What a great idea for cycling

[GaryE]

I just read of an aquarium club starting a program to match new aquarists or people with new filters to people who will run their filters on established tanks and cycle them without the hassle of doing a fishless. You get to meet a human being who keeps fish while getting your filter cycled quickly.

I know anti social, never joining clubs is in now, but ideas like this show why people in reasonably sized population centres used to have clubs that met in person on a monthly basis. People out there are thinking...

 

[itiwhetu]

Aquarium societies are great. I loved my time going to meetings. We used to swap fish and plants; the oldies used to give demonstrations on how to set up tanks. There was a fantastic library and cool competitions.

 

[GaryE]

The club experience in Montreal, where I recently moved away from, was interesting. We had two clubs, one founded in 1933 in English, and a 1970s start up in French. In the English club, younger members didn't step up to make a physically meeting club, and just wanted to have an internet/facebook group where no one actually met anyone else face to face. I doubt that club will survive the pandemic.
The members kind of took it to be a service provided rather than a group they'd create and grow.
In the French language club, younger members run the show. They had a few virtual meetings through the pandemic, and I expect they'll be around for years. With a mix of younger and older aquarists, they have tons of ideas, breed great fish for their huge auctions and will move forward.
That happens because of newer aquarists making decisions to step up. All across the continent (I can't speak for other continents) there are clubs hitting restart buttons, often after the loss of hard working and involved older members to the pandemic. I suspect there are cultural things as I find North American English communities are much more fractured and rootless. Anglos don't seem to volunteer as much, and someone has to actually run clubs or they wither. I'd love to be proven wrong, as I found the clubs to be really enriching experiences, and feel the time I put into them was never wasted.

 

[Rocky998]

Really great idea! I wish there was something like that near me... Not that my parents would let me go... Idk maybe they will...

 

[Essjay]

If you could find a group, take one or both of your parents with you. That way they'd get to hear the advice offered by the older more experienced members and maybe talking to someone their own age would help them understand your hobby better.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Really great idea! I wish there was something like that near me... Not that my parents would let me go... Idk maybe they will...

Go to your local or school library, you might well discover groups listed there on flyers or other media with dates and times of when they meet etc

As @Essjay said, get your parents involved more by taking you for the first few meetings, once they know its legitimate and safe, and that they can trust you enough, they might let you go alone.

 

[Rocky998]

That does seem like a good idea! I will search for aquarium groups but I doubt we have anything near us like that... Our towns and "cities" around us have nothing interesting really...

 

[Deleted member 149562]

That does seem like a good idea! I will search for aquarium groups but I doubt we have anything near us like that... Our towns and "cities" around us have nothing interesting really...

You don't know til you go look...and since til now you probably never really thought of a local group existing, you probably have not made a point of searching for one

 

[Rocky998]

You don't know til you go look...and since til now you probably never really thought of a local group existing, you probably have not made a point of searching for one

I think I have tried searching very little before a while back... But I will definitely be searching again

 

[OliveFish05]

I have searched, I haven’t found a decent group on my area. Ive thought about starting one, but I’m not sure how one would go about that. but that idea of sharing cycled media is just so convenient. And that relationship it forms is something that could carry a beginner through all kinds of trial and error within the hobby. When I sold my big 55 gallon tank to replace it with a 40 gallon (more floor space for my axolotls) I had a woman reach out and ask to purchase. It turned out she lived in an apartment and spoke to the landlord and they said it was too big. She let me know, and I encouraged her to ask if a 20 gallon was allowed so she could still keep an axolotl. It was, and while she bought her 20 gallon elsewhere she offered $50 for cycled filter media and for the time I took to share my knowledge with her.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

@OliverFish05

Virginia/Washington D.C.

• Chesapeake Area Killifish Club - (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia)
• Chesapeake Guppy Club - (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia)
• Greater Washington Aquatic Plants Association
• Hampton Roads Reef Club
• James River Aquarium Society - Central VA
• Mid-Atlantic Koi Club
• Potomac Valley Aquarium Society (D.C. Area)
• Washington D.C. Area Marine Aquarist Society
• ZNA Potomac (Koi Club - D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Delaware)

http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/Local_Fish_Clubs.htm

 

[Rocky998]

@OliverFish05

Virginia/Washington D.C.

• Chesapeake Area Killifish Club - (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia)
• Chesapeake Guppy Club - (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia)
• Greater Washington Aquatic Plants Association
• Hampton Roads Reef Club
• James River Aquarium Society - Central VA
• Mid-Atlantic Koi Club
• Potomac Valley Aquarium Society (D.C. Area)
• Washington D.C. Area Marine Aquarist Society
• ZNA Potomac (Koi Club - D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Delaware)

http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/Local_Fish_Clubs.htm

@OliveFish05

(@TwoTankAmin's tag wasnt right so I wanted to tag you to see his post)

 

[itiwhetu]

I just read of an aquarium club starting a program to match new aquarists or people with new filters to people who will run their filters on established tanks and cycle them without the hassle of doing a fishless. You get to meet a human being who keeps fish while getting your filter cycled quickly.

I know anti social, never joining clubs is in now, but ideas like this show why people in reasonably sized population centres used to have clubs that met in person on a monthly basis. People out there are thinking...

The only problem I see with this is that you are going to bring all the nasties in the host tank to your new tank as well as the good stuff

 

[Rocky998]

W

The only problem I see with this is that you are going to bring all the nasties in the host tank to your new tank as well as the good stuff

Well maybe they will let you see their tank. If the person letting you run your filter on the tank is experienced and also takes good care of their tank it should be fine. They should also be honest with any problems they are having. I mean they have no money to extort or anything, it would be a free and friendly gesture really

 

[GaryE]

I've done the media thing for at least a dozen new aquarists. There is a question of trust, but individual aquarists stand on their reputations pretty firmly. In a club, if you sell sick fish or were to provide compromised media to someone, you would then have to have them stare at you for years....

It's not like online where we rarely if ever meet the people we talk with. A monthly meeting keeps a person careful.

The only problem I see with this is that you are going to bring all the nasties in the host tank to your new tank as well as the good stuff