It Was His Hobby..........

[Judmacaroni]

Anyone else out there been a fish widow and decided to get involved to see what its all about and ended up hooked?

On a visit to a small pet shop for dog food........
We took pity on a wee star-gazer goldfish a year ago and said Ok we'll take him home, small plastic bowl etc hasilty set up and the wee guy survived. so I was then told how cruel we were keeping him in such a small tank and should really have filters and company etc! Fell for it hook line and sinker. now a year on we have a house that resembles an aquarium with sofas!

However not only do I "allow"it (as if I could stop him) but i definately have bad MTS!! My smaller sized coldwater tank (a present for me or him I wonder) will soon be up graded to make my guys a wee bit more comfortable! I love coldwater fish especially long finned and tailed gold fish and shubunkins. My shubunkins will some day have a beautiful pond once I decide where in my garden to put it! Altho I will miss being able to see them swimming around so much!

So you see a definate conversion here or brainwashing got to be one of the 2!! Anyone else had a similar experience have you ended up more involved and enthusiastic than your partner?

xox

 

[jimbooo]

Hi Judmacaroni and welcome to the forum

i assume from the picture posting request on another thread you must be Big Mick's better half. well i cant believe his luck this is really not the traditional route a fish keeping household takes. your supposed to be totally against it, moan at him when he spends money and generally make things difficult. well thats how it is in my house. (the latest heated debate centred around me spilling a test tube of acid on the coffee table from my phosphate test kit. ruined the table obviously. apparently if i didn't have this stupid hobby it wouldn't have happened. not true i said. i could spil any number of things without the fish being involved...... i think i'm on a loosing battle here... )

Big Mick your a lucky sod. make the most of it.


i saw your coldwater tank, lovely fish you have there. yes as mick said it is overstocked but you are obviously aware of it and once the new tanks up and running they'll be much happier.

now you just have to aquascape the new one and make it look even better than micks. we all love a bit of competition....

good luck and enjoy the hobby, i'm sure you will.

 

[Judmacaroni]

Ahh you see I leave the aquascaping up to Mick! I know my fish are better looking than his!

I will be giving him a spec to follow and he will make it up for me! He's definately got he imagination I'm just good at picking fish!

I have my moments and I was a bit worried about the fact that Wigglers night light will be a 500l "shark" tank!!! but I know that Corky and Echo need more space and I couldnt face giving them away so it just has to be another tank!

Think I am just too much of a softie! But Mick did a good job of gettig me interested by letting me pick a few fish in the begining and then telling once I got attached that really they should be in a coldwater tank and not in with the tropicals!!! So again couldnt face losing them so got given a tank as a present! Now of course I realise that they would have been fine but I am hooked and thats that! Invite involvement shopping for fish was what got me! (wimen & shopping - what can I say)

xox

ps I like the better half bit! you must know Big Mick!

 

[jimbooo]

ha ha, yes we've spoken (online) many times.

it sounds like the perfect situation for you both. a rarity these days and i'm very happy for you. it's not often that husband and wife get to enjoy the same passion's.

I will be giving him a spec to follow and he will make it up for me!

that sounds ideal i wish my girlfriend said that i'd be making new tanks up all day long. i love the process of setting up an aquascape but get quickly bored of the final layout so quickly strip it down and start again.

are you going for real plants in the new tank or fake? if you fancy real ones i'm more than happy to point you in the right direction. most people will tell you that goldfish will eat real plants so theyre not an option. thats not true you just have to know what plants can survive and what cant. there are hardy plants that the fish wont eat that can still make a beautiful centre piece for a room rather than just a big tank with fish in it.

i'm not saying that your current tank looks bad because as far as fake plant tanks go yours (and micks) look the best i've seen but you can always go one step further if you feel the urge. i must admit i am a bit biased on the plant front which i'm sure mick will confirm..

 

[Bloo]

I'm trying very hard to work on my other half - but no luck quite yet I figure if I try hard enough for long enough, he'll succumb.

But I have subtly weedled my way to secure 2 more tanks (now 3 in the little 2 bed house) but think that's as far as I can push my luck (for now )

Ps: that's a lovely fish you have in your avatar.

 

[big mick]

Big Mick your a lucky sod. make the most of it.

You are preaching to the choir Jimboo......Im the luckiest man in the world!

I do 3 30% water changes on Judes tank each week to keep things okay, she uses the old "it makes my skin dry" excuse for not doing it.....the same one she uses for never washing the dishes.....she4 must think my head buttons up the back heh heh heh!!

Do women really think men buy that old "it brings out my exema" excuse......we're not daft you know.

They say "a womans work is never done"....well perhaps if they didnt spend all their time on the phone to their friends talking about horses we'd see some results eh lads?

Heh heh heh.....I'll pay for that tonight!

 

[fishdudein]

I wish my wife....or anybody in my family....were even the least bit interested in my fish! They "tolerate" my obsession, though, and I have my fishroom (presently 40+ tanks running) and lots of online friends I have met through various forums that I can share my stories with. Guess ya can't ask for a whole lot more than that. B)

 

[jimbooo]

she's reading it now mick, i dont think you'll have to wait till tonight..... are we about to see the first online husband beating!!! lol

she has an even better excuse in the form of a large bump for the next few months so you cant get out of it mate... 3 30% a week, sod that what a pain.

fishdudein 40+ oh my god no sympathy at all i'm afraid thats some obsession. i feel for you, you must get it pretty bad from the family. some LFS have less tanks than that.

 

[Judmacaroni]

I know what it is like to be fanatical about something and to just enjoy it so much and very often no one around you even comes close to understanding why or where your passion for the subject comes from! I love horses I am a horsey lass! Puir Mick has a lot to put up with! Still not converted him yet but slightly harder to get into than fish! and just had to sell mine so not really getting to do it much myself.

But I have realised that forcing it upon people will never encourage them you need to try to be more reserved about the whole thing! think of things in laymens terms when talking to non fishy people and try not to be so technical. Remember things that you are majorly interested in have taken you a long time to build up the knowledge and enthusiasm in it try to remember what it was like when you first got into it and didnt knw what you know now.

Thats what Mick did to me! Plus the fact is I love all living things and love having pets and wildlife around me. So I was probably quite easy to persaude really!

And as for 3 tanks in a 2 bed house we got 5 in a 2 bed house with 2 dogs a cat and a baby on way! Joy! Cosy I think describes it!

And yes we'll have words later my dear!!!! Once I've trawled the net to see what pregnancy related affliction I can be suffering from now! You will Pay Big Mick!

xox

 

[big mick]

And yes we'll have words later my dear!!!! Once I've trawled the net to see what pregnancy related affliction I can be suffering from now! You will Pay Big Mick!

Bare in mind I have to go now so that I can go to ther bank and lift enough money to buy my darling wife a new car i think I should be forgiven heh heh heh


I'll see you later Judith......we could be driving home in a new car tonight!

Tattie bye everyone......Ive had a great time on the forum today!

 

[Judmacaroni]

Ps: that's a lovely fish you have in your avatar.

thank you, Ghost Koi I will own one, one day! My faveourite but until I get my pond no go for in the house not enough space!(trying to show restraint)

xox

 

[Judmacaroni]

are you going for real plants in the new tank or fake? if you fancy real ones i'm more than happy to point you in the right direction. most people will tell you that goldfish will eat real plants so theyre not an option. thats not true you just have to know what plants can survive and what cant. there are hardy plants that the fish wont eat that can still make a beautiful centre piece for a room rather than just a big tank with fish in it.

i'm not saying that your current tank looks bad because as far as fake plant tanks go yours (and micks) look the best i've seen but you can always go one step further if you feel the urge. i must admit i am a bit biased on the plant front which i'm sure mick will confirm..

I would love to have all real plants but since Mick got these plastic ones i've been convinced that they can look good too! My fish have torn apart almost every plant with exception to onion bulbs that I have put in and I have tried almost every plant available from our LFS. But the other thing is that I dont do the maintainence on my tank so therefore it would be a bit cheeky to tell him to put ones in that will make that harder work!

If you have a few tall leafy plants that they wont attack I would be interested to know about them, I like the onion bulbs cause they grow and swirl on the top of the water causing the light to dapple quite a bit. Looks great and keeps floating food in the one place for them.

Any suggestions are greatly received! I am always willing to learn!

xox

 

[fishdudein]

fishdudein 40+ oh my god no sympathy at all i'm afraid thats some obsession. i feel for you, you must get it pretty bad from the family. some LFS have less tanks than that.

Jimbooo...I've actually got more tanks than that, they get set up and taken down as I need them, I've also got various storage boxes, containers, etc sitting around that I keep fish in. Don't need no sympathy, I'm doing exactly what I've always dreamed of doing, I'm a happy man. Been keeping fish for a good 35 years or more, but never to this degree. My fishroom was formerly our detached garage with an added workshop...both are now full of fish. My wife will come out to see what's going on every couple months or so. I have kidded her in the past that I could be keeping a Rottweiler pup out there and she wouldn't know until it was a full grown dog But no one gives me any grief over it, they know how much I enjoy doing what it is I do. I'm living the good life for a fish hobbyist!

 

[Judmacaroni]

I'm living the good life for a fish hobbyist!

Good for you! Sounds like you've got what you've always wanted!

And really that is a very understanding if unenthusiastic wife you have! Your lucky at least you dont get hassle for it!

xox

 

[Teelie]

My girlfriend let me set up a 55g in her bedroom and loves Cories though when I first started keeping fish, she thought that my 10g was kind of big.