Lost Interest

[Pimp]

I do not have nearly aS MUch enjoyment i use to get out of watching my fish swim around. They are boring and i consirder them more of a chore than a pleasure. some of my reasons

1- 50 gal in my room and the sound of the filter keeps me awake
2- never have time to enjoy them / always out
3- spend a lot of money on them
4- take foever to clean tank
5- get bored of them real fast/ always swim back and fourth

etc...

any advice that could help me enjoy my fish again would be great becuase i have put a lot of money into my tank and wnat to get some enjoyment out of them

 

[fozziebear]

its more to do with you than the fish really, most fish lovers enjoy the effort they have to put into the tank, i myself enjoy the maintenance etc i always look forward to it, and the more you observe your fish the more behaviours you will notice, try movin the tank to another room if its keeping you awake, or get a quieter filter.

 

[sic0198]

It may help if ya temporarily stopped fish keeping. Everyone needs a break sometime. If ya stop perhaps it'd give ya some renewed intrest in the hobby.

 

[AshleySpatula]

What kind of fish do you currently have? maybe if you have room and they work with your current stock, add a few fish with a little more personality?

 

[rocknurworld2006]

I do not have nearly aS MUch enjoyment i use to get out of watching my fish swim around. They are boring and i consirder them more of a chore than a pleasure. some of my reasons

1- 50 gal in my room and the sound of the filter keeps me awake
2- never have time to enjoy them / always out
3- spend a lot of money on them
4- take foever to clean tank
5- get bored of them real fast/ always swim back and fourth

etc...

any advice that could help me enjoy my fish again would be great becuase i have put a lot of money into my tank and wnat to get some enjoyment out of them

one thing that will definately get u enjoying it is:


BREEDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[flyhawk]

re setup your tank, and get knew fish!

 

[shelaghfishface]

aww its a shame you feel like that, i went thru this when i thought my first tank was going nowhere ( stuck for new ideas), i would def have a go of rearranging it, get some new plants,get a couple more fish that you like if space allows, and someone sugessted breeding them ( not a bad idea at all)
im assuming your quite young,its not unusuall to get fed up with routine, but dont go and sell it all or anything drastic like that, cos if you do i garantee you will miss them,and kick yourself, is there anyone else that can take over the care of it for a while, while you get on with other things? as they say " absence makes the heart grow fonder" and in a few months if you still dont want to be bothrered with them,well you will know its serious, but i do hope you reconsider, i bet your fish would be gutted to lose you!

hey why not have a go of " pimping your tank?" add some bling and make it original

hope you chnge your mind
shelagh xxxx

 

[Underwurlde]

Hmmm... I know exactly how you feel.

I have a small tank.. lots of effort, tons of learning only to end up with a algae encrusted, God-damned snail infested, dingy, crappy, manky looking tank everyone took the pi$$ out of... I wouldn't have minded, but the effort I had put in to it! Trouble was I am skint BUT I persevered and ended up with a very low cost, very low maintenance hybrid planted tank that looks stunning - this is what I wanted initially, took a while (over a year of learning & struggling) to get there, & I got there in the end. There were times when I very much thought 'sod it'....

Q) So why did you get into this hobby? What was it that you initially thought you'd personally get out of it?


Andy

 

[Pimp]

well, i want a new stock basically, but i dont know how to get rid of the fish i already have


i am a lazy dude and dont want to put in the effort of donating them to a pet store and i dont really wanna murder them,

and my first intention was to breed convects but i got 1 femlae and ended up wit a jaguar cichlid instead of a male,
I also love my green jewel fish but he f**** all the other fish in my 50.
im just gettin pissed off basically

 

[shelaghfishface]

with that attitude, i would definatley call it a day for a while, sell the lot, put the money into an account and add to it,when your ready get another one and do reasearch first

 

[WILDER]

I feel the same sadly it happens.
I'm down to one tank now out of three, but i'm happier now with just one tank.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Just take a break for a few years. Ive been bored about 3-4 times in 10 years, but now im stuck. I felt the same way you did when i wanted to quit, so just take a break and you will be back later.

 

[Colin_T]

Ring your local fish shop and ask if they will take your fish from you. Then take the fish down to them and get a store credit for them. Go home and do a really big water change and gravel clean on the tank. Then go back to the shop and get a couple of dwarf cichlids, perhaps Apistogramma cacatuoides. They are nice little fish that will breed readily in a tank. And if you only have a couple of small fish in the tank you won't have to do as much work on it.

You could have a heap of plants in it to reduce the algae, floating plants are good for this. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) can grow on the surface or be planted in the gravel. It is a really nice plant and grows under most conditions without any fertiliser. Just add water and light.

Depending on what type of filter you have will determine if you can reduce the noise levels. If you have an air operated filter replace it with a power filter. They are usually much quieter.

Most shops do tank maintenance on customer’s aquariums. You could get someone in to maintain your tank once a week or once a fortnight. They would do water changes and test the water quality, etc. Then all you do is feed the fish and enjoy them.

If you have the lights on timers then that helps as well. And you don't have to feed the fish twice a day like the directions say. I feed my fish a couple of times a week, whenever I can be bothered. My tanks are on timers and all I do is wipe the glass down, and do a water change and gravel clean each month. Because I only have a few fish in each tank I clean the filters when I can be bothered. I try to do them monthly but sometimes it can be a few months between cleans.

 

[Underwurlde]

I agree with the majority of people here: Take a break from the hobby.

Look at it this way: OK, you're a lazy git (so am I ) and want an easy life (as do I ) but preventing this easy life style you crave is a big pain in the butt - your fish . You can't just ditch them because, hell, they're just little fish and you don't want to just flush them ! You may be lazy, but you're not cruel (good for you) ....

So, put a little bit of non-lazy effort in to get that lazy git eay life style: Take those fish back to the LFS (I mean, c'mon, how much effort is that?? ). Strip your tank down and store it away for the future.... Do it today or you'll never do it! Once done, easy livin' dude.

Andy

 

[Helen G]

I too think it's time to take a break