Don't give up!

[Sunfire]

I think fish tanks should be minimal maintenance. E.g. you know, sometimes we 'don't pace ourselves' - e.g. buying too big tanks, and then being unable to take care of them, etc, or maintain them in order for them to look nice, and then when a setback occurs, it kills our interest. e.g. my friend who has a seriously ugly marine tank, with dead corals. Why? He didn't 'pace' himself, didn't want to maintain the tank due to the hassle.

So my opinion is, pace yourself in this hobby, don't buy new stuff all the time, (I struggled with this one) and have fun looking at your fish and plants. Keep 1 aquarium, if possible, 2 at max, and have fun.

And for CRS I only would buy them if they look nice, but paying 5 dollars for something that's 1cm long is nuts to me.

[Rokerites]

For me, I being a person who do not like to part with things I like, I think Time is the real killer.
When I was single and unattached, I have all the time to experience with all types of hobbies, Aquarium keeping included.
Then as I found my girlfriend (now wife), I gave up some hobbies I love less.
When I got married, family commitment, work commiment, etc kill more of the remaining interests/hobbies....Leaving only the most desired ones
But then comes the killer of all Kids. Once they come along they really drained me of all the remaining time, money and energy that I have .Now only 3 die hards hobbies remain.... 1) watching soccer 2) Photography (taken a beating) and 3) Aquarium keeping (barely surviving)

Sigh..... but that said, its just me ok.

[Sunfire]

That's terrible. I'm getting married in about 2 years! Nooo...my fish tank...

[gummynut]

1) watching soccer 2) Photography (taken a beating) and 3) Aquarium keeping (barely surviving)

Sigh..... but that said, its just me ok.

hi,
it's just some priorities in life. different stages, different needs. Persuade and lure your family into your hobbies. they'll be able to lessen your 'burden' and it can be a family activity too. Easier said than done though

[Wzierbovsky]

I'm pretty lucky in this sense; my wife shares my aquarium keeping hobby. She chooses the plants in our tank, and whenever we're at an LFS, she keeps badgering me to buy more cardinal tetras.

That's terrible. I'm getting married in about 2 years! Nooo...my fish tank...

[bossteck]

Glad to hear so many advice from the hobbists here.

I agree that too much maintenance takes the fun out of the hobby and agrees with Sunfire about pacing oneself.

You cannot own everything you see, so sometimes I console myself by telling myself 'hmm.. I will just let this LFS keep this fish for me.. when I am free, I will come and visit it (the fish)' keke kind of silly right?

[Talos]

hi guys,

i've been keeping fish for 20 over years now. i've never given up on them. have had monster fish most of the time. even during NS, i still had several 3ft tanks.

now that i've been working and have more spending power, i've upgraded to bigger tanks and better filters. i'm self employed and do not have a fixed schedule so whenever time permits or there's a need to, i'll do water changes etc. Lester from one of the farms at pasir ris delivers feeder fish to me every week. as for my small planted tank and bettas, bloodworms and pellets suffice more often than not.

i also have 9 dogs and 6 cats, as well as some other things that cannot be mentioned. i've always been into keeping pets so i'l never give up the hobby. my family helps with the mammals. whenever i'm overseas, my kaki will take care of my fish.

there always never enough time for everything, too few hours in a day. but we make the best of whatever time we have.
its might be a tedious job but someone's got to do it. especially if you like to keep pets.

cheers to all fish/ pet people

[kalindab]

Well I got into this "hobby" allthough I like to call it a lifestyle because someone else gave it up lol

We started out buying a tank allready up and running including fish (which I now found out in our area is highly illegal) it is a standard 1 foot tank my husband and I now own 19 fishtanks
3x 3 footers
1x four foot
15x 2 footers

So a going out of hobby sale in our case started a life time obsession

[gummynut]

You cannot own everything you see, so sometimes I console myself by telling myself 'hmm.. I will just let this LFS keep this fish for me.. when I am free, I will come and visit it (the fish)' keke kind of silly right?

You cannot own everything you see, so sometimes I console myself by telling myself 'hmm.. I will just let the AQ forum members to keep this fish for me.. when I am free, I will come and visit the forum' keke kind of silly right?

[bossteck]

You cannot own everything you see, so sometimes I console myself by telling myself 'hmm.. I will just let the AQ forum members to keep this fish for me.. when I am free, I will come and visit the forum' keke kind of silly right?

That'll work too!

[kalindab]

lol we have acess visits to the biggest frontosia I have ever seen I love him to death but would never buy him at $400au we hope no one will ever afford him