I am almost your age at 16 and I felt like packing it in about 2 or 3 weeks ago but decided not to as things were finally equaling out to where I can afford it as I was buying new filters every week for all my tanks as they were breaking because of my fish and also everyong stopped fighting lol. I am glad you stayed in the hobby as well and me too. I also look forward to coming on this sight in the morning to see new posts and talk. Actually I have just woke up at 12:00 pm lol long day at work yesterday worked 10.5 hours straight and I AM A ROOFER IN THE 110 degrees sun all day! Anyways I love this website it is FANTASTIC!! Thanks mods for keeping this place awesome.
Depression and fishkeeping
- Thread starter Bogwoodbruce
- Start date
I was going to quit at many points not because I really wanted to..But because of all of the long distance problems I've had. Plus I was fighting intensively with my parents. Driving to their house to care for the fish was stressful for me. At times it was the ONLY reason I would drive there because I wanted to distance myself from my parents as much as possible. I was thinking why I am making myself miserable...give the fish away!.
Heating has always been problematic due to the cold drafts in my parents' house.
Heaters overheated and broke creating risky situations.
Power filters ran dry during their routine power outtages combined with the water level being too low, lost two or three power filters.
Fish would die and rot in the tank meaning I would have to do large scale cleaning when I got there.
My parents would add unwanted fish to my tank.
Said unwanted fish bred and attacked my fish who have permanent damage to this day.
Luckily I've almost got my system built back up where the fish will be ok if I have to leave them alone a while. If someone had wanted the fish, I would have given them away and not regretted it...But nobody wanted them and when it came to having them PTS or keeping them in that situation, I choose to keep them.
If the time comes where I have enough money to relocate, I will probably be putting my catfish back up for adoption..Mostly because these are the fish I really care about and I don't want them to die being moved long distances. But whatever happens short of a disaster putting me on the streets...keeping my tanks.
Heating has always been problematic due to the cold drafts in my parents' house.
Heaters overheated and broke creating risky situations.
Power filters ran dry during their routine power outtages combined with the water level being too low, lost two or three power filters.
Fish would die and rot in the tank meaning I would have to do large scale cleaning when I got there.
My parents would add unwanted fish to my tank.
Said unwanted fish bred and attacked my fish who have permanent damage to this day.
Luckily I've almost got my system built back up where the fish will be ok if I have to leave them alone a while. If someone had wanted the fish, I would have given them away and not regretted it...But nobody wanted them and when it came to having them PTS or keeping them in that situation, I choose to keep them.
If the time comes where I have enough money to relocate, I will probably be putting my catfish back up for adoption..Mostly because these are the fish I really care about and I don't want them to die being moved long distances. But whatever happens short of a disaster putting me on the streets...keeping my tanks.
10+ years and still going strong. Haven't thought about quitting...I'm still at the point of wanting more tanks but limited by space and what the wifey is willing to let me get away with.
LOL! Not what I thought it was going to be...
I get depressed every time I walk into the LFS and see the $1800 red aro just screaming out 'take me home!', but my other half can't believe I would even consider spending that much on a single fish.
I get depressed when I come on here and see pics of everyones endli/congicus/lap, black aro, pbass, snakeheads, widebars etc that I know I'll never keep unless I move overseas.
But I keep coming back anyway....
I get depressed every time I walk into the LFS and see the $1800 red aro just screaming out 'take me home!', but my other half can't believe I would even consider spending that much on a single fish.
I get depressed when I come on here and see pics of everyones endli/congicus/lap, black aro, pbass, snakeheads, widebars etc that I know I'll never keep unless I move overseas.
But I keep coming back anyway....
It's nice to know someone else on here has autisum.*KrAmEr*;1186689; said:Yeah fishkeeping keeps me sane too I also have Autism. I used to smoke pot to keep myself happy but it did no good now I spend most of my money on fish and it keeps me happy enough
here's my two cents.
bruce, hang in there bud. depression is amazingly hard to deal with at that age and the funny thing is, that age is the introduction to responsibilty. it sucks but if you accept it before you leave your parent's house, the better off you'll be.
i went thru the same stuff in my earlier years and have rebuilt my life to my liking. within the past two years i finished college, have been employed with my current employer for over a year, and haven't been seen at a bar. drinking and drugs were my weakness when i was your age and that tremendously alters your state of mind, moods, and outlook on everything around you. i still smoke some trees but drinks are few and far between. where this babble is leading to is, as soon as i pulled my tank out of storage (3 years after raising piranha for 4 years) my life almost pulled itself back into shape. i was dedicated to my responsibilities and tried being the happiest person i could be. life sucks when you can't laugh. i filled the tank and cycled it, stocked it, and raised some beautiful fish. it's been a constant cycle of fish that outgrow my apartment but as soon as i get this house i'm looking at, it's on.
it always gets better bruce. give it time.
bruce, hang in there bud. depression is amazingly hard to deal with at that age and the funny thing is, that age is the introduction to responsibilty. it sucks but if you accept it before you leave your parent's house, the better off you'll be.
i went thru the same stuff in my earlier years and have rebuilt my life to my liking. within the past two years i finished college, have been employed with my current employer for over a year, and haven't been seen at a bar. drinking and drugs were my weakness when i was your age and that tremendously alters your state of mind, moods, and outlook on everything around you. i still smoke some trees but drinks are few and far between. where this babble is leading to is, as soon as i pulled my tank out of storage (3 years after raising piranha for 4 years) my life almost pulled itself back into shape. i was dedicated to my responsibilities and tried being the happiest person i could be. life sucks when you can't laugh. i filled the tank and cycled it, stocked it, and raised some beautiful fish. it's been a constant cycle of fish that outgrow my apartment but as soon as i get this house i'm looking at, it's on.
it always gets better bruce. give it time.
