 all setup. But I have 2 tigs that r 3-4", so I have another 75 growin them out. Then I have a 10" aro that can eat the tigs, but too small for the 270, so theres another 75 growin him out. I have 9 clown loaches that r 4", would love them in the 270, but once again too small n will b eaten.
I know what you mean.....i have 2 rubermaid totes that are drilled on seperate grow out tanks which are fed by the canister then gravity fed back into the main tank......with so many fish at def sizes and griwth rates i have found this to be the easiest without actually setting up another tank with another heater and light ect. It helps cut down on electric .....its ugly but its temporary lol
Kind of like how an above ground sump is set up
Oh yeah, its either that or dividers. But dividers r a PITA in itself since the fish r different sizes, they eat different food sizes. N water flows the different food sizes to one part of the tank n the other fish cant get at it. Ive had my dats eat clown loaches, discus, FATF cuz im that spitty at making dividers. My rule of thumb is screw dividers, I use a completely different holding tank, or ur style will work as well. N the other issue is mean/aggressive fish (piranhas, wolf fish, etc.), always wanted one of those real mean monsters, but then 1 fish 1 tank gets rly old.
I would use egg crate for dividers but it cuts the space in half...and u figure if u want to grow the grow outs out as quick as possible to give them more space as well
Piranhas are my fav fish ive kept a lot of diff species and let me tell you it was a huge pain in the ass having 9-10 tanks with only 9-10 fish..
Haha man we should hangout some time I literally wake up every morning and watch an episode of river monsters, monster fish, or chasing monsters on Netflix! I have always been obsessed with fish just started keeping them about a year ago, but have been fishing my whole life any chance I get, being able to keep them in my house now is just so awesome! It is defiantly hard sometimes being so involved in this hobby I spend a lot of time watching my fish and taking care of them so I don't get to go fishing as much as I use to witch is the only time I really spend with any of my friends all 2 of them lol. Luckily my parents sorta understand and have even gotten into keeping some fish of their own! Also got my girlfriend a 20gallon long to keep female betta fish! I do have to make time during the winter to go snowboarding(it's very freeing for me) but besides fishing/ fish keeping and working I don't have much time for other things. If only we could clone ourselves so I had someone I trust looking after my fish 24/7 then I would have time to do everything I enjoy but until that day I'm fine with spending all my time with my catfish they make me so happy and I like to think I make them happy as well and that's why I still do it! Good thread I'm sure this applies to anyone on this site who takes fish keeping seriously and that's all of us, right?
I've been in and out of the hobby for years, only got serious about 4.5 years ago after I bought an ex of mine a 10 gallon tank and spotted puffers. Had to learn quick fast and in a hurry about brackish water, cycles, water changes etc etc etc.
I made mistakes with that tank and lost the fish but I was hooked with the actual amount of science there is behind keeping a fish alive and healthy.
The biggest draw for me is watching a fish grow from an inch or two into a true monster in your tank under your care. This hobby is unlike most in the animal keeping world, we dedicate more time and patience than most anyone else who keeps animals and that to me is awesome. Watching my polys, odoe and the entirety of my north American native tank grow was amazing. I caught two grass pickerel by hand in a dirty muddy swamp at roughly 4 and 6 inches and now I have two wet pet esox at 8 and 11" give or take, best accomplishment so far for me.
We are a pretty select group of hobbyists haha.
I made mistakes with that tank and lost the fish but I was hooked with the actual amount of science there is behind keeping a fish alive and healthy.
The biggest draw for me is watching a fish grow from an inch or two into a true monster in your tank under your care. This hobby is unlike most in the animal keeping world, we dedicate more time and patience than most anyone else who keeps animals and that to me is awesome. Watching my polys, odoe and the entirety of my north American native tank grow was amazing. I caught two grass pickerel by hand in a dirty muddy swamp at roughly 4 and 6 inches and now I have two wet pet esox at 8 and 11" give or take, best accomplishment so far for me.
We are a pretty select group of hobbyists haha.
Absolutely sometimes it feels like this hobby is taking over my life. My problem is I have too many hobbies and want to take on more. I don't very often just sit and watch my tank anymore, only when I am passing by it will I stop for a minute or so. I'm pretty deep in this thing now but sometimes I hate having it take over so much of my free time and money, and worrying about people feeding or handling emergencies properly when I am gone away or anything. I've finally accepted that there is no such thing as a turn key unit when it comes to monster fish, and small fish for now don't interest me. I can definitely see myself one day either getting so frustrated with the upkeep or devastated by a loss that I will likely take several years break. All the stuff I learned will hopefully stay with me a long time and allow me to apply it to other situations, or to give people advice. I used to also be obsessed with acquiring all types of fish and stuff, now thankfully I am just happy with what I have and watching them grow like pets. Won't be in this forever for sure, but I bet you I will stop for a bit and come back, stop and come back, and probably regret stopping. I am curious to know what it feels like without one for a bit though, I could definitely see it being a bit relieving.
