Such a rewarding hobby.

[Jexnell]

For me it's getting fish to breed. For me to be able to reproduce the condition in tank that trigger breeding is magical. That first time you walk up to the tank and see a cloud of fry swimming abouts the parents....

 

[GolemGolem]

For me it's getting fish to breed. For me to be able to reproduce the condition in tank that trigger breeding is magical. That first time you walk up to the tank and see a cloud of fry swimming abouts the parents....

Oh it's great, I had a pair of small geophagus years ago, I remember coming home and my wife telling me the eggs were gone, thinks the mom ate them, we go to the tank and mom burps out dozens of the little bastards. . .I should get mouth brooders again.

 

[Fishman Dave]

I don’t mind water changes (18 tanks manually with buckets).
It’s nice to sit and watch them (not them all - that would take too long)
I love to set up new tanks either for fish I have or ones I will get.
I love to be surprised when fish I have almost given up on, surprise me with young.
But what I really love is having spent forty years just being involved in a hobby that I can now keep to myself, I can share with my family, or I can share with a family of friends spread the whole way around the globe.

 

[FINWIN]

This thread made me ponder where the hobby has pushed.
The many phases of fish keeping over almost its 70 year span, from community tanks, to keeping lunkers , to breeding and distributing somewhat challenging species.
View attachment 1503194
But it also lead to a long career as a chemist/microbiologist in a water facility.
And prompted travel to the countries my favorite fish came from, and to spend time with them underwater.
View attachment 1503195
Now in what I see as the closing phase, it has pushed me to move to one of the countries that some of my favorites are endemic,
and to keep biotopes of species of fish and plants I, or friends collect, and placed submerged, or emerging from the surface of out door tanks.
View attachment 1503196
View attachment 1503197
And the challenge is to keep water quality as close to the pristine conditions these plants and animals experience in their natural habitat.
View attachment 1503198

What's that fish in the first picture with the black lip? I really like it.

 

[FINWIN]

I don’t mind water changes (18 tanks manually with buckets).
It’s nice to sit and watch them (not them all - that would take too long)
I love to set up new tanks either for fish I have or ones I will get.
I love to be surprised when fish I have almost given up on, surprise me with young.
But what I really love is having spent forty years just being involved in a hobby that I can now keep to myself, I can share with my family, or I can share with a family of friends spread the whole way around the globe.

18 tanks with buckets! You must be bulging with muscle ?

 

[duanes]

What's that fish in the first picture with the black lip? I really like it.

That is Paretroplus maculatus in spawning dress, a cichlid from Madagascar, one of my favorites

In nature it is a snail eater, for those mollusks
too big, or too hard to crush, it has can opener like teeth to extract the snail flesh.

Gets about 14", and a fairly sociable cichlid with its own kind, except when spawning, and breaks off from the shoal.

 

[Fishman Dave]

18 tanks with buckets! You must be bulging with muscle ?

Mmmmmm …….. not so……just soft in the head!

 

[FINWIN]

That is Paretroplus maculatus in spawning dress, a cichlid from Madagascar, one of my favorites
View attachment 1503226
In nature it is a snail eater, for those mollusks
too big, or too hard to crush, it has can opener like teeth to extract the snail flesh.
View attachment 1503227
Gets about 14", and a fairly sociable cichlid with its own kind, except when spawning, and breaks off from the shoal.
View attachment 1503228

Are they good with other cichlids or aggressive?