Losing interest in the hobby

[troublesum]

Hi Bertie,

I totally understand i had a 180 overstocked with Os, RDs, FHs, GTs and the maintenance and watching fish fight and kill each other drove me out of the hobby. Now i have a 125 with just a F! Midas he is so cool to watch in the tank hes by himself so all his attention is focused on me and he is super active and maintenance is a breeze i have 2 FX6 on the tank and do 3 50% WC a week because i want to he interacts with me so its fun to do WC.

 

[Bertie07]

Hi Bertie,

I totally understand i had a 180 overstocked with Os, RDs, FHs, GTs and the maintenance and watching fish fight and kill each other drove me out of the hobby. Now i have a 125 with just a F! Midas he is so cool to watch in the tank hes by himself so all his attention is focused on me and he is super active and maintenance is a breeze i have 2 FX6 on the tank and do 3 50% WC a week because i want to he interacts with me so its fun to do WC.

Yeah that’s what kind of tank I want, do you think his personality would change with bottom dwellers as i think I would like to have catfish with a solo big fish

 

[Jexnell]

My 11in Oscar Toni lives with a p. Ornatus catfish. There really is no interaction between the two save an ocasional nip from Toni, trying to get Catness's tail as she swims in place.
You can see her tail sticking out of the rock pile.

Now the catfish may help like mine by eating food leavings from your bigger fish. But it's more of a zero sum gain, biological wise. Due to the catfish adding more waste to the tank.

Edit:I didn't mention the two are in a 6foot 126gal tank.

 

[punman]

If you are taking a break, get rid of the fish but keep the equipment for a year or two if you have the space in case you decide to get back into it. Start up costs are always huge.

Your used equipment will fetch just as much in two years as now if you really decide to get out of it.

 

[Bertie07]

My 11in Oscar Toni lives with a p. Ornatus catfish. There really is no interaction between the two save an ocasional nip from Toni, trying to get Catness's tail as she swims in place. View attachment 1327037
You can see her tail sticking out of the rock pile.

Now the catfish may help like mine by eating food leavings from your bigger fish. But it's more of a zero sum gain, biological wise. Due to the catfish adding more waste to the tank.

Edit:I didn't mention the two are in a 6foot 126gal tank.

Is your oscar more interactive now as I remember you used to have tankmates for him

 

[Jhncf]

I went through the same thing for a long time, buying and selling fish, changing stock and rescaping my tank constantly and now for some reason the spark is just back. I'm loving just watching my tank, love feeding them and love maintaining the tank. I've kept all the fish I currently have before but the spark just came back and I'm happier with my fish and tank than ever before.

 

[Jexnell]

Is your oscar more interactive now as I remember you used to have tankmates for him

With me she is always interactive. Her tank is in my bedroom where I spend most of my time. I taught her how to dance, when I hug a corner of the tank she will nuzzle in like she is hugging me back. We have this game of watching each other. When I am doing stuff she is at the front glass watching me.
Then I will start watching her as she swims about her tank, digging pits. She was a lot less interactive when more fish was with her and actually throwing temper tantrums when other fish got attention, feed before her. When all the other fish was in with her she mostly swam against the back pannel above the heater.

 

[Bertie07]

With me she is always interactive. Her tank is in my bedroom where I spend most of my time. I taught her how to dance, when I hug a corner of the tank she will nuzzle in like she is hugging me back. We have this game of watching each other. When I am doing stuff she is at the front glass watching me. View attachment 1327073
Then I will start watching her as she swims about her tank, digging pits. She was a lot less interactive when more fish was with her and actually throwing temper tantrums when other fish got attention, feed before her. When all the other fish was in with her she mostly swam against the back pannel above the heater.

Sound like a great fish and I think that yeah With other fish, big fish become less interactive

 

[Bonytang]

Over the last few months I’ve really lost interest in the hobby, fish seem boring to me now, I love my fish in my pond but not in my tank. I’ve started to sell my fish in my tank and have a whole new stock to re ignite my interest in the hobby. All the fish I want though, I can’t have. I’m thinking of moving over to reptiles as in my opinion they are easier to care for and more interesting right now. Any suggestions to make me spark an interest in fish keeping again.

if u change of heart in the next few days i got u a flagtail on me bro. just take care care of shipping & i'll send anytime. ordered 12 baby insignis this AM so before they ship them hmu w/your info and i'll reroute 1 your way.

 

[G.S.P.]

Over the last few months I’ve really lost interest in the hobby, fish seem boring to me now, I love my fish in my pond but not in my tank. I’ve started to sell my fish in my tank and have a whole new stock to re ignite my interest in the hobby. All the fish I want though, I can’t have. I’m thinking of moving over to reptiles as in my opinion they are easier to care for and more interesting right now. Any suggestions to make me spark an interest in fish keeping again.

Sorry to hear this...I did fish keeping years ago in my past but I never did it to the level I should have to really enjoy it...fast forward to today and I've gone from a 20 gallon (badly filtered due to ignorance many years ago) to 29 gallons 2 years ago (still filtered bad but not AS bad) to the last 6 months where I transitioned from a 60 gallon to a 150 gallon...both in this instance were done right and I'm in the process of picking out the stock for the 150 gallon as I write this...it takes a lot of effort but if done right is worth every second invested....maybe you just need a different tank setup?