Fishy Things To Do When Waiting To Stock...

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

A common theme, especially amongst newcomers to the hobby, (and regardless of age and/or maturity), is the need to get things done quicker than may be considered safe and sensible.
Impatience can result in all sorts of mistakes being made and is a feature that those making money out of us seem to delight in exploiting.

Most in here will know about cycling, (and if you don't, then you need to start reading) and one of the features of any sort of cycling is the waiting game.
Waiting for the beneficial bacteria to grow.
Waiting for the plants to grow.
Waiting for the water conditions to be just right.
Waiting until you can stock your little glass box.

One of perhaps the very best bits of this hobby is that point where you can actually go out, buy some animals and stick 'em in your tank.
So...what to do, when waiting.
How did I spend my time, whilst waiting?
Of course, there's tons of things we could be doing, but let's focus on fishy things. What did I do?

• Lots of research, reading books, visiting websites and viewing lots and lots of YouTube videos.
• Having done the research, I set about acquiring the necessary kit.
• Checked out all of the local fish shops...and some not-so local.
• Lots of research, reading books, visiting websites and viewing lots and lots of YouTube videos.
• Loitered in those discovered shops, sometimes for a couple of hours at a time, gazing at the fish and talking with the staff.
• Planning the aquascaping...playing with the acquired stones and bits of wood, arranging and re-arranging them on a piece of card, the same size as the tank base.
• Lots of research, reading books, visiting websites and viewing lots and lots of YouTube videos.
• Visited an aquarium.
• Poked around local beaches and water courses.
• Lots of research, reading books, visiting websites and viewing lots and lots of YouTube videos.

So how did you successful aquarists kill the time, other than maintaining your many other tanks?

 

[Essjay]

I can't really answer this as I had fish before I had a tank (fairground goldfish).

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I can't really answer this as I had fish before I had a tank (fairground goldfish).

You just did!

 

[Ellebrius]

I did EXACTLY the same things you did!
I watched so many YouTube’s video my IPad always needed to be recharged and my husband was giving me the evil eye.
When we went shopping I always told him do drop me off at the lfs and to come back and pick me up when he had finished his shopping.
I was buying wood and decorations and already planning my second aquarium.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Thankyou, I will research and watch lots of videos and read lots of books.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

One of my favorite parts about keeping fish is the planning and set up stage. For me this also includes growing the plants in and modifying the scape as I go.

I generally try not to actually have too much of a plan for how I want things to look and often only a vague idea about what fish I want. As plants grow in I tend to move them around, adjust the hardscape and just let it organically come together over a few weeks. During this time I'm also thinking about what fish might be suitable, reading up on them (even if it is something I have kept before). Generally I try and do something a bit different with each tank so that is something else to read up on (at the moment its DIY lean ferts which I plan to eventually move my current tank to).

By the time the plants are doing well I have normally put some ammonia in there to get the cycle started. I then start a proper fishless cycle which because of the dense planting and it having already been kind of going for awhile doesn't tend to take long.

Then its time for fish and for me that's when it tends to become less of a project and more of a decoration. With the way I do it tanks are normally pretty stable and even somewhat mature before the fish even get in there so there isn't much more to actually do with it. Just feed, dose, water change and trim. Don't get me wrong I love a nicely planted tank and watching the fish and how they behave. But once your tanks stocked if everything is done right there just isn't a lot to do with it anymore.

I think a lot of people are too focused on the destination and miss out on all the fun of the journey. Understandable but I think it takes several tanks and maybe a few years of fish keeping to really appreciate that.

Edit: Thats for freshwater. For marine the planning, work and adjustments never really stops.Though that may also just be me..

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Whilst waiting the weeks to pass before fish....my scaping is redone many many many times. Generally due to sitting there infront of it and thinking

"hmmmm...maybe that would look better over there just a squidly bit"....

"no...that's not right".....

After a while, usually day 3, its everything out and start afresh.

This continues til about midway through the long wait when I finally give up and accept that my untidy teenagers bedroom look is not THAT bad.....the urge to move stuff around whilst waiting for the bacteria to start doing its thing is so much easier when there are no fish.

(Once all done and dusted and you start moving the hooligans in over a few weeks, they tend to get very confused and try to nip the fingers as if to say "oh heck...she's back...what is she going to move THIS time <sigh>"...... and on weekly maintenance days its "<EEEEEK> blue glove alert...she's back...RUN AWAY!!!!")

 

[itiwhetu]

Read books, research, read books. Buy more books to make sure the information in the books I have is correct. Read the new books. Get the picture.

 

[itiwhetu]

Just thinking, of late. I am usually saving fish from some idiot. So I sit there looking at the tank saying to myself. Why o Why did I agree to this.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Just thinking, of late. I am usually saving fish from some idiot. So I sit there looking at the tank saying to myself. Why o Why did I agree to this.

I find that it's by watching my tank contents that my blood temp reduces to a tolerable sizzle.

 

[itiwhetu]

I find that it's by watching my tank contents that my blood temp reduces to a tolerable sizzle.

Until your dearly beloved points out that is an ugly tank on an ugly stand in the middle of the dining room and how long do you think it is going to be there.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Im currrently cycling my tank. I just ordered a nitrite and ammonia test kit so my cycling is more accurate. I have been reading this really good fish book and i have been watching videos and reding sites.

 

[Snaillover90]

Well I was a bad fish owner and thought after a week of proper chemicals I was good to go... yeah like I said, lesson learned after 2 fish died.
Now on week 6 and still constantly watching and tending! BUT if I'd read and waited like I should've, I would have gotten my aquascape just right, and visited an aquarium! I conttinue to watch YouTube and amass ideas, much to the annoyance of my boyfriend lol.

 

[fishyfun&fans]

I played fetch most days with the dog waiting for my tank to cycle

Meet boo-boo

 

[Obsessed with fish]

I played fetch most days with the dog waiting for my tank to cycle

Meet boo-boo

The dog is so cute