I Have Returned!

[VaegaVic]

Hi everyone!
It's been a long time, most of you won't recognise me as its been actually that long since I last posted.
I've finally returned to the realm of fish keeping! But this time, I've gone cold water!

Back Story:
I used to keep 9 tanks in my house, I had more tanks than rooms to put them in, all of which were tropical. I've kept and bred all manner of things, from the common cory and the easy guppy all the way up to the more challenging betta. However, I found myself at a cross roads.

This year, the Mrs and I are moving in to a brand new house and with it, a brand new 6ft tank (almost like consolidating all the mini ones in one huge tank). However, I really wanted to set up a community of DIscus and small rare tetra, you know the usual thing someone with a 6ft tank wants to do. Since we're moving, and I know the tanks and fish I own currently wont have a place in our new home, I grew complacent and almost resentful towards them. "Why should I keep these 50% water changes a week up, if they're not even coming with me?!" I thought. So eventually I didn't, it creeped down to 20%, then 10, then 5 and eventually nothing. The lights rarely went on, the fish were fed but all my plants died (and were promptly removed in order to stop the need for water changes).

I grew lazy and I turned into what I always hated, an #14### of man who hated the animals he bought. They didn't ask to come with me, I took them home against their will and force them to live with me. And now I have the audacity to mistreat them?!

I took a long hard look at myself and desperately tried to find a solution. Any fish I wanted to keep, I couldn't as even the biggest tank in the mean time is far too small. I couldn't keep any tropical fish I wanted.

Then, one day at work, it hit me. I couldn't keep any tropical fish I wanted to. In addition to the 6ft tank, I will also be building a pond! A huge great whacking deep pond, perfect for the type of fish I wanted to keep: Fancy Goldfish.

I gave all my tropical fish away and closed down 7 tanks out of the 9. They all went to live with my friend John who has 4fts basically in every room of his home and was more than happy to take my prize white betta. I kept the 64L and I kept a Fluval edge as a focal point in the living room, but that's it.

And so that's how I ended up with my 3 little fancies, all of which are adorable and all of which I love, as I know they'll be coming with me to the new house. It's inspired me to start keeping fish seriously again and it's inspired me to start loving fish again.

Has anyone else ever fallen out of love with fish keeping and then come back to it wiser and stronger than they had before?
I'd love to hear your stories!

p.s, I'll also be posting pictures soon, so everyone can see my tiny fantails, no bigger than an inch each!

 

[fluttermoth]

I did a few years ago.

I had two tanks running at the time; one with rescued fish in it; two common plecs, an oscar, another cichlid that we never found what species he was, a synodontis and a striped and a spotted talking cat. I lost the plecs, cichlid and the oscar to a particularly nasty form of septicaemia, then had the heater in my other tank (a three foot with tiger barbs, neons, rams, a breeding pair of BNs and a clown plec) stick on and killed everything except the clown

After that I admit I didn't do much with either tank; I just felt too disheartened about it all; the poor clown plec didn't have a light for months, though I still fed and water changed.

Then my youngest child started school so I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands, my middle son developed an interest in the tanks, my mum upgraded her Malawis and offered me her old tank and I regained my enthusiasm and started restocking

Oh, the fact that the rescued gerbils that had taken up residence in the four foot I'd bought for my Amazonian set up died of old age helped too!

 

[colleen0309]

I lost my love for fish keeping when I got talked into setting up my garage for a fish shop about 15 years ago. I never should have gone public! I live in the middle of nowhere in an area that doesn't have a big fish following. Running a business is not for me. Two years after the shop opened, it shut down and I got rid of everything except 1 tank that was set up in my dining room and some misc equipment that was in my basement. Like Fluttermoth, my fish were lucky if I remembered to turn the lights on. I did water changes and fed the fish, but that was it. Then one day my hubby said he knew someone that wanted to buy my tank. I said no, of course. The hubby said "Then why don't you clean it up? It looks horrible." I cleaned it up and haven't looked back. Within a month, I had the 46 gallon looking beautiful and set up a 54gallon bowfront and two 55 gallon tanks. Now the hubby has put an addition on the back of the house for a fishroom, with the understanding that I remove all but one tank from the main part of the house. So this is where I am now. One 46gallon bowfront, a 54gallon bowfront, two 55gallons, two 20s, eight 10s,two 5s and a 75 with a broken seal. I still have to move some of the tanks into my room and build a few shelves. I'm in the process of breeding my angels and some pink convicts, but no plans to open up a shop. This is just for me. If I happen to sell a few fish along the way, that's fine. But I would be happy just doing it for me.

 

[ZoddyZod]

a warm welcome back and thanks for sharing your story.

I'm only 3yrs into the hobby and have not been faced with the onset of boredom so far....hopefully it wont happen!

 

[colleen0309]

a warm welcome back and thanks for sharing your story.

I'm only 3yrs into the hobby and have not been faced with the onset of boredom so far....hopefully it wont happen!

It took me twenty+ years to get bored and there is so much more to this hobby than there was when I started...43 years ago. You shouldn't get bored now!