what is your "tank time"???

[Magnum Man]

so being a busy guy, my fish watching time is limited... so for me, I wake early, and sit and drink my caffeine, and watch fish at 1st light... this way I get between a half hour, and an hour each day to watch my main group of tanks... I have various tanks around the house, and those tanks get 5 minutes here and there... this is viewing time for me, tank maintenance is done from behind the tanks, all of which have back grounds, so there is very little viewing during maintenance... it is nice to have a "main group" of tanks, to have a wide range of viewing, without having to move around...

... and I do try to watch for a few minutes, when I feed brine shrimp. and blood worms) usually at night ), once every week or so...

how about you???

 

[simonas]

My 3 are in the garage which is lovely and warm as a result. I have a leather gaming chair in there which reclines so in the morning when the blues are on I sit with my cuppa and toast and chill watching them. The gars look so peaceful under the blues in the morning theres more calm at that time.

I then feed at night about 9pm and again I chill in my chair and feed the tanks and have a good watch.

Reality is I could spend much longer in there

 

[GaryE]

I have my lights set to start coming on at 8:30 AM. My plants lights for the bog are on at 7, in case I get to go out earlier, but that rarely happens.
So my tank time is usually 8:30 to around 10 AM. That gets all the water changes and fiddling taken care of. Since in retirement, this is a proxy/psychological job, those are pretty good hours. I do any breeding set ups, feed the fish, do the live foods etc and then if I have responsibilities, don't get back in til the next day.
But on free days, I usually go back in the afternoon, fire up the music and have a sit down fishwatching party for one. Usually, I find more things to do, and my sitting is interrupted Adjust this, move that - I'm a restless type. I have the tanks for observing fish behaviour, but I also enjoy the meaningless work.
Usually, I get 90 minutes a day, but when I can I double or triple that. I always have projects.
Right now, I'm sorting out tanks so when I return from West Africa, hopefully with interesting fish, I'll be able to get them right into tanks that will work for them. I know what I want to find, and what I think it'll need. When I see the habitats, that could call for adjustment, but for now I think I'll be close. I want to have more tanks than I predict I'll need, because when I returned from Gabon, I lost a species on the first night as I had under prepped tanks. It's not like I'll be able to go right back to the store...

 

[lottabubbles]

we're retired so anytime I feel the need to see the fish in action. my 125gal tank is about 7ft. from the big screen tv so every commercial I watch fish!

 

[Eclectic Ukulele]

Our tank is opposite our dining table.

Our kitchen, dining room and living room are all one room so everytime I pass it I have a look.

 

[gwand]

My wife and I share office space in our home. We work but also relax there everyday. Four of our seven tanks are in this space. So I have quality fish time daily.

 

[Innesfan]

My wife and I share office space in our home. We work but also relax there everyday. Four of our seven tanks are in this space. So I have quality fish time daily.

Similar situation here--all but three tanks are in our home office. Three utility tanks--quarantine, grow-outs etc-- are in a huge walk-in closet that opens into the office.

 

[Uberhoust]

My only tank now is in the family room adjacent to the Kitchen. I watch my fish frequently and they watch us. The fish note when I feed the dog and then they expect to be fed as well and get excited moving back and forth rapidly when I approach the tank. Nice thing about a tank that is always visible is that issues get dealt with immediately.

 

[lottabubbles]

for years and years I never gave a thought to fish being able to see beyond the glass. about 10 or so years ago I was watching a program on the big screen and they were showing the Great Barrier Reef, I looked at the aquarium and every fish in it was at one end watching the tv.

 

[emeraldking]

My tank time differs per day.

 

[Back in the fold]

My Empire is spread out all over the house now which would NEVER have happened when my wife was alive . I take time for fish watching during water changes and feeding . I take my slow sweet time doing both tasks . In the evening I like to watch my guppies settle into nite mode . After the light has been off and there’s only the TV and my reading light they stop swimming and just float mid-water .

 

[MuddyWaters]

I have 2 upstairs- one behind the TV and one in the dining room. When I'm watching the Falcons and can't take it, I turn around and watch the tank in the den behind the TV. It's the big one (75 gal) and I can usually see the game in the reflection of the glass, so I can keep up with the frustrating game while calming my nerves watching fish.

The dining room one is pretty much beside my seat, so between bites....

Then downstairs I have 2 in the office- 29 gal behind me so I can turn around and calm down during boring, ridiculous meetings, and one 3 gal next to me on my desk that I can watch more subtly.

Then I have a "fish room" that my wife calls the "laundry room" for some reason. I have a 40 breeder, 20 long and 3 10 gallons (only 2 active) plus a 5 gallon quarantine/hospital tank. I have a nice stool on wheels I use to move from one tank to another.

My small tank on the desk comes on at 10 am and goes off at 5pm (the light). The others mostly come on between noon and 2pm and stay on until 9:30 PM at night. That way I can watch them more in the evenings.

Great thread, Magnum man!!

EDIT: I have yet to get one in our bedroom upstairs. I think I would mysteriously die in my sleep if I did that.... Wife does well to tolerate my obsession.

 

[gwand]

My wife barely tolerates my obsession with fish and the resulting MTS. Accommodating my obsession has costly me dearly: a new large back porch and a new solid wood kitchen floor. Of course I didn’t think we needed either purchase.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I am now down to 11 tanks.

3 are in the second building and one of them only holds frogbit and some assassin snails. The other two are pleco grow tanks. I have to go out there to see them. But 6 or 7 nights a week I see them when I feed and then again when I do weekly maint. Plecos are hiders so about twice a year I break down the tanks for inventory or to pull fish for sale and I see them all.

I have two tanks in the room adjacent to mine. It used to be a library room but I took it over and it used to hold both my 6 foot tanks and then a 55 over a 33 L. Today it is the 125 and a 33L with my last pleco breeding group. I feed nightly, clean weekly and will pop into the room a few times a day to check on the fish.

My final 7 tanks are 5 in my bedroom so I live with the fish and the other two in my bathroom. So those 7 tanks I see all the time.

(edited to fix a typo)