Has anyone achieved balance and peace with thier fish collections?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Not even close to piece and tranquility here. with cichlids and monsters it the complete opposite "dont eat him!" "dont lay ur eggs there" "why did u uproot that i just planted" "1,2,3,4,5, ok all schooling fish still here" "leave him alone!" "nooooo thats not the feeder" ". my fish stress me out lol.

sounds hectic :nilly:
 
the only part that isn't peaceful is feeding time with the eels, even though I use tongs and try to feed each one when away from other tankmates, there's occasionally a chance for a mishap bit that takes a piece of a tankmate.
 
Gymnothorax fimbriatus....really cool eel. that pic is from february 2011 when i had just gotten it.
 
I'm still working on getting to that point. There are so many species that I find interesting that I want to raise and experiment with to include fish, reptiles, and plants. However, my fish/reptile room is such a peaceful place. With the sound of the filters, pumps, water, etc. combined with the insulating that I have done to retain heat it is like being in my own oasis completely shut off from the outside world.
 
I have to agree with this, I have fish that I have to worry about killing each other, so I'm far from peace and tranquility!!! But I try to balance out the aggression by choosing fish that are equally aggressive, and it has worked so far!!! With my fingers crossed everytime I add something new to my collection!! I have much respect for the OP, 30 years is longer than I've been living!!
Aggressive fish are the only fish I can stand for more than a month. I just feel fish like tetras and guppies aren't worthy to be in my tanks lol. Also they're too small. I like something that's really big that catches my attention. Whenever I get a tank smaller than 15 gallons at has to be at least a giant plakat betta to satisfy me. I'm very picky about fish I keep sometimes.
 
Here is my sizing chart - 6" or less Very small. 12" Small. 18" Medium. 25" A little bigger than medium. 30+" Average. :WTF: ;)
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com