Don't give up!

[bossteck]

Hi,

I am seeing more and more 'giving up hobby' sales, in this forum as well as others. Is this a sign of things to come? With more and more people giving up fish keeping, how are the LFS going to survive?

What are the chances for someone who had given up the hobby to pick it up again? Anyone here had gave up on the hobby and later pick it up again?

Tropical fish keeping doesn't take much effort, compared to say... keeping a dog right? Yet each time I visit pasir ris, I see more people at the dog farms than at the fish farms, it is sad.

Honestly I do not think we have enough new hobbists to replace the old. (Like our countries birth rate). So sad!

I don't know why I am writing this, I guess my message to you is, don't give up!

[Goondoo]

Don't worry, its normal for people to come and go in every hobbies.

Its just like Life Cycle, some new death any second in the world, some new Life born too ...

Its a balance....

[Weirong]

Well, at least the 'give up hobby' selling threads are mostly folks new to the hobby anyway. Those who have started and appreciated what they see are already in the game. So don't have to worry so much.

Only those with patience will be able to reap what they sow.

[Justikanz]

Hmm... We can pet dogs and don't have to worry about algae on our dogs?

Actually, I am beginning to feel it's a bit tedious to maintain my 6 tanks... And so can understand somewhat the need to give up after loads of other responsibilities start rolling in...

If we 'bo chap' then algae start growing, if we start to take care of things, we need to spend a lot of time on them...

But then again, I don't really think that there will be a sudden big dip in fish/aquatic plant keepers in Singapore... There seems to have a lot of youngsters and children interested in this hobby...

[armani]

sometimes they have no choice but to give up due to unforseen circumstances... well even if they give up as a last resort, hope they can come back to the hobby...

[Goondoo]

Hmm... We can pet dogs and don't have to worry about algae on our dogs?

Actually, I am beginning to feel it's a bit tedious to maintain my 6 tanks... And so can understand somewhat the need to give up after loads of other responsibilities start rolling in...

If we 'bo chap' then algae start growing, if we start to take care of things, we need to spend a lot of time on them...

But then again, I don't really think that there will be a sudden big dip in fish/aquatic plant keepers in Singapore... There seems to have a lot of youngsters and children interested in this hobby...

I used to owned a dog until I gave it away before my oversea assignment.
Personal opinion:
Dogs are nice animal. Though no algaes to worry about, there are many other concerns like biting, barking, fleas, medical attentions (definitely cost more than ADA products). You can leave your fishy at home for weeks with a timer feeder when your family go for a long holiday, try that with a dog....
If you wanna get a dog for company, get a kid

[Justikanz]

Which is why I had not gotten a dog yet...

Whatever hobby you are in, as long as it involves living things, you should be responsible for them...

The part about leaving fish on timers and not dogs is interesting... Does that mean we care less about fish? I mean we can just leave feeding to timers... but why can't we do that for dogs? And we have to arrange dog sitters or boarding facilities for them when we go for holidays? Just a thought...

Anyway, I usually find sitters for my fish... And I feed my frog heavily before hand and leave some life food in the tank, just in case, before I go for holidays...

I think the more tiresome thing is the water changes and topups and the dealing with algae problems...

[Goondoo]

Its not about the love you are giving, its about their technical needs. You can leave you pet dogs in a pet hotel, but thats another extra cost to be added to your "vacation" cost, which would discourage you from going for a long trip. The pet in turns becomes your liability instead of a hobby or interest. Not many people will enjoy "responsibility".

You need to bath it probably once a week and walk the dog too. Bathing it means bathing yourself, you will understand when you for a dog ...

[Justikanz]

I know what happens... The same applies to bathing cats...

Anyway, we are going OT...

[Happy Camper]

Justikanz, I agree with you, I have 9 tanks going at the moment, it was cool for the first year but now all the maintenance is getting a bit 'stale' . I think i might half the number of tanks and concentrate more quality into the remaining setups.

But probably this time next year I'll have 25 tanks I've been bitten hard by the Killi bug and it's not letting go At least they require small tanks!

[reversebungee]

from my own experience with planted tanks lah....
in a way, planted needs more of everything than other fishes... be it money or time.
During poly times, money is the biggest issue, then follow by self maturity... just not committed enough.
Then NS time, Time is THE factor.
Now working, thou time still little but at least there is some money to fund your tank.

i aso agree many youngster are still attracted by plant tanks hobby.

[diki]

I had dropped the hobby for 2-3 yrs back before I came back again, big time but started small. Now got 5 tanks from initial 1. Well, sometimes you really had no heart to start over again after a major failure. Actually not to bring harm to them since you know you cannot afford to take care of them. Sounds familiar?? Plants are easier to let go but money would be wasted.

Well this hobby is able to suit many different kinds of people's needs so I do not forsee it going downhill, just that portion of the trade not doing well. I hope not to see another Luohan (LH) craze or similar, as in the end, much of the unwanted fishes are release in ponds, cannals, lake or rivers but it does generate interest but cannot substain. It does more harm than good, I think. Well, there seems to have an increase in keeping CRS and keeping small tanks so it is not a hobby that easy to kill.

[Sunfire]

I 'gave up' and picked up the hobby again once before. The first time was when I was 10 - 14 years old. Progressed from plastic tanks from plastic plants to real glass tank with real plants, but eventually, gave fish away and set some free. (in bedok reservoir - don't worry, they were guppies)

Now I'm 26, so just picked up the hobby again, for the past 6 months... I might 'quit' probably 4 years down the road? Anyway I speculate that most people bought fish tanks during the luohan craze a number of years ago, so it's about time for them to quit...

[Calamari]

Yea .......Sunfire... If I think in your direction I can see many chillers and small tanks being sold in next few years when CRS trend dies off....so those who want chillers 3-4 More years.......endure... a cheap one will be yours

[aquarius]

I started keeping fishes when i was in kindergarten and i'm now in my thirties. Wow how time flies! During these 20plus yrs i gave up fish keeping a few times due to reasons like NS, lazy to do maintenance, demoralize due to constant fish death etc.

The main reason alot of hobbyists including myself give up during my early yrs of fish keeping is because fishes kept dying due to :

1. anyhow buy fish without knowing whether they are compatible with each other a not which leads to fights or predation. (ever kept baby oscar with angel fish and tetras in the same tank before ) Buying sick fishes.
But as i gain more experience or learnt it the hard way what species of fishes can be kept together and how to look at sick fishes, fish deaths were minimised.

2. lazy in maintenance. This IMHO is usually what kills a person from the hobby. During my primary school days fishes, tanks, filters etc were bought by my parents, i just beg them and they will buy. Naturally being ignorant themself they'll buy cheap filters which requires alot of washing the filter and the white filter pads. Changing of water also meant sucking and topping up the tank with a backet. After sometime it became a hassle cos very time consuming which resulted in less maintenance and eventually fish deaths.

When i started working, i had money and i also read up more on the hobby especially on the internet and learnt the importance of a good filteration system which i then invested in a good canister filter. I also "DIYed" a hose which will be connected to the bathroom for topping up of water and when needed can also be used to suck out water.

All these frees up the hassle or lessen the time of maintenance work which leaves more time for viewing. When you're working, sometimes you're so tired you just don't want to spend too much time during your precious weekends or during your free time changing water and washing filters. You want to ENJOY viewing your aquarium to destress.

If high-tech planted takes too much time during maintenance, go low-tech. If low-tech also a hassle keep fish only setups like african/malawi cichlids, plecos, goldfishes etc. Think of little ways to make maintainance job fast and yet efficient.

I hope my sharing though very longwinded will enlighten beginners on the pit-falls to avoid so that you won't get frustrated and give up this very beautiful and interesting hobby.

Basically don't do things that will kill your interest in the hobby.

[Goondoo]

I strongly agree.
Like I said above, when a hobby turns into a routine task or chore, it lost the "fun" element. Change will come in definitely, but change to what?
Imagine someone with 200 cardinal tetras with high tech tank. He got bored one day and decided to switch to low tech. He can keep the tetras still but what if he get bored again and decided to switch to arowana? Feed the tetras to the aro?

Anyway, I believed most if not all hobbys start from simple curiousity, "What if I have a nice nice tank at home", "what if" this or that.... they will give themselves one million reasons to own one, but they will never even try to answer "what if I got bored of it". They will soon try to comfort themselves by thinking its not their fault, its Mindef fault for calling me up, its PUB fault for raising the bills so high, its my workload, my family.... etc but never themselves.....

I am not saint, it happens to me many a times too...

[Wzierbovsky]

Well; I got into the hobby rather late in age. i.e. I'm almost 35, and I only started this year.

But my interest in the hobby has gone up pretty quickly. I started off with a 1 foot tank as a VD gift from my wife, then progressed onto a 1.5 feet, then a 2 feet, and just yesterday afternoon got a 3 feet delivered for my new place. Picture here of the tank situated in the living room, but don't laugh too much at the colour scheme ok.



IMO; I think people who're new to the hobby get a lot of hits and misses. And unless the hobbyist already is of persistent temperament (i.e. (s)he doesn't give up easily), it's easy to give up the hobby quickly especially if the initial investment is small.

But speaking from personal experience now, I think what was really helpful in my getting into the hobby was the availability of other persons who're fellow enthusiasts. E.g. here and at Arofanatics. In this sense, IMO it's *extremely* important that fellow hobbyists continue to help each other out. It may be tempting for experienced hobbyists to be dismissive, and occasionally impatient, of a newbie's virginal queries into keeping an aquarium. All too often in SIG type of forums, there are remarks like "this topic has already been discussed to death" and "ever heard of Google???". I think it's critically important that new persons continue to be engaged (within reason) and encouraged in these forums.

Just my take.

[Green Baron]

Most find the high tech setup too demanding after a year a two. They either switch to low maint setup or give up the hobby. Some tried low maint setup, failed miserable (usually too much light adn wrong type of plants) and give up.

When you have time, it is enjoyable to change water, add fertiliser, and rescape. However for long term enjoyment, the setup must look good without requiring too much attention and maintenace.

[bossteck]

Hi people,

It's great to hear about everyone's experience. Totally agree with Goondoo about hobby becoming chore being a factor.

I think forums like AQ is doing a great job in promoting the hobby, also the information sharing will help to prevent (too much) fish deaths hence keeping morale of hobbists high?

Happy fish keeping everyone!

[gummynut]

hi,
IMO, i think that everyone in this hobby will go through some sort of difficult time once in a while, like sudden outbreak of algae, fish sickness, wrong dosage that wipe out all inhabitants, equipment spoilt, tank rupture, man-made disasters, etc.. you name it. then we get totally disappointed or frustrated seeing all our effort, time & money goes down the drain. At that very moment, we might just throw in the towel and say "THAT'S @#*&% IT, I QUIT!!!!!"
It's just how each individual sort out that tumultuous period and move on. Determination will see them improving themselves and enjoying the hobby more. Some might just need a word of encouragement to carry on. Just change your mindset and don't your hobby turn into a chore. Picking riccia bits maybe an interesting and relaxing activity too..