Annoying (to me) phenomenon.

[Joshuakahan]

I would bet a lot of money you are one of a very tiny minority who did actually get the tank.

If you already had the tank then asked something like "i have an 8 foot tank and cant decide between a pair of jags or a frontosa community" you would have probably got lots of replies and some suggestions of alternatives that you wouldnt have considered that might have inspired a whole different set up.

Then as soon as you decided what you wanted someone would chime in and say the tank is too small for that and you need a 10 footer as a minimum.......

You’re probably right, and I’m also not a newb or a teenager like most of the people asking. I was actually debating between having an 8’ plywood built or getting an acrylic 180 that needed some repairs, I went with the 180.
lol so true that someone would chime in afterwards and say it was too small. I usually know the answers to what I’m asking anyway, but I ask because someone may mention something I didn’t think of or know about and if not ,it will still be a good read for someone else browsing through

 

[Trouser Cough]

When you're first entering the hobby you want a tank and just about anything to swim in it. Guppies would be awesome.

After a few years you decide you're a 'this or that keeper' and have to have 'em. Huge obscure and unusual is high on the list.

Eventually you go back to liking tanks and anything swimming in them. I have a tank full of shrimp and Endlers that are as fun as anything else.

Except maybe planaria, detritus worms, snails and similarly revolting stuff.

To me it seems easy to see how someone new to fish keeping could be driven to learn enough to get the tank up and running and then look at the vast array of next step options and be absolutely baffled at the huge number of choices. Remember the first couple tiger barbs you brought home and noticed that they're total cornholes... then ten years later you notice they're not bad at all if you have enough of them? We all were lost and learning at one point. If 50 years ago I'd have had someone around that knew all the answers I'd have probably pestered the living crap out of them.

 

[jjohnwm]

...If 50 years ago I'd have had someone around that knew all the answers I'd have probably pestered the living crap out of them.

I had...and I did! Having a mentor in my early days in the hobby gave me a wonderful boost in what I consider the right direction.

That elderly gent, long deceased now, was a friend of my father. My father encouraged most of my interests, including aquariums, but I'm not sure he completely appreciated how far I pushed the envelope in that particular direction and likely blamed his friend at least partially.

 

[Trouser Cough]

Having a mentor in my early days in the hobby gave me a wonderful boost in what I consider the right direction.

You Sir, were a lucky young man. My first was a 10g stainless framed tank and no one in my family or acquaintances that had anything to do w/ fish keeping. One old boot long ago commented "you have learned most of what you know by making every mistake possible at least twice".

A mentor could've spared me a lot of that.