Moderate Burn Out

[soritan]

I'm slightly out of love with fish keeping at the moment. I know I'm not the only one this happens to....

I'm slightly burned out. I can't quite keep up, I'm not having fun.

Any cheap ways that don't involve whole new tanks to reignite the flame?

 

[SamUK]

re-design the layout of the tank you have.


i jus move from tank to tank and by the time i get bak to the first one its been a month or 2 and its time for a change.

next job is rebuilding the cichlids rock scaping.

about half a ton of rock to play with

 

[Arfie]

Have you tried dressing up, or maybe pretending they're other peoples fish

When I hit that stage, I'll probably cut back to one or 2 tanks for a while and avoid lfs for a while, then do a trip a couple of months later to get inspired.

You could also have a go at something with different demands, that will require you to do some learning, maybe heading into cichlids, discus or brakish if you don't/haven't already? Anything that stops it being stale and makes you learn something new really.

Arfie

 

[CoolWater]

Experiment with live foods.

For example finding your own Earth Worms, cleaning them and cutting them up?

 

[Gazoo]

When I recently went through the same mood I combined 3 of my tanks into 2. I also for a short time found a new hobby. After a while I came came back to my love of fish keeping. This allowed me to come up with a new idea for my empty tank that I had never considered before.

As it is said, "there is too much of a good thing".

 

[AMS]

Just some cheap suggestions off the top of my head:

You could rearrange decor
Try a low-tech planted setup if you have not already
Turn that spare 5 gallon tank into a low-tech planted betta tank
Make a DIY sump (easier than you think)
Try some disease free livefoods
Add new fish (if space is available)
Investigate new aspects of the hobby (IE look into brackish, marine, piranhas, predators, corals, and see if you are willing to give it a go in the future)
Collect your own livefoods/decor in local streams, woods, ponds etc. This is always fun.
Try breeding you current fish

 

[Miss Wiggle]

get yourself interested in some other hobby..... you'll end up missing your fishes and feeling all inspired again after a little break.... just keep the tanks ticking over in the mean time

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

It happens to me from time to time, I usually just have to give the tank a major overhaul and it goes away. Or I sell some of my fish to a good lfs and get some new ones that I haven't kept in a while or haven't kept at all.

Hope it doesn't last too long!

SLC

 

[wuvmybetta]

soritan,
what kind of bitty empty tanks do you have?

You could set up a tiny pico tank. You don't have to have expensive lights or equipment. Just a powerhead and a couple pounds of live rock. Then you could get several blue legged hermit crabs and maybe a mushroom or two.
(psst, hermit crabs!)

 

[Synirr]

Getting new fish always gets me interested again... or breeding the ol' bettas. Seeing the fry never ceases to be exciting . My new waspfish was a great bump for my enthusiasm for the hobby, and he is only taking up a 5 gallon at the moment. I'm sure there's some great little critter you could get for one of your current tanks that would get you interested again!


There you are, wuv! Pfft, I go to the trouble of emailing you and you pop up on here, I should have just sent a PM

 

[soritan]

Thank you for replying. I admit, I'm a wee bit embarressed at my burn out... I don't know, I guess I figured I had a greater attention span than this. I knew most of the answers before hand, but it was another one of those (annoying) cases where the poster knew all the answers beforehand, but posted anyways.

To AMS: How did you know I have a spare 5g? (well, I guess everyone does)

Personally, I guess I'm going to rearrange my 20g high and hope that I get over it. This addiction to constant stimuli is starting to concern me.

edit: to wuv: ooooo, hermies. Yeah, I'm weak for them. How can a person actually find such crusty old buggers cute? In either case, at this point of ennui, I don't trust my judgement. I still think it's safer to wait until next summer before I invest in them.

 

[annka5]

soritan, I think it's wise not to buy more fish becuase if/when the novelty wears off with them, then you're really only back to square one.
I'd go for re-aquascaping tanks, maybe planted if that appeals. Or breeding, assuming you have a market to home the fry.