Sorry for the Title, but that was the first thing that came to mind when I was thinking of a title to introduce myself (my wife has a shirt that has that saying on it and proudly wears with a sarcastic grin, of course it was "just for giggles", as she puts it, though sometimes I wonder 
) to everyone here in the forum.
A little about me.
I have been keeping fish for about 6 years now but only recently (more like the last 3 years) did I actually get more involved keeping fish. My #1 prblem in the begining was listening to the people that worked at the major Chain Pet stores (Petsmart, Petco etc.) who really didn't know much more than I did about proper care and upkeep for fish. I hope that I don't offend anyone that is currently working in a similar environment that does have the knowledge to back up what they say. But I haven't met one person in that type of setting that actually had the knowledge to work there rather than to collect a paycheck and sell fish to someone that didn't have the slightest clue that you coulcn't keep Convict Cichlids with Guppies or Male Bettas with Tiger Barbs. Sorry for the rant, but been there done that and it sucks to be a victim of neglegence. So to make a long story short I found out that the internet was at my grasp (slow learner I guess, took me 3 years to figure that out
) and didn't know why I wasn't using it to my benefit to help me with my hobby. So since then I have been forever bitten by the fish bug. I currently have 6 tanks up and running, with 2 more soon to start up. Though I must say that my current tanks are not nearly in their prime condition (due to a very busy schedule) which I am working diligently to change. I am currently working on breeding the Amano shrimp which will be my first attempt. I have successfully bred Betta's (mostly Crowntail) which I'm glad I'm not doing anymore (though they are truely a beautiful fish) because my wife was a little upset about all the containers that I had to keep. I've bred 3 Spot Blue and Pearl Gourami and now working on Dwarf Cichlids which have quickly inspired me to breed since I have yet to breed a fish that would look out for their young rather than see them as a mid day snack.
I have been wanting to photograph my fish for the longest time and the hassle of using film cameras just didn't appeal to me because I didn't get that instant gratification that I was looking for. Plus I didn't have a camera worthy enough on hand (My Mother and I were taking photography classes, while I was in high school, she kept with the hobby longer than I because I became more interested in driving and cars than photography so I sold the camera for the down on my first new car :-D ) though my mother still has her gear which is probably buried in her dark room, which is buried by boxes of stuff that belongs to my brother, (who thinks that my parents house is a storage facility) which just means too much work. So just out of impulse I decided to get a small digital camera which would just get me by and would (at that time I thought that it would) also cure the itch for a little bit to see if it was something that I really wanted to get back into. So I bought a Casio EX-S3. Well, it didn't cure any itch, it just made it worse. Great camera for just goofing off with, travel (because it's almost the size of any normal wallet) and decent pictures for what I was doing. But when I wanted to actually starting keeping progress on the fish that I was keeping and breeding, and the Casio just doesn't cut it. So here I am grazing the site with envy looking at everyone else's posts and pictures and I just can't take it anymore. So I'm off to buy the camera that I hope will fill the void.
Sorry for the long post, you can have the soap box back now
) to everyone here in the forum.A little about me.
I have been keeping fish for about 6 years now but only recently (more like the last 3 years) did I actually get more involved keeping fish. My #1 prblem in the begining was listening to the people that worked at the major Chain Pet stores (Petsmart, Petco etc.) who really didn't know much more than I did about proper care and upkeep for fish. I hope that I don't offend anyone that is currently working in a similar environment that does have the knowledge to back up what they say. But I haven't met one person in that type of setting that actually had the knowledge to work there rather than to collect a paycheck and sell fish to someone that didn't have the slightest clue that you coulcn't keep Convict Cichlids with Guppies or Male Bettas with Tiger Barbs. Sorry for the rant, but been there done that and it sucks to be a victim of neglegence. So to make a long story short I found out that the internet was at my grasp (slow learner I guess, took me 3 years to figure that out
) and didn't know why I wasn't using it to my benefit to help me with my hobby. So since then I have been forever bitten by the fish bug. I currently have 6 tanks up and running, with 2 more soon to start up. Though I must say that my current tanks are not nearly in their prime condition (due to a very busy schedule) which I am working diligently to change. I am currently working on breeding the Amano shrimp which will be my first attempt. I have successfully bred Betta's (mostly Crowntail) which I'm glad I'm not doing anymore (though they are truely a beautiful fish) because my wife was a little upset about all the containers that I had to keep. I've bred 3 Spot Blue and Pearl Gourami and now working on Dwarf Cichlids which have quickly inspired me to breed since I have yet to breed a fish that would look out for their young rather than see them as a mid day snack.I have been wanting to photograph my fish for the longest time and the hassle of using film cameras just didn't appeal to me because I didn't get that instant gratification that I was looking for. Plus I didn't have a camera worthy enough on hand (My Mother and I were taking photography classes, while I was in high school, she kept with the hobby longer than I because I became more interested in driving and cars than photography so I sold the camera for the down on my first new car :-D ) though my mother still has her gear which is probably buried in her dark room, which is buried by boxes of stuff that belongs to my brother, (who thinks that my parents house is a storage facility) which just means too much work. So just out of impulse I decided to get a small digital camera which would just get me by and would (at that time I thought that it would) also cure the itch for a little bit to see if it was something that I really wanted to get back into. So I bought a Casio EX-S3. Well, it didn't cure any itch, it just made it worse. Great camera for just goofing off with, travel (because it's almost the size of any normal wallet) and decent pictures for what I was doing. But when I wanted to actually starting keeping progress on the fish that I was keeping and breeding, and the Casio just doesn't cut it. So here I am grazing the site with envy looking at everyone else's posts and pictures and I just can't take it anymore. So I'm off to buy the camera that I hope will fill the void.
Sorry for the long post, you can have the soap box back now
