WHY are you in this hobby?

[Charley]

A bit of a strange question I gues but always wondered why people are interested in this hobby or how they got into it.....

For me I guess, I always was fascinated with how fishes, or living things in water behaved. How they mated, how they lived and why. Then of course attracted to the beauty. Couls spend hours and still can today looking at the same group of fish or corals, etc just to see if I can catch a specific behavior or quirk related to the species.

Problem with this was, it seemed like I was the ONLY one interested. Always felt like an outcast of some sort. This is when I was younger in the 1970's. Everyone I else I knew loved cars or sports or whatever. Me, I oved watching fish. Do not get me wrong. I loved sports and other things but the aquariums, the oceans always my favorite. I lived in apt and had a 10gal tank on my dresser. Bred betta's. cichlid's, gouramis, etc out of a 10 gal best I could. My parents were never fond of fishtanks.

My biggest regret is that I never followed my real passion....marine biology or similar. For all those young kids out there, pls follow your dream!

Got married to a wonderful lady, and drifted away form the hobby. Did just fine, rasied 3 kids always with an eye on the hobby but never fully back in. I went scuba dving. sorkeling quite a bit as I always loved being in the water and observing all that I can.

Will finally jump back in, with a reef tank. will not deny my passion any longer. Perhaps my biggest regretis that my kids do not know to the extent how much I love the ocean, the hobby, etc..

Now it feels like I woke up from a coma and everything has passed me by. Sooo much info, so much knowldge. It is like everyone knows everything to the scientific names, to the exact chemistry and parameters, to the species of corals to the specs of lighting. Wow, scary how little I know.

Was wondering how everyone got into the hobby...what drew you in?

Thanks
Charley

 

[al0ha]

for all the ladies :flirt:

 

[akma]

I like to play God!

 

[Charley]

Well, it's obvious.....I take my life way too seriously!

 

[James]

Read a lot and you will be fine. Most people know much less than you think. To answer your question, I was raised in Key West... got reefs in my blood. It is calming, challenging enough to keep me interested and the perfect blend of science/nature and art/artistic expression.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

for all the ladies :flirt:

Where? Lol

 

[bartmalave]

to learn

 

[shookONES]

I hate money

 

[ClownAquatics]

the colors! the colors!

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

The toxins in zoanthids that can kill humans in large doses , I'm growing zoas to harvest thousands of pounds of palytoxins to wipe out new yorks pigeon population with poisoned blow gun darts!!!!

Ok , ok I love saltwater and love the idea of having the ocean in my living room with corals and fish from all parts of the saltwater world !!!! But the first one sounds much cooler!!

 

[kres1024]

This is a hobby? Thought it was part of life !!!

 

[SteveZ15]

I got tired of looking at everyones beautiful tanks and how different they are and figured why not get one.

 

[jaa1456]

To make the girlfriend mad, actually I was raised around reef tanks since I was 7 and its just normal everyday life to me.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

For the love of fish, corals and the challenge

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

my Dad bought me my first fish tank at 7yrs old and have not gotten out since....I love the fish and already my 3 year son has the reef bug. So the answer is the hobby brings down my stress level

 

[Tonyscoots84]

Jarret u should of said brings it down or up :lol2:

 

[Geraud]

To have weird-looking creatures with tentacles at home! Not kidding, saw the images of Gil and Liza's tank over there and thought "wow I can have creatures from outer space at home??"

As a side note, when NASA was supposed to announce the discovery of life on Europa (and it ended up the controversial study on arsenic-using bacteria) I actually dreamed that I had replaced my 25 gallon with a 25-gallon compressed tank containing alien atmosphere, and some little Europian creatures in there. Woke up and thought "ah crap they would not be commercially available right away".

 

[Charley]

Ok cool, getting a clearer picture of why people are in thishobby: to meet women, because hatemoney, to play God, kill pigeon populations, to learn, the challenge, see beautiful colors, to have the ocean in yourliving room, bring down or up stresslevels, to piss off girlfriends, to have weird looking creatures that look likefrom outer space and perhaps actually sending or collecting some from outerspace. Hmmm?...

Wow! Gotta lovethis!

 

[BaaMNYC]

Surprisingly the reef tank hobby was the last from my mind in hobbies. Ive always thought the ocean and sea creatures were beautiful and liked the aquarium visits as a child but my hobbies were paintballing, firearms, cars, motorcycles and snowboarding. Another words Excitement excitement excitement.

My wife (girlfriend at the time) received a 30 gallon from a friend for free and I asked her what she wanted and she said nemo. And then it began and I took off running like I do with every hobby. I suppose as i got older and now married with a kid being home more it fit with my spare time.
Now it's completely my hobby and my wife hates it. But I still haven't given up my other hobbies. Just another money guzzler.

I've only been in this hobby for a little over a year and a half and it's definitely a love / hate kind of hobby. I learned practically everything from mr and online research. Everyone here is very friendly and I try to share tips as they been shared to me. Best of luck on your reef tank.

 

[Charley]

Awesome Baa......maybe you can combine both hobbies? train a sea creatue to shoot a firearm. Perhaps shoot some paintballs at your tank and add a splash of color. For a finale, the wife can drive one your cars thru the tank....cool and everyone wins! Great for the marraige I think!

Hope you do not mind. Soing my best to learn not to take this too seriously!