SammyTargo
Fish Fanatic
Well, I think it is far more complex than your options.
I think this is practically the only online fishkeeping "group" (this is a forum, but to keep it more general) that I have ever been involved in, it's definitely fun to get an outlet where help people with their FK problems and just discuss the things I don't have the luxury to do on the daily.
I am not a part of any clubs, but I have a close friend who is greatly into fishkeeping and multiple more that have dipped their feet in the hobby (the close friend was actually the same guy with the bichir issue recently
).
Family-wise I am lucky enough to have all 4 of my grandparents still living and healthy, my grandfather on my dad's side has two tanks (a ~30 gallon bowfront and a 20 gallon long) and before my time he also had multiple more including a large cichlid tank; home to Red Jewels, JDs, Oscars, Firemouths, and probably more, an Oscar tank, a turtle tank, and I believe a community tank filled with barbs, tetras, danios, and the sort along with feeder guppies which naturally bred some unique colours. To note, he also kept multiple other household pets over the course of my dad's extended childhood, including 4+ cats, 2 former dogs (and one right now), 2 budgies, tortoises, and other aquatic animals like newts and fully aquatic frog/toads.
I used to sell fish (specifically bettas and fancy guppies) to both small LFS, selling on my own, and giving them to Big Al's for store credit which practically chipped in for over half of my old setup; which allowed me to be acquainted to some new aquarists' faces. The other half of the aquarium business was buying, specifically betta breeds, which also allowed me to meet new faces and exchange with multiple consistent hobbyists/sellers.
Continuing family-wise, I did try a lot to get other family members to start fishkeeping, specifically encouraging them explaining how I could limit costs by a lot, and supply them with fish (a lot of it was really just an excuse to offload the reject guppies and excess bettas, and small cichlid projects that I later realised were pointless and I didn't know what to do with the fry...), I was never really so successful at it but I don't blame my marketing skills.
So- after that rant and complete sidetrack which I hope some of you found interesting, to answer @GaryE's question, I don't fall into the requirements for any of the 3 options. I know multiple serious aquarists, but I don't know very many at this moment. I am not an active member of a fish club, but I have been involved with many groups, to say, that involve the hobby. I also don't really have a circle to fall back on about the aquarium hobby, just a few links that are all disconnected from each other.
All in all, I think my vote goes to 3. I have a circle, as that is the closest answer.
I think this is practically the only online fishkeeping "group" (this is a forum, but to keep it more general) that I have ever been involved in, it's definitely fun to get an outlet where help people with their FK problems and just discuss the things I don't have the luxury to do on the daily.
I am not a part of any clubs, but I have a close friend who is greatly into fishkeeping and multiple more that have dipped their feet in the hobby (the close friend was actually the same guy with the bichir issue recently
).Family-wise I am lucky enough to have all 4 of my grandparents still living and healthy, my grandfather on my dad's side has two tanks (a ~30 gallon bowfront and a 20 gallon long) and before my time he also had multiple more including a large cichlid tank; home to Red Jewels, JDs, Oscars, Firemouths, and probably more, an Oscar tank, a turtle tank, and I believe a community tank filled with barbs, tetras, danios, and the sort along with feeder guppies which naturally bred some unique colours. To note, he also kept multiple other household pets over the course of my dad's extended childhood, including 4+ cats, 2 former dogs (and one right now), 2 budgies, tortoises, and other aquatic animals like newts and fully aquatic frog/toads.
I used to sell fish (specifically bettas and fancy guppies) to both small LFS, selling on my own, and giving them to Big Al's for store credit which practically chipped in for over half of my old setup; which allowed me to be acquainted to some new aquarists' faces. The other half of the aquarium business was buying, specifically betta breeds, which also allowed me to meet new faces and exchange with multiple consistent hobbyists/sellers.
Continuing family-wise, I did try a lot to get other family members to start fishkeeping, specifically encouraging them explaining how I could limit costs by a lot, and supply them with fish (a lot of it was really just an excuse to offload the reject guppies and excess bettas, and small cichlid projects that I later realised were pointless and I didn't know what to do with the fry...), I was never really so successful at it but I don't blame my marketing skills.
So- after that rant and complete sidetrack which I hope some of you found interesting, to answer @GaryE's question, I don't fall into the requirements for any of the 3 options. I know multiple serious aquarists, but I don't know very many at this moment. I am not an active member of a fish club, but I have been involved with many groups, to say, that involve the hobby. I also don't really have a circle to fall back on about the aquarium hobby, just a few links that are all disconnected from each other.
All in all, I think my vote goes to 3. I have a circle, as that is the closest answer.
