What to do when unsure about what to keep?

[Rafini]

Bro, you need to get out more often. lol For me it's a 3-4 hr round trip to pick fish up at the Calgary airport, not so much for you.

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I also kept these in the past, natives, just not native here.

View attachment 1369879

Still a 1hr drive for me, I live in the extreme south of the city right next to where the city meets the Tsuut'ina nation.
But yes I see your point lol.
Getting across Calgary at some times of the day is almost like driving from Red deer thanks to the way people drive on Deer foot these days.

If you don't mind me asking how did you come across those natives? Pumpkinseed right?
only natives I have ever chanced upon are fathead minnows and Florida Flagfish (Jordanella Floridae)


As for the other comments, I love Pleuros. Even if I could track some down I think I would have to go with at least 6x2x2 footprint.
I hate to disappoint RD but although It may be legal I don't smoke tobacco or weed lol


Do any of y'all have fishkeeper friends? I've never met another human being that cared about fish in real life. For me its a personal hobby, not so much a social one.

 

[esoxlucius]

I was first introduced to fish keeping as a young lad by my dad. The usual goldfish. But they didn't do much for me and I never got that bug that us hobbyists get. It wasn't until I went fishing for the first time at a little lodge at the bottom of our meadow that I really started to get the fish bug. Sticklebacks, minnows and bullheads were my introduction and then some random bloke started stocking our little lodge up with perch, a fish which I had never heard of, let alone caught. The first 6" perch I caught was a game changer. Firstly I was hooked on fishing and then later fishkeeping.

There's loads of different things I want to do yet, I don't think i'll ever get half way through my fish keeping bucket list in the amount of time i'm likely to be alive.

But one thing I do want to do one day is go back to basics, like you referred to, right back to the beginning, full circle. One day i'd love to have a shoal of perch in a cold water set up. To this day they are my favourite fish and I think it would be a very poignant way for my fishkeeping to go.

Maybe you need to go back to basics and have a fancy goldfish set up. If you have kids it could also work as an introduction to the hobby just like your father introduced you all those years ago.

 

[Ogertron3000]

I moved house back in December. I alos,shut down my tanks, it's currently,sitting empty in the spare room. I had all these plans but what I learned and you most likely will too is that moving is a drag and you are going to be very busy and tired, if you are married I bet your wife will be giving you a never ending list of jobs hat need to be done and downtime will be rare. there's also the fun stuff of moving to take care of like setting up the house and exploring the new neighbourhood. Since I've been in this house ive planned and rejected a few different set ups for my tank and am currently thinking of a C.A cichlid set up based around fire mouths, im looking forward to setting up the tank again but I've decided to wait until I really haven he bug again, then set it up properly at my leisure, this is what I'd recommend for you. Take your time to settle in to the new place, explore a few options and when you truly miss having a tank set it all up again.
For your other question, I've got friends with tanks but not serious fishkeepers and always enjoyed going to theLFS and then grabbing some lunch and beers afterwards with them but it's mainly my own solo hobby.
Good luck with it all.

 

[Nilsafeller]

Still a 1hr drive for me, I live in the extreme south of the city right next to where the city meets the Tsuut'ina nation.
But yes I see your point lol.
Getting across Calgary at some times of the day is almost like driving from Red deer thanks to the way people drive on Deer foot these days.

If you don't mind me asking how did you come across those natives? Pumpkinseed right?
only natives I have ever chanced upon are fathead minnows and Florida Flagfish (Jordanella Floridae)


As for the other comments, I love Pleuros. Even if I could track some down I think I would have to go with at least 6x2x2 footprint.
I hate to disappoint RD but although It may be legal I don't smoke tobacco or weed lol


Do any of y'all have fishkeeper friends? I've never met another human being that cared about fish in real life. For me its a personal hobby, not so much a social one.

You dont hit up golds aquarium ever? They have the odd rare fish there and for a small store lots to choose from... you can literally go there every 2 weeks and the store completely changes stock lol...

Also wanted to know what's the longest lived fish you've ever kept? Seems like you dont hang on to much very long.... either get bored or they die? Front what I've read anyways. No different then buying a dog and then after a couple years saying "meh, I'm bored" and getting rid of the dog.... fish are just easier to toss... so if that's what you're doing maybe you should find a new hobby?

 

[duanes]

A 120, and unheated (room temp) would be perfect for the fish of Uruguay and Argentina.
Gymnogeophagus,Australoheros and some of the southern South American Crenicichla would work in that size tank, with Buenos Aires tetras as dithers.



Australoheros above
I have found Gymnogeophagines to be much hardier than their northern cousins, as long as they are not kept too warm, too long
Gymnogeophagus below

 

[RD.]

They are Kansas Longear Sunfish, sourced from a breeder in Winnipeg. I suspect that there are still some kicking around out there if you are interested. But I agree with Nilsafeller , Denis at Gold Aquariums is the go to guy in Calgary for the past 25 yrs.

 

[punman]

I belong to a coin forum and I heard a guy say the same thing about coins: I've collected about all I can afford, I do not look at them much anymore, thinking of getting rid of them, lost my passion, etc. So I think this is common in any hobby; not restricted to fish keeping.

I started with tropical fish when in high school and it has been few decades since I was there. I have had lots of gaps with no tanks set up. In fact the longest HAVING fish has been these last 16 years. At times I'd shut down, sell some of my equipment even, but always had a tank or two in the garage if I got the bug again. Even within the last 16 years I have had frontosas on three separate occasions and tropheus on three separate occasions. Go figure!

I can't tell you which specific fish to keep. The type of fish keeping is too broad. What has kept me the most interested in fish over the years has been the challenge and joy of getting them to breed and raising the fry, sometimes to maturity, sometimes to sellable size. It is tedious work and other fish geeks would say too boring to have single species tanks and too much work to monitor all that. I'd hate a community tank but others like the challenge of seeing how many different kinds of fish can get along.

I live in Calgary and can recommend Gold Aquarium for selection and I have ordered on line within Canada and been happy with that to. Finding fish that are less commonly available and sometimes f1 or wild caught for breeding is what I seek out and that keeps me interested.

Bottom line: OK to be bored once in a while, OK to take a complete break once in a while, OK to cut back number of tanks once in a while. OK to try new fish, OK to go back to previous fish.

Listen to suggestions but don't buy just based on what others have. Don't get tropheus cichlids just because I have had them three times! Don't rush, think it through. Buying fish is easy, selling them 6 months later because you picked wrong, and expecting to be getting all of your money back does not usually work.

 

[Rafini]

I do actually like Golds, I've purchased a few nice fish there over the years and I will admit I don't go there often and I haven't in quite some time.
Definitely worth a look.
I must admit I like Francos more, & I have had better experiences there as a whole but that's just my individual preference. I very rarely find myself in the NE of the city.
Apparently there is a new place in town called Fin Gallery that I was thinking of checking out.

Okay I knew that this thread would probably go that way as per Nissafeller, allow me to elaborate.
I am 28, that was an entire run down of 20 years of fishkeeping, whilst keeping multiple tanks at every single point.
I never usually have less than 3 tanks at any given point, I have moved in my life about 6 times, one a major transatlantic move.
Every time I have moved I have sold most of my stock to prevent unnecessary stress to my fish.
This also includes at least two tank disasters because I like to buy old tanks....

I currently have had my Bearded dragon and red foot tortoise for 8 years and counting, My old Labrador retriever from champion showlines lived to be 13 and I currently own a 6 year old Black Lab X Redbone Coonhound. His name is Fabio and you couldn't take him away from me for a million bucks. I would never be without my boy.
I do not need to be lectured about throw-away pets and 'for life not just for christmas' I have had pets my whole life and I'm sorry if you got the wrong impression based on what I said.
The longest fish I had ever kept?I had a black Moor that grew to 10" in a Koi pond and he lived to be at least 15. He may even still be alive hes on another continent. Besides that I would say my two oscars or my flowerhorn at around 6 years each.

If I like so many keepers just ran out and stocked things to grow them out that caught my monthly interest I wouldn't be making a thread about this. I chose to post here because I have used this forum since 2005 and although I don't keep many 'monster' fish these days, I enjoy this community the most. and more importantly, to see how others have handled a similar problem. I saw many threads like this on here back around 2012 and I couldn't believe someone could feel unsure what they wanted to keep, and now I am that man lol.


Funnily enough I always had wanted to keep tropheus but I always was lead to believe they are quite demanding in water quality and feeding schedule.

If I had a local stream or pond I could collect fish from legally I would love to keep native fish, Apparently it is illegal.
I didn't grow up here and I spent my childhood catching insects and whip scorpions and making temporary vivaria for them. I would have loved to collect fish locally!

Thank you Duanes, that was one of the few ideas I had already thought of. I was thinking maybe a few G. Balzanii, some corydoras and Buenos aires but still unsure as I seem to be tired of cichlids these days.

 

[Jexnell]

Get a lizard?

 

[Rafini]

Get a lizard?

Thanks Jexnell, I already have one.
Are you saying I should use the 120 for something other than fish?