I started fishkeeping like many my generation, as a 9year old winning a goldfish at the fair (back when it was legal to give them away as prizes). That bowl in 1980 turned to a tank, then a pond with more coldwater fish, soon into a 2ft tropical tank in my mum and dads tv cabinet (on wheels!) back when tv’s weighed as much as a 2ft tank full of water. Through my teenage years I was very much earn money to buy more fish and run my fish house (a block built shed on the back of my dads garage).
I took a 2ft tank of 2 Clarias to uni with me and had to pair down my fish house quite a bit to what my parents could manage to feed. I was 28 before I realised life (for that read fish keeping) had taken me away from prospective partners and I was 29 when I married my wife and bought a house. Thankfully she is really accepting of my hobby and as long as I provide a decent income (I let her manage the finances) I can buy what I like when it comes to fish. I realize I am really fortunate in many ways but have always wanted to own what everyone else had, to an extent anyway, as I have always had a love for catfish.
Having just extended my fish house I don’t see me slowing down anytime soon and at 50 now with over 40 years doing this I don’t think I want to retire from fish keeping (from work, now that’s different!! Yes tomorrow please if I could just keep the income!)
I do think like jjohnwm though that I better start to consider how to make life (water changes, etc.) easier and more manageable as I am not getting any younger.
Looking back I have seen a lot of changes in the hobby, many of them good, lots more species, technology, availability (a tigrinus cat was £1,500 in 1990 and £120 today), etc. But lots of them not so good (in my opinion only) , damming of important rivers, invasive species which I’d like to keep being banned, some fish no longer being available, some becoming too readily available.
My advice to any teenager today, if you want to try, then do so!!!! Don’t dismiss advice from others but you can’t believe everyone either.
Most of us have learnt much more from trying and getting it wrong or trying and getting it right than from having info passed on from others, let’s face it, I had to read books, the internet didn’t exist, so most information was hard to get hold of on anything that was not bread and butter fish keeping.
I took a 2ft tank of 2 Clarias to uni with me and had to pair down my fish house quite a bit to what my parents could manage to feed. I was 28 before I realised life (for that read fish keeping) had taken me away from prospective partners and I was 29 when I married my wife and bought a house. Thankfully she is really accepting of my hobby and as long as I provide a decent income (I let her manage the finances) I can buy what I like when it comes to fish. I realize I am really fortunate in many ways but have always wanted to own what everyone else had, to an extent anyway, as I have always had a love for catfish.
Having just extended my fish house I don’t see me slowing down anytime soon and at 50 now with over 40 years doing this I don’t think I want to retire from fish keeping (from work, now that’s different!! Yes tomorrow please if I could just keep the income!)
I do think like jjohnwm though that I better start to consider how to make life (water changes, etc.) easier and more manageable as I am not getting any younger.
Looking back I have seen a lot of changes in the hobby, many of them good, lots more species, technology, availability (a tigrinus cat was £1,500 in 1990 and £120 today), etc. But lots of them not so good (in my opinion only) , damming of important rivers, invasive species which I’d like to keep being banned, some fish no longer being available, some becoming too readily available.
My advice to any teenager today, if you want to try, then do so!!!! Don’t dismiss advice from others but you can’t believe everyone either.
Most of us have learnt much more from trying and getting it wrong or trying and getting it right than from having info passed on from others, let’s face it, I had to read books, the internet didn’t exist, so most information was hard to get hold of on anything that was not bread and butter fish keeping.