As a kid a friend got me into fish keeping in middle school. I was the epitome of a bad fish keeper. If it lived 6 months it had a good life. I didn't do water changes I just cleaned the filter. I had a tank in my room a 30 gallon tank and a 55 gallon tank in the family room. I had rope fish and irridescent sharks and gouramis and pacus and mbuna and everything just always died and I mowed the lawn and cleaned a bathroom and went back to walmart to spend the 7 dollars I made on as many fish as possible. I didn't ever research fish at all I just spent small sums of money continually I had a under gravel filter as my main filter that is how bad I was. I had many good pets that survived my horrible ways, a rope fish that lasted 4 or so years. A black skirt tetra that lasted probably 6 years a channel cat that made it 2-3 before being released into a artificial pond in a near by park(I now know never to do that!). I had a tinfoil barb that made it to adult size in the 55 gal killing everything but the tetra, rope and channel cat. My brother had a red zebra that refused to die as well, it even beat up his snapping turtle he kept it with. Oh I was a real terror and I resent my ways with fish back then. I had lots of animal pets and I was not this neglectful to any of the other ones just my fish. I graduated high school and left the hobby. and all my pets behind save my ball python who I snuk into my dorm.
I met a guy in the dorms that had a 65 gallon in his dormroom he had a few fish in there, some random assortment of cichlids. All his fish had killed each other and then I embarked on research to find a good inhabitant for his tank. His first fish to go into the tank after meeting me was a green severum. I still have that severum today, it is named hulk and is over 6 years old. Any way this tank in his dorm room inspired me, we became friends and I began researching fish and how to keep them alive. The next year I moved off campus and started two tanks a 40 gallon african cichlid tank and a 30 gallon hex community tank. Despite my research and good stock selections disease was a dog without a quarantine tank I was constantly battling disease like it was my job. I eventually got very proficient at treating more common disease due to this fact. Ich is not a disease to me any more, lol its a condition of fish keeping. That year I built a stand for a 110 gallon tank I would buy for the next house I was moving to My next 3 years I spent in a house with 5-9 other guys that had more tanks than occupants at any given time. My hobby was infectious. Once I got the 110 up everyone wanted a fish tank. At any rate I had 4 tanks myself for a time but then consolidated to 2 again a community and African tank. I acquired a brackish eel and some monos that took up residence in the African tank. I moved back to my parents and was considering getting a 3rd tank for breeding something and a friend said, hey why go half way... he knew a guy who's father had been a breeder. He had passed on and left a small collection of 50 or more tanks behind that needed to be relocated. We picked up a bunch of tanks for a real good price if you wanna see that projet check it out :
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...00-My-fish-room-renovation-project&highlight=
Any way I'm getting to the point. I've recently bought a house and one of my major motivators was this hobby, its eating away at me. I always need bigger or better. I need a 600 plus gallon tank and yet I don't I've spent most of my spare change on fish I've diverted interests away from tech and media and I'm full on obsessed. Is there ever a point where you are satisfied, not burned out, just satisfied? I can't figure if the whole thing comes from the need to build things or the need to keep things or if its a combination.
Fish keeping scratches so many itches its for the hobbiest in me. The DIY is an amazing experience from building stands to building filters its a blast. Aquascaping is so much fun it gratifies the designer in me. Also my favorite and least realized obsession up until now has been integrating aquariums into a living space. I've always wanted a tank in a wall or something to that effect where it looks like it belongs less like a tumor of beauty occupying good floor space. Then there are the fish. I'm never satisfied. Fish are like friends, lol, you can never have to many as long as they are good, lol. So many experiences to be had.
I just needed to get it out there is all. How do you guys feel about it and feel free to share an overly long history of how you started and got to where you are in the hobby.
I met a guy in the dorms that had a 65 gallon in his dormroom he had a few fish in there, some random assortment of cichlids. All his fish had killed each other and then I embarked on research to find a good inhabitant for his tank. His first fish to go into the tank after meeting me was a green severum. I still have that severum today, it is named hulk and is over 6 years old. Any way this tank in his dorm room inspired me, we became friends and I began researching fish and how to keep them alive. The next year I moved off campus and started two tanks a 40 gallon african cichlid tank and a 30 gallon hex community tank. Despite my research and good stock selections disease was a dog without a quarantine tank I was constantly battling disease like it was my job. I eventually got very proficient at treating more common disease due to this fact. Ich is not a disease to me any more, lol its a condition of fish keeping. That year I built a stand for a 110 gallon tank I would buy for the next house I was moving to My next 3 years I spent in a house with 5-9 other guys that had more tanks than occupants at any given time. My hobby was infectious. Once I got the 110 up everyone wanted a fish tank. At any rate I had 4 tanks myself for a time but then consolidated to 2 again a community and African tank. I acquired a brackish eel and some monos that took up residence in the African tank. I moved back to my parents and was considering getting a 3rd tank for breeding something and a friend said, hey why go half way... he knew a guy who's father had been a breeder. He had passed on and left a small collection of 50 or more tanks behind that needed to be relocated. We picked up a bunch of tanks for a real good price if you wanna see that projet check it out :
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...00-My-fish-room-renovation-project&highlight=
Any way I'm getting to the point. I've recently bought a house and one of my major motivators was this hobby, its eating away at me. I always need bigger or better. I need a 600 plus gallon tank and yet I don't I've spent most of my spare change on fish I've diverted interests away from tech and media and I'm full on obsessed. Is there ever a point where you are satisfied, not burned out, just satisfied? I can't figure if the whole thing comes from the need to build things or the need to keep things or if its a combination.
Fish keeping scratches so many itches its for the hobbiest in me. The DIY is an amazing experience from building stands to building filters its a blast. Aquascaping is so much fun it gratifies the designer in me. Also my favorite and least realized obsession up until now has been integrating aquariums into a living space. I've always wanted a tank in a wall or something to that effect where it looks like it belongs less like a tumor of beauty occupying good floor space. Then there are the fish. I'm never satisfied. Fish are like friends, lol, you can never have to many as long as they are good, lol. So many experiences to be had.
I just needed to get it out there is all. How do you guys feel about it and feel free to share an overly long history of how you started and got to where you are in the hobby.
Over time, I went through a lot of different fish and couldn't decided on what fish to keep as I wanted to try them all. At this point, I found myself with a Silver Arowana, Indo Datnoinds, Knives, and Pbass...all in the 75g. When it came time when I thought they were getting too big, I would sell them and/or trade them in. 
) And Bichirs are addictive. Pbass are fun and I hope to get them again, but not right now. 
